Popular actor Siyabonga Shibe is accused of kidnapping, assault and stealing from a cousin of his former wife from Thabong in the Free State. The actor, who plays a strict husband and father on Mzansi Wethu telenovela, Sibongile and the Dlaminis, is said to have kidnapped 19-year-old Karabo Patrick Letsoalo in December last year. ZiMoja has seen the police statement by Letsoalo, where he gives a blow by blow of the incident. 

KIDNAPPING ALLEGATIONS 

According to Letsoalo, the reason for his kidnapping stemmed from Shibe demanding to see his 10-year-old child. Letsoalo said the former Yizo Yizo and The Wife actor arrived at his home in Allanridge, Free State, on 3 December at about 9:30pm, driving a maroon Hyundai with his elder daughter Nomthandazo Ngcobo and another passenger. "Siyabonga demanded his child from me and I told him that I don't know where his child is. He then ordered me to go inside the car and they drove on R30 Road and on reaching the Mine 3 target shaft, the driver stopped the vehicle and Siya asked me about the child again," said Letsoalo in an affidavit. He alleges Shibe slapped him three times and that he cried and that Nomthandazo took out a firearm (pistol) from the car and gave it to the actor. "On seeing the firearm, I then told Siya that his child was in Thabong. They drove to my aunt's place in Thabong, where they started searching for the child. I then got a chance to escape and hide at my friend's home," he added. He said that he also lost his phone during the kidnapping as he had to leave the car for his own safety when Shibe was searching for his son.

CONTROVERSY

Shibe, who has appeared on the 2003 movie James's Journey To Jerusalem, has not been short of controversy.  Last year December, ZiMoja reported that Shibe abandoned his family after Nomthandazo came into his life and claimed that she is his long-lost daughter. Shibe's brother Nathi said the actor even told their mother that he wanted nothing to do with her and stopped buying groceries for her when she tried to warn him about the long lost daughter, Nomthandazo. Just last month, four students accused him of promising to pay their college fees at a film school, then he didn't fulfil his promise. Some of the students were forced to drop out of film school as their families could not afford to pay the fees.

Shibe could not be reached for a comment but Nomthandazo, who is also his manager refuted the allegations and said that they went to his ex's place in peace to drop off Christmas and birthday gifts for the son. "Those people are lying, dad and I went there to drop off gifts and his grandma then refused us access to my brother. We decided to ask Karabo to show us where the boy was and he made us drive around for hours and we eventually dropped him and came back without seeing the child,' she said. She also said that there was never a gun involved. "My father would never allow me to carry a gun," she said.

ONLY THEFT CASE OPENED

Free State police spokesperson Captain Stephen Thakeng confirmed that only a case of theft of a cellphone was registered at Allanridge on 4 December 2023. "It is alleged that a 46-year-old driver was with his daughter and a 19-year-old complainant in a car. He left the cellphone inside the vehicle. The driver realised there was a cellphone when a cell came in and he took it back to the residence of the complainant. A case was registered for further investigation. The warning statement of a 46-year-old man was obtained. Investigation has been completed and the docket was handed to the prosecutor for a decision," Thakeng said.