South Africa's DJ Fresh and DJ Euphonik Accused of Rape
An official rape case has been opened against South African DJs Fresh and Euphonik. This comes after allegations of rape were recently made against them on social media.
READ: South African Prosecuting Authority Drops Sjava Rape Case
The alleged rape victim, an anonymous young woman, posted a series of tweets a few days ago which detailed her alleged ordeal at the hands of DJ Fresh and DJ Euphonik. The young woman claimed that in 2011, while still an undergraduate student at the University of Pretoria, she had accompanied a friend of hers to a party to which the friend had been invited by one of the artists. She then proceeded to accuse the artists of raping her, and three additional young women, after she had reportedly become intoxicated to the point of blacking out.
@DJFreshSA & @euphonik will you ever acknowledge drunking me & further raping me? I was completed drugged I don't w… https://t.co/qNhmiI8FHb— Sipelele Madikizela (@Sipelele Madikizela) 1610373794.0
Just so you know? I was a virgin when y'all did that to me.— Sipelele Madikizela (@Sipelele Madikizela) 1610373891.0
I had to take anxiety meds to even tweet this 😭— Sipelele Madikizela (@Sipelele Madikizela) 1610380800.0
The alleged victim was met with both support and backlash as is often the case for any woman who speaks out about their personal experiences with gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual assault.
According to TshisaLIVE, one of the artists (it is unclear as to who) refuted the rape allegations, labelling them "hurtful" and the "price of being in the public eye." The artist also alluded to the accusations being false by saying that "genuine" victims of GBV should take the matter to the courts.
Admittedly, this is not the first time that either DJ Fresh and DJ Euphonik have been accused of GBV. Last year, South African poet Ntsiki Mazwai made several social media posts wherein she accused DJ Fresh of being a rapist. The posts were a response to Penny Lebyane who had shared her experience of abuse with a former partner but did not reveal his identity. As both Lebyane and DJ Fresh had dated previously, Mazwai personally concluded that the partner was DJ Fresh. The matter went to court and Mazwai eventually tweeted that she was no longer permitted to comment on the issue.
With regards to DJ Euphonik, media personality and entrepreneur Bonang Matheba, who was dating the musician at the time, laid a charge of abuse against him although the case was later dropped. This incident went on to cause incredible outrage when Marie Claire opted to have DJ Euphonik in a campaign against woman abuse.
EWN reports that 947 and Primedia Broadcasting, the employers of the artists, has issued a statement saying: "We take these matters extremely seriously and apply a rigorous, systematic internal process to assess them. We are awaiting substantiation of the current information from the relevant authorities. Once we have this, we will respond accordingly."
