Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - March 19, 2006
Lesley Mofokeng and Charles Molele

The defamatory e-mail also contained allegations that TV star Zam regularly cheated on his wife. Lawyers were called in after the couple got wind of it.

But by Friday afternoon a Joburg woman, Zizipho Mtshizana, admitted to spreading the allegations to her "close circle of friends" on Thursday as a mere "prank".

But Nkosi and his wife, who co-present the popular chat show Mojo on SABC1, were still seething and fired off a letter to Mtshizana's employer, Naledi Media, demanding that a retraction be sent to all the recipients of the e-mail.

They also demanded proof of the retraction, asking her to send it to their lawyer's offices within two hours.

Naledi was also asked to instruct its employees not to repeat the allegation.

Mtshizana is an implementation planner at Naledi Media, an events management and advertising company.

Nkosi told Metro that he was furious after receiving calls from people around the country asking him about the e-mail.

He said he had personally managed to trace the e-mail back to Mtshizana with the help of a friend.

In her e-mail, with the subject "Breaking News", the 24-year-old said "Zam Nkosi and Nkensani [sic] his wife are HIV+...".

She also claimed: "As you would know, Zam is a number one player; he sleeps around a lot even before he married Nkensi, as most people in his close circle would tell you and you can even find him in Hillbrow streets."

She then boasted that, because she worked in the media, she was privy to inside information about celebrities.

"One thing to keep in mind, I am in the media industry. We get these stories first and my source(s) are always 100% correct no doubt. It will be a first if it's not [true]. Don't even ask me about [Jacob] Zuma as we already know too much to tell."

She then fired off an Aids warning: "Now guys, if this is true, just know how to use protection and it doesn't matter who you are, Aids will find you and kill you if you are not careful and don't use CONDOMS."

A tearful Mtshizana told Metro on Friday: "Please, please tell him I would like to apologise to him and his family for what I've done. I was joking around with my friends about it and I'm really, really sorry."

She said the message had been intended as a "meaningless e-mail around a circle of my friends".

She said she had also sent a letter of apology to the Nkosis in which she admitted that the e-mail had "circulated out of control". She also named the list of "friends" who had received it.

"I apologise for any offence I have made to anyone and suggest that everyone disregard every comment that was made on that e-mail. Furthermore I'd like to state that this by no means had anything to do with the company I work for," she said in her apology.

Nkosi said he called in his lawyers in an effort to clear his name and that of the "brand" that he and his wife had created for themselves.

"I really wanted to know why. Why would someone spread such rumours about me? What did I do to her? I wouldn't do it to my worst enemy."

He did not rule out the possibility of legal action.

"She can't imagine the trouble she's in. I accept her apology but I'm still litigating."

He said his wife, founder of the trendy fashion label Stoned Cherrie, was in Brazil on business and he had phoned her to break the news to her.

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