Controversial dancehall singer, Lady Squanda yesterday apologised to her fans after a video of her assaulting comedian Abra Skimbo went viral at the weekend, but music followers are having none of it and have called for her arrest.
BY WINSTONE ANTONIO
In the one minute 48 seconds video, Lady Squanda assaults the comedian with the help of unidentified companions and to embarrass him further, she makes Skimbo lick the soles of her foot and toes.
In the leaked video the 25-year-old Lady Squanda is filmed forcing Abra Skimbo, who appeared to have been trapped in the backseat of a vehicle, to apologise to her, before slapping him in the face several times.
Born Tatenda Matika, Skimbo was assaulted for recording a skit alleging Lady Squanda stole towels and undergarments at a Kwekwe Lodge she was booked in for a show recently.
As the video of the assault ends, Skimbo is forced to say he will never do another skit on Lady Squanda for his Ziso Regondo show.
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As the fallout over the video intensified yesterday, Squanda posted an apology — littered with grammatical and spelling errors — on her Facebook page, but one thing fans pointed out is that she did not apologise to Skimbo.
In her apology, Squanda said she was sorry to have caused drama for her fans.
“I am sorry that I have to greet you all for this sort of scandalous incident and I am sincerely sorry that I have to cause this much drama to my fans. However, I only have myself to blame with all of my carelessness, causing this scandal after I have been carried away with emotions, which lead to my bad decision with my fellows (sic),” reads part of the apology, which was at some points unintelligible.
But questions have been asked on why Squanda had not been arrested, as Skimbo reported the humiliating assault at St Mary’s police station under case number RRB 282 4388.
Lady Squanda’s former manager Hillary Mutake said: “Whatever the case was, Lady Squanda should have acted in a professional manner and sort advice to deal with the issue rather than what she did. Her actions are uncalled for and embarrassing.”
Radio personality, Kudzai Sevenzo quipped on Twitter: “Don’t ‘Squanda’ (squander) your chance at doing the right thing, even when you feel you have been dissed.”
“Lady Squanda must face the law for her inhuman behaviour. She should have known that there are better ways of handling the issue than assaulting a fellow artiste,” Brian Kauriwo of Sunningdale said.
Another dancehall follower Agrippa Bhaureni said: “This Lady Squanda must be punished for dehumanising a fellow artiste, such behaviour is not tolerated and she must record a video apologising in the same way she put it on camera assaulting Skimbo.”
For her troubles, Squanda has since been eliminated from a star-studded line up of performers set to perform in United Kingdom at the Madirirano Tour in September, with the concert organisers Simbarashe “BodySlam” Chakare roping in, ironically, Abra Skimbo.
Chakare received widespread praise for the decision.
Lady Squanda has been dogged with controversy, from fights over men to use of provocative and vulgar language in her songs.
In April 2014, she grabbed headlines after she was accused of stealing mobile phones, some cosmetics and groceries she was supposed to forward to a number of people in the country after her UK tour.
Police spokesperson, Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said if the complainant had reported the matter to the police, Lady Squanda will be dragged to court before referring all the questions to Harare police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Tarirai Dube. “I do not want to hear about that Lady Squanda story, I have been phoned again from London, who is Lady Squanda, to me she is not a national issue,” Charamba said.
Dube said: “I am not in office, let me find the facts and I will phone you back.”
By the time of going to print Dube had not phoned back as promised.