Who is Eric D and why is he demanding R5m from Somizi Mhlongo?

This morning The Daily Sun ran a story called ‘Somizi’s R5M Shock!’ in which it revealed the popular choreographer and radio personality was being sued by someone called ‘Eric D’.

Apparently, ‘Eric D’ has taken issue with some passages in Dominoes: Unbreakable Spirit – The Somizi Mhlongo Story, written by Mhlongo and editor Lesley Mofokeng, that mention him.

A letter from his lawyers, SP Mncwango & Company Attorneys, states: “Our instructions are that you, Somizi Buyani Mhlongo, together with Lesley Mofokeng, published a book titled Dominoes, and it said book on page 44 there are allegations made wherein it is stated that our client and Mr Mhlongo had fondled and touched while sharing a bed with you.”

Off the back of that, the legal counsel says in the letter that Eric D (real name Eric Mbeko) was left humiliated and defamed, and is now seeking damages in the amount of R5 million.

‘But who is Eric D?’ one may ask. Well, The Daily Sun says he’s currently employed as a hairdresser, but he used to be a pop star back in the 1980s. A little digging on our part has revealed that he has a couple of singles to his name too – the two we could find are called ‘Party Time’ and ‘Lobola’. You can listen to the former in the clip below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lsay79K3DY

According to a blog entitled Afro-Synth, which seems to be a local encyclopedia of South African synthpop from the 1980s, Mbeko – or Eric D – was one of a number of local bubblegum pop artists who eschewed the influence of American artists in favour of producing music with a more local flavour. The music “created the distinctive South African rhythms that later gave rise to kwaito”, the blog says.

We’ll be watching to see how this story develops. In the meantime, at least you now know who Eric D is and his contribution to local music.