Romeo Kumalo speaks about Jackie Phamotse matter for first time

For the first time since a judgment against Jackie Phamotse was passed, Romeo Kumalo has commented on the matter, calling it “an evil attack” on Phamotse’s part. 

Kumalo was speaking to 702’s Clement Mayathela as part of a profile interview on the entrepreneur. 

In July 2010, Kumalo and his wife Basetsana were granted a protection order against Phamotse by the Randburg Magistrates Court. 

This after the court found that a descriptive tweet Jackie posted about “a media mogul” and her husband allegedly being involved in a gay sex tape resulted in widespread speculation that the couple in question was the Kumalos. 

Referring to the infamous court case, Kumalo called it an “evil attack,” before explaining why he and his wife felt the need to take action.  

“Over the years, we’ve learned to brush it off. In the early days, we used to take publications to court,” began Kumalo before commenting on how Twitter has become the new platform that public figures need to be weary of. 

While the family has paid little to no mind to social media rumours over the years, Kumalo explained that he and his wife felt a need to protect their children by taking a stand against the falsehoods being peddled about them.  

Moving swiftly along, Kumalo and Manyathela went on to discuss his own career as a broadcaster and why that came to an end. 

“Frankly I wasn’t good at it.”

“It was just a passion and love for radio but I never thought of it as a career. Many thought of it as my full-time employment, but I did it on weekends.” 

Kumalo shared that he used to do a graveyard shift about 20 years ago before heading to his 9-5 where his employers were none the wiser about his side hustle. He then moved on to a Sunday shift where he shared his favourite love songs with listeners. 

When asked about how he handled being on radio, knowing how shy he is said to be, Kumalo said it was perfect for him because of how different it was from TV.

He went on to recall the suggestion of a teacher from his childhood who offered him a solution to dealing with a serious stutter that he had as a child. She suggested he get into reading poetry and singing – a habit that has stayed with him since. 

According to Kumalo, he still gets asked when he will be returning to radio, but he is adamant that he will never return. He believes there are people who are better at it that he would rather hear on the airwaves. 

READ NEXT: Could Basetsana and Romeo Kumalo be selling their R25m family home? 

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