A masked Expresso TV presenter Katlego Maboe did appear at Cape Town Magistrate's Court on Tuesday morning but the case had to be postponed following missing docket drama.
The disgraced TV host was summoned to appear in court today on charges of harassment of Monique Muller after the SABC3 presenter allegedly violated the court's protection order not to stay away from his former lover who is the mother of his 2-year old son.
In South Africa, a protection order aims at preventing the reoccurrence of alleged domestic violence or sexual harassment by stating what conduct the alleged offender must refrain from doing.
Katlego Maboe allegedly broke the stipulations of the protection order that Monique Muller obtained on 3 September in Seapoint, Cape Town.
Eric Ntabazalila, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson in the Western Cape, on Tuesday said that Katlego Maboe's case had to be postponed on Tuesday since the prosecutor of the case was not aware of the case and discovered the news about the court appearance from reading about it in the media.
"The expected court appearance of Katlego Maboe did not take place this morning. When the prosecutor saw an article about allegations made, she contacted the police and asked about the court appearance. She was given today’s date for the court appearance," Eric Ntabazalila said.
"This morning the docket was not brought to court as was expected. She has since asked for the docket to peruse it. No date has been set yet for the appearance."
The protection order and growing scandal around Katlego Maboe stem from a video that went viral on social media in which the TV star who appeared in Outsurance TV commercials as well, was confronted by Monique Muller over his infidelity.
In the video, Katlego, dressed in a gown, sheepishly admits to having cheated on her with another woman identified as Nikkita Murray who has since locked her social media accounts.
In the video, Monique Muller accuses Katlego Maboe of giving her an STD that damaged her womb, and in another video she claims that Katlego Maboe allegedly physically abused her as well, saying that "When the first physical attack happened I got a protection order against him".
Katlego Maboe has since abruptly disappeared from the public eye, only releasing a terse statement, saying that "I was unfaithful to my partner during a very important time of our lives - an act I regret to this day. We are currently undergoing an unfortunate and painful separation which is being resolved through legal proceedings".
"In light of the comments made against me, I would like to state that I have never abused my partner," Katlego Maboe said.
Katlego Maboe and Monique Muller have not issued further statements.
To try and limit brand damage Cardova Productions took Katlego Maboe off the air from its weekday breakfast show Expresso on SABC3 that is produced from its studio in Tokai.
Expresso publicist El Broide said in a statement that the SABC3 show "condemns any acts of violence and mistreatment, especially against women and children, and therefore take such allegations very seriously".
"Until such time as the matter has been fully investigated, and pending the outcome, Katlego Maboe will not be appearing on Expresso".
The insurance company Outsurance rushed to re-edit and scrub all traces of him from all of the insurance company's "Chencha dai deng" TV commercials, now only showing testimonials of customers without Katlego interviewing them.
In new revelations in the latest 5 November issue of YOU and Huisgenoot magazines, a close confidant of Monique Muller reveals that Katlego Maboe is allegedly not the man that viewers see on TV.
In July this year, Monique discovered that Katlego Maboe allegedly gave her an STD. Katlego Maboe apparently travelled to Kiev, Ukraine to watch a soccer match while he was a brand ambassador for Lay's Chips where he later admitted to Monique that he kissed one of the women who won the competition on a dancefloor. He later allegedly had sex with this woman in a hotel room.
GoBinge has not yet published the sit-down interview that the YouTube channel did and teased with Monique Muller more than a week ago, in which she talks about how Katlego Maboe had allegedly physically attacked her and how he cheated on her.
