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Basetsana Kumalo gives victim impact statement in case against Jackie Phamotse

Basetsana Kumalo gave an emotional statement when taking to the witness stand in her case against author Jackie Phamotse on Tuesday afternoon at the Randburg magistrate’s court.

The author is guilty of four charges — including defamation, crimen injuria and violating a protection order — in her case brought by the businesswoman and former beauty queen

The matter centres on Phamotse’s 2018 Twitter post about an alleged gay sex tape involving the media mogul and her husband, Romeo.

Basetsana said she was “exhausted” emotionally, mentally, psychologically and financially by the trial that has been taking place for more six years.


 

 

 

 

“The unwarranted actions of Ms Phamotse have greatly affected and negatively impacted my life and the lives of my family, including our extended family. This case has taken five years to come to finality. To live with the diabolical lie of a debaucherous nature has been very traumatic for me and my family, including our small children,” she said.

“This vitriol didn’t only affect my family, but also our extended family, the legacy of my parents who are deceased. (I was raised well) with strong Christian values, tarnishing their good names was beyond hurtful.

“My elder mother and father in-law, who are here today, have had to live in shame for five years, this lie affecting their church lives and interactions with extended family who read about the utterances of Ms Phamotse in newspapers, getting calls to ask what is going on.

“We stopped being invited to family gatherings and social events. Business transactions which my husband and I were pursuing were suddenly called off and cancelled. Very few wanted to associate with us because of the lies that had been spread by Ms Phamotse.

“We lost a lot of family and friends at a very low time in our lives and this also added to the emotional distress and trauma that we had already been going through. My family and I were devastated that our very own friends could share these horrible stories about us and even more devastated that some of them believed it.”