Ngizwe Mchunu

The court ruled in their favor of the first and second wife and nullified Ngizwe’s marriage to Floda.

Arrest

In July 2021, Mchunu surrendered to the police after he learnt that he was wanted for allegedly instigating violence during the unrest and looting that rocked KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng.

Ngizwe Mchunu handed himself at the KZN SAPS provincial headquarters in Durban and was immediately handcuffed and whisked away by a group of plain-clothed police officers.

Before Jacob Zuma turned himself in to start serving his 15-month sentence on July 8, Mchunu joined scores of people camped outside Nkandla to defend the homestead and the former leader. Prior to that, Mchunu circulated videos via his popular Facebook page and called people to swarm Nkandla to defend Zuma as the state wanted to poison him once he was in jail.

When Zuma eventually surrendered, Mchunu then engaged in a tour of KwaZulu-Natal and Johannesburg, staging lone calls for Zuma to be released from jail.

Time and again he used the Zulu term ayikhale, and to some, it was viewed as a call to fight back against the state for jailing Zuma at the Estcourt Correction Centre.^[2]

Bail Hearing

Mchunu made a brief appearance before the Randburg magistrate's court on 21 July 2021 on a charge of incitement to commit public violence, before he was remanded in custody until next 28 July 2021 for a formal bail application.^[3]

Career

UkhoziFM

Mchunu rose to fame when he became a Maskandi music radio presenter/DJ on UkhoziFM.

In 2009 as part of his job at the radio station, he visited the US to congratulate Barack Obama who had been the first African-American president in the history of that country.

One of the highlights of his career while on UkhoziFM was when he, together with Bheka Mchunu, hosted then president Zuma on Sigiya Ngengoma Maskandi music show, which was also broadcast on SABC news channel 404.

In 2018, Mchunu was suspended from UkhoziFM before he was fired from his job for alleged misbehaviour.

Among other acts of misconduct were Mchunu’s alleged leaking of internal information as well as announcing the station’s plans for Mroza Fakude, the first Maskandi musician to win the station’s Song of the Year accolade, before approval.^[4]

Career After UkhoziFM

After being fired from UkhoziFM, Mchunu hosted private gigs such as MC-ing of events and functions.

His involvement with Maskandi music continued. When Mchunu was not being accused of stealing songs from Maskandi musicians and giving/selling some to their competitors, he was accused of fuelling beef between musicians.

Mchunu had also become known for changing allegiance between Maskandi artists, especially between bitter rivals, and was accused of trading the internal secrets of one camp with another.

His biggest fallout was with Maskandi’s most popular artist, Khuzani Mpungose, in 2019. Allegations of sabotage abounded between the two of them. Mchunu would come out the winner from this fallout, emerging as a close friend of Khuzani’s arch-rival, Mthandeni Manqele.

That same year, Mchunu started his Ngizwe Online Radio, which was characterised by attacks on Maskandi musicians he disliked while promoting those he favoured.

He abandoned his online radio platform as he rose to become a social media sensation in 2020, particularly on Facebook.

His deliberate verbal conflicts with various Maskandi musicians escalated and became his way of survival during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Mchunu, in his quest to diversify his skills as an entertainer, ventured into live Facebook videos, talking about everything and anything under the sun.

With that move, his skill set had expanded from just radio DJ and Maskandi promoter to include content creator.

His live broadcast antics on Facebook continued well into 2021 and his popularity grew and he also became a co-host with rich and famous Durban-based traditional healer “Dr Khehlelezi” on VumaFM.

To capitalise on his growing public profile, Mchunu launched a YouTube channel just as he also entered the political commentary space after Zuma’s 15-month sentence by the apex court.

Mchunu was among the well-known faces at Zuma’s home in the days after his sentencing as his supporters insisted he not go to jail.

For Ngizwe Mchunu, it was an opportunity to exploit the situation to feed his Facebook and YouTube platforms as a content creator while also trying his luck in politics.^[4]

References