Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - April 2, 2006
Thabo Mkhize
A DEFAMATORY e-mail claiming that celebrity couple Zam and Nkhensani Nkosi are HIV-positive was disseminated far and wide, even reaching friends in London.
Two weeks ago Metro reported how an employee at a Joburg-based events and advertising company circulated an e-mail claiming that the couple were not only HIV-positive but that TV star Zam regularly cheated on his wife.
This week Zam and Nkhensani, who co-present the popular talk-show Mojo on SABC1, told Metro that they were taking legal action against 15 "culprits" who circulated the e-mail.
The author of the e-mail has been identified as Zizipho Mtshizana, an implementation planner at Naledi Media.
"A whole group of people were involved and knew about this thing," said Zam, adding that the 15 culprits even distributed the e-mail to newspaper newsrooms around the country.
"We've got their names and these are the people we are going after," he said.
The couple's attorneys this week began issuing legal letters to the companies, which include banks and financial institutions, where some of these culprits worked and distributed the hoax e-mail.
The legal documentation has instructed the companies to state their position on the matter.
"Employers must tell me their position. They [the companies] need to either protect their employees ... in which case I'm going after both the organisation and individual," said Zam.
He said the companies had the option of distancing themselves from the entire matter.
On Wednesday the angry couple revealed how the e-mail had swept across the globe. They said they still could not believe what had happened and did not know why they were targeted.
While in the process of wrapping up their TV show Mojo, which comes to an end in May, the couple have spent the past two weeks consulting with their attorneys.
When it surfaced earlier this month, Zam immediately called his attorney and put up a R50000 reward to trace the culprit. His wife, founder of trendy fashion label Stoned Cherrie, was in Brazil on business.
Within a few hours, Zam managed to track down the author of the e-mail. Mtshizana was so stunned that she had been identified that she confessed that it had been a prank.
"I was joking around with my friends about it and I'm really, really sorry," she said.
In the e-mail, Mtshizana described Zam as a womaniser who prowled the streets of Hillbrow.
Zam said he wanted this matter to set a precedent so that people understood that high-profile personalities were not "soft targets".
Meanwhile, media attorney Pamela Stein cautioned that anybody who distributed or forwarded defamatory e-mails could face legal action.
"Anyone who pushes the send or forward button to any other person can be sued," she said.
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