Media personality Jub Jub has shown his faith in the midst of severe charges against him. Picture: Instagram/@official_jubjub
Showing a brave face in the middle of the storm, media personality Molemo “Jub Jub” Maarohanye shared a photo of the book of Psalm 121 on his Instagram account, and quoted Isaiah 54:17 saying: “No weapon, lies or scheming formed against me shall prosper”.
Maarohanye appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court on Thursday on two counts of attempted murder, three counts of rape and one of assault, following an arrest warrant issued against him.
He denied all charges and was released on bail of R10 000. The media personality argued that he is the “breadwinner of his family” and “a law-abiding citizen” in his bid to secure bail.
Speaking to The Citizen outside court as they tried to arrange for bail money, Jub Jub’s legal representative said they didn’t expect the bail to be set so high.
“I’m waiting for the money so we can go pay the bail. We didn’t expect it to be so high. So we’re arranging at the ATM and then we pay,” said Ntsako Baloyi of Baloyi Ntsako Attorneys.
Giving insight into how his client was, Baloyi said: “He is fine, he just accepted that there’s a plot to bring him down. It is what it is, we decided to cooperate, let’s respect the law”.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), one of the complainants opened a case of rape in February last year, and alleged the incidents happened between 2006 and 2009 – while she was in a relationship with him.
“She decided to approach the police following Maarohanye’s degrading comments about her on a podcast,” said the NPA.
“After seeing her speaking out about her ordeal on social media, more women decided that it was time to come forward and tell their stories.”
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On Thursday afternoon, the channel released a vague statement saying that they’re monitoring the case and “allow the law to take its course”.
Jub Jub is the host of one of the channel’s biggest shows, Uyajola 9/9. The TV show is centred around unfaithful partners being caught in the act of their infidelity, much like what you’d see on the US TV show Cheaters. It usually airs on Sundays with two episodes in an hour.
Jub Jub initially shared a trailer of the show’s upcoming season last week, but what was strange was that his trailer didn’t include Moja Love branding. This while the channel’s ad of Uyajola 9/9 on TV didn’t show Jub Jub in them.
But with the controversial media personality back in the news because of his latest court appearance, the channel used this as an opportunity to share a trailer of the show’s return, with Jub Jub in shot, on their social media platforms.
ALSO READ: Moja Love respond to Jub Jub arrest
There have been calls for Jub Jub to be suspended from the show, while a number of people have rallied behind him.
Two months ago, Sunday World reported that the channel is yet to sit down with Jub Jub and his lawyer Ntsako Baloyi of Ntsako Baloyi Inc to discuss an out-of-court settlement.
The publication stated that the two parties had squashed their beef as shooting of the upcoming season had commenced, but they still needed to iron out the R100m issue.
“We will speak to them and see how far it goes … We care about relationships and let’s hope they also care about relationships, and then we can take it from there,” said Baloyi.
In March this year, Jub Jub was fired from the show by Moja Love, which led to the lawsuit against the channel.
One of the alleged reasons for the lawsuit was because the channel hadn’t paid Jub-Jub his monthly salary in January.
Reports surfaced that the channel decided to show him the door following a nasty dispute the presenter had with his former business partner Keabetswe Mokoena.
In February, the same publication reported that the channel’s CEO Aubrey Tau is not happy with Jub Jub’s reported behaviour, where he allegedly violated the channel’s anti-gender-based violence policy.
An anonymous executive told the publication that the musician should be “punished severely” as he allegedly broke company policy.
When The Citizen approached Moja Love for comment the channel’s Head of Moja TV Channels, Bokani Moyo didn’t give a detailed response. “The matter is sub judice and the channel will not be commenting any further until the matter is finalised,” said Moyo.
“Look, he’s back with Moja Love now. We’re yet to discuss fully on that [R100m lawsuit]. He’s back to work with them, I believe the matter will be settled very soon,” Baloyi told The Citizen.
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