Skeem Saam actor, Skhumbuzo Mbatha popularly known as Meneer Manaka recently opened up about being arrested for a crime he didn’t commit over the weekend. It was on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and the actor was just out for a few sundowners with friends.
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“I am at Jeppe Police station, I hate it. I should not be here, it should not have happened. I don’t like drama and have always tried to avoid it with all my might. This is how it all started on Sunday, actually yesterday. Friends invited me to join them at Pata Pata for some sundowners. When I got there already the drinks were going down fast and furious and the voices were louder than the sense they were making.” He informed his followers on Facebook.
Seated across him was a lady who seemed troubled to Skhumbuzo.
“I sat down, consciously keeping a safe “corona free” space after having greeted everyone around the table. I joined in on the conversation albeit maintaining a sober person’s demeanour. I could not help but notice this lady, she was seated right across me at the other side of the table. She probably came with the other two guys that I did not know. She seemed rather distracted and a little bored. She gave me the impression that she’d rather be home reading a book or watching a good movie than being at this place.”
Trying to find out what could be bothering her, Mbatha engaged her.
“I started to engage her and what I had perceived about her it was right. She told me she was not emotionally well and had wanted to go home but did not want to be a party pooper for her friends. I must have engaged her occasionally during my two hour stay at the venue just as to not make her feel out of place. It seemed like all the inebriated fellows round our table were completely oblivious to what her mood was like or maybe ne ba mmethisha ka moya ka bomo who knows.”
The lady then asked the actor for a lift when he was about to go home.
“So, I when I eventually decided to leave, she politely asked if I could drop her off in Melville. I had no problem with that because that was right along the way home for me. I did not feel inconvenienced in any way by her request because I could see she’d rather be anywhere else but there. She seemed like a very polite and decent person and I found myself wondering what could be gnawing away at her fragile soul. It was clear that something she could not share with anyone was eroding her happiness at that moment.
“Finally, we stood up and bid everyone goodbye and we walked towards my car. We hardly said much to each other as we briskly walked the congested streets of Maboneng – one brief conversation we had was about how so many people reveled as if tomorrow was not a Monday.”
This lady asked the actor to quickly pass by another joint which wasn’t far from where they hung out.
“As I drove out of the parking lot she requested that we pass by another joint not so far from where we were initially. Well, I knew the place and did not really mind because it was right on our way. When we got there she politely told me she won’t be long, she was just giving someone something quickly inside the joint. I remained in the car as the song of Sade called “Turn my back on you” was blasting hard on my car stereo. I must have waited for about 3 minutes when I suddenly heard my passenger door open violently and she was panting and looked like the adrenalin rush must have induced a different facial contortion on her because he face looked warped.
What is going on here, I remember asking myself and beginning to wonder what kind of a person have I given a lift to. Gasping for air and in a frantic mode she asked me to drive the car quickly. In a panick I drove and off we went. I remember having a conversation with myself as to whether should I ask what just happened there or should I just mind my business – the latter prevailed. Re fihlile Melville ka mo dropa and then ka tsena Beyers Naude ka theoga ke ya gae.”
The following day a police officer located SK Mbatha and asked him to come to the station.
“Today ka bo 18H30 detective Fanyane Mazibuko came knocking at my door. They say they traced my home address using my car plates. They asked me to come to Jeppe Police station which is where I am right now. The lady from yesterday, yes that polite sweet lonesome figure I saw when I came to joun my friends had smashed someone’s car’s windscreen with a brick. She then got a metal object and scratched the car. What I hear now is that the car belongs to her estranged husband who was seen by a friend entering the joint with a hot fluzzy and the friend notified her and she too happened to be in Maboneng and I unknowingly drove the getaway car. That is why I am here”