‘I honestly feel sorry for Ntsiki,’ says Euphonik in a sit-down with DJ Fresh

In an interview with friend and fellow disc jock DJ Fresh, Euphonik – who now goes by his real name Themba Nkosi – opened up about the trauma of being labelled a rapist by Ntsiki Mazwai, whom he worked with to create the House remix hit to her poem, Uwrongo.

“I, honestly, feel sorry for Ntsiki. Like Ntsiki, I met her through [DJ] Spectacular when we did Uwrongo back in the day. Uwrongo was so big. I did something so big for Ntsiki, for her to turn around and do something like this to me, just because she hates me …,” said Euphonik in the interview.

In 2021 a woman took to Twitter to accuse Fresh, real name Thato Sikwane and Euphonik of allegedly drugging and raping her in 2011.

In February 2021 the pair released a statement saying the allegations were dismissed by prosecutors as they were without “merit”.

“We are pleased to state that, after considering all of the evidence collected while investigating the claim made by Ms Madikizela against us, the Chief Prosecutor has dismissed the allegations on the basis that the allegations are without merit. The docket has been marked NOLLE PROSEQUI.”

Mazwai was ordered to pay damages with costs to Euphonik for making defamatory comments on social media about him. In 2022 the DJ/producer won court battle against Mazwai – a musician, poet, and human rights activist – at the Johannesburg High Court. This followed DJ Fresh’s win against Mazwai in the same case.

Disappointed

“Just because we were joking around on Twitter I called her ‘dirty’ the one day, this was, obviously, before Twitter was as intense as it is was.  It was, literally, just banter on social media, I’m sorry you took it so seriously, I’m sorry you thought calling me a rapist was going to do anything to me or anything to my life. I do forgive you that’s why I don’t care about what you do, my lawyers will deal with you,” said Euphonik. He confirmed Mazwai had not made the R200 000 payment.

In the interview the two DJs jokingly called each other co-accused and things became more intense in the later part of the chat when Fresh asked Euphonik about the disappointment in their former colleague and someone they saw as a friend, Thando ‘Thabooty’ Thabethe, supporting their accuser.

“Thando Thabethe is our friend, we even hired her on Oh Ship! And she goes and tweets that listen ‘I’m willing to pay for your legal fees’” said Fresh quoting a Thabethe.

“Let me tell you why it upset me, because I take it that we’re cool, we’re friends at a certain level we even mentored you. Now you’re gonna say, someone we’ve never met that is telling these salacious lies about us, that could have us thrown in jail for 15 to life, and all you’re gonna say is ‘if you need legal fees I will pay them’ is you saying ‘fu*@ you’ to us to our friendship to all that we have behind us as opposed to picking up the phone and saying ‘Themba what’s going on here’,” said Fresh, who seemed frustrated at Thabethe’s treatment of them since the rape accusations surfaced.

“Thando Thabethe never actually liked you, she never actually liked me and now she’s got the opportunity to show people she didn’t, so why are you concerned,” said Euphonik in response to Fresh’s irritation with Thabethe.

In another interview on MacG’s podcast Fresh said the issue had “gone away” but Mazwai republished the allegations levelled against him, prompting him to call his lawyers to intervene.

Penny Lebyane also ended up included in the case, in a bizarre turn of events.

Fresh described her choice to stand her ground as “arrogant” and spoke about the way in which she chose to enact her activism.

“The arrogance carried on, so it went to court and then she lost… with costs. And I think the costs were almost two hundred grand. And it didn’t have to go there, this thing could have ended immediately,” said Fresh.

ALSO READ: DJ Fresh and Euphonik say rape case has been dismissed

Earlier this year Mazwai tweeted: “For the record … I have never been sued for a lie. I have been sued for publishing a list that was already online … which is what makes my case so damn interesting.

“That I got sued for what YOU were saying. Lol,” she tweeted.