‘I’m trying to heal’ – Sjava speaks out about the trauma of being accused of rape

Despite the outward appearance of a thriving career, musician Sjava claims to be suffering from the emotional trauma of having been accused of rape.

Sjava (Jabulani Hadebe) opened up about what he was going through during a recent interview with Rorisang Thandekiso and Kgaugelo Mokholwane on SABC1’s Mzansi Insider.

“Umsebenzi, ku hamba kahle but kimi, emoyeni, ku sa se nzima,” [work is going well, but with me, within my spirit, it’s still hard] said Sjava in response to Thandekiso’s question about how he was doing after making headlines for being accused of rape in 2020.

“I’m trying to heal from leyo nto personally, you understand? I can release music, I can be on the charts, I can do so well but akusho ukuthi mina personally I’m doing great. I’m still trying to, ukuthi ngibuyise umoya wami ukube la bewukhona” [to bring my spirit back to the way it was], he added.

He said being accused of rape was not an easy thing to go through and that it was a painful process that he would not wish on anyone.

According to Sjava, being accused of rape leaves the accused with doubts and fear and shakes one’s mental stability.

@Sjava_atm talks about his healing process of the whole 2020 saga!

If you know, you know! #mzansiinsider pic.twitter.com/LsKAMHsbzl

— SAT AT 10AM (@MzansiInsider) January 16, 2021

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This is not the first time he has addressed the matter. In 2020, he released a 12-minute video of how the rape allegations had affected his career, causing him to lose out on gigs and TV roles.

He also apologised to Lady Zamar for the hurt he caused during their relationship and for the backlash she received for telling her side of the story.

Sjava’s woes began in late 2019 when fellow artist Lady Zamar (Janet Banda) labelled him a “liar and a cheater” in a series of tweets one evening in October 2019.

This after Sjava’s mother, Thandi Nkabinde, introduced a woman on stage as her daughter-in-law at her son’s One Night With Sjava concert.

“I don’t want to hear anyone ask anything about who Sjava is dating,” she was quoted as saying in City Press.

Sjava also revealed some months prior that he and Banda were an item and had secretly dated for months.

She went on to deny that she was “ever a side chick” on the grounds that she had no idea Sjava was allegedly married at the time they dated.

This revelation was followed by Lady Zamar opening a case of rape against him in November 2019.

She reportedly claimed she was raped after the two performed at the Royal Heritage Festival in Limpopo in 2017.

Sjava then issued a statement claiming that his lawyers had sent a letter of demand to Lady Zamar in November, a day after they served summons on her for a case of defamation.

In late 2020, the case was thrown out by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on the grounds that the facts or evidence they had gathered did not support a successful prosecution of the alleged rape.

 READ NEXT: Why Sjava’s rape case was thrown out

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