The case is linked to an alleged rape incident which took place back in 2017. Yesterday Sjava released a statement to clear his name, this follows after he was also pulled out of the star-studded Cape Town's Jazz Festival lineup yesterday, due to the seriousness of his accusations.
The festival's management said, "Due to the serious nature of the allegation levelled against Sjava, the festival management has decided to cancel the artist’s performance at the 2020 festival".
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In a lengthy statement Sjava posted on Twitter on Tuesday, he decided to break his silence by detailing all the events which transpired and the legal routes they both decide to pursue amid the rape allegations. In the statement, Sjava said after he was accused of rape last year by Lady Zamar, he then decided to pursue the legal route to protect himself, but this was no threat to her.
He went on to divulge that on 1 November his lawyer sent a letter of demand to Lady Zamar's manager to retract the statement of rape against Sjava, but they ignored the letter. He went to reveal that they served summons for a case of defamation of character to Lady Zama’s manager.
He said Lady Zamar then decided to file a case of rape against him but he was not aware of that, he only found out when he was contacted by the police and gave them his statement "I met with two police officers from the Thohoyandou police station. They asked about the night (in September 2017) that Lady Zamar accuses me of raping her and asked for a statement. I gave them my statement. They also got statements from some witnesses who were with us going to, during and coming back from that trip," he said.
Sjava said he was not charged because police said they were still gathering evidence and statements so that they could hand them to the prosecuting authority, who would then decide whether he must be charged and prosecuted.
He said in January he followed up on the matter, but they informed him that they haven't decided on his fate. Sjava said he continued with his lawsuit of defamation of character and in February they sent letters to the address Lady Zamar’s manager provided for the summons but they were empty.
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The country has since been left undecided on who to support.
