How Musa Khawula Got Away With Murder
And continues to enjoy enormous public support
In the past few weeks, Twitter entertainment blogger Musa Khawula has dropped scoop after scoop of which celebrity is dating who, exposing which influencers are dating older rich men, the alleged reasons for the divorce of famous couples and countless others reports. Because of Khawula’s seemingly endless flow of the latest celebrity gossip, he has amassed a following of 177 400 followers on an account that is a year and 2 months old. Besides the number of followers, Khawula also enjoys massive engagement on his posts with users commenting on, liking, retweeting, quoting and sharing his posts. All this happens while Wandile Wayne Khambule’s dead body is buried in Roy Point Cemetery.
Soon after Khawula released information that alleged that Mihlali Ndamase is dating Leeroy Sidambe, a Twitter user broke the news that Khawula is facing murder charges for stabbing his former lover Wandile Wayne Khambule to death. Almost immediately after these allegations were made there were screenshots released of a conversation between Khawula and someone understood to be the victim’s sister or cousin. In that conversation, Khawula does not deny the accusation instead, he moans the point that he is aware of the hurt and pain that he caused Khambule’s family and claims that he thought Khambule would be able to get medial assistance and that he did not anticipate that the harm caused would be fatal.
When the news broke and the screenshots were released, Khawula made absolutely no effort to deny the allegations or explain his side of the story. There is a voice clip making the rounds on Facebook where Khawula is on a radio show where he is asked about these allegations. Even in that clip Khawula does not deny having done the act, he simply says he has been gagged and cannot share the details of the matter and that when the time is right the public will hear his side of the story directly from his mouth.
There is a page on Facebook dedicated to Wandile Wayne Khambule who was a popular photographer in the area he lived in and according to the interactions on that page, he was loved by many. It is also understood that Khambule is survived by two children and other close family members. Khambule was murdered only in March of 2022, the wound left by his death is still very new to his family and loved ones. There is a group of people who are reeling from grief and are surely still struggling to come to terms with their loved one being dead. All that happens while thousands of Twitters users laugh and share memes under Khawula’s tweets.
The series of events that led to Khambule’s brutal murder are not clear however there are facts that seem to not be in dispute. It appears to be common cause that Khambule and Khawula were romantically involved at some point. Khawula’s rage seemed to have been sparked by Khambule ending the relationship. The murder happened in a public space in front of an audience and according to the accounts of the event that have been revealed so far, Khawula’s killing of Khambule was not an act of self-defense or any other justification for stabbing someone to death. The fact that Khawula himself admitted to leaving Khambule’s body there assuming that he would get medical assistance insinuates that he was fully aware that he had dome something wrong and had to flee the scene of the crime.
What remains wholly unclear is the reason why Khawula was released from jail. The rumor going around is that he pleaded insanity and was released on those grounds. Whether it’s that or a simple case of him being released on bail based on not being a flight risk, the fact remains that Khawula is out in the public reporting on which celebrity is sleeping with who while Wandile’s two children are left without a father.
Perhaps the most alarming thing about this whole situation is this — the majority of people who follow of interact with Khawula’s content are well aware of the murder charges that he is facing. Whether they believe the allegations or not is another matter. Fact remains that the majority of people who interact with his content know that there is a possibility that he murdered someone in cold blood. These followers continue to follow and engage with his content with full knowledge of this.
Maybe, just maybe, it would be a different case if Khawula had actually been convicted with the murder of Khambule. The fact that that has not happened is perhaps the reason why so many people are comfortable with engaging with him and his content. The frightening worst case scenario is that his followers believe that he did it but simply don’t care because he provides us with the scoop about which influencer is dating which rich man. It is scary to think that there is a possibility that there are over 100 000 people on twitter who are willing to disregard the fact that a man is dead just so we can have the latest scoop on who is sleeping with who.
Khawula has garnered the attention of almost every sphere of Black Twitter and Facebook. Accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers engage with his tweets. His Facebooks posts are shared regularly. News outlets continuously pump out articles based on reporting done by Khawula. He generates so much traffic on social media that is is very difficult for most black people who are active on social media to avoid his name coming up. This means Wandile Khambule’s friends and family who are active on social media are constantly reminded that the person responsible for the death of their loved on is a social media celebrity while Wandile’s dead body lies cold in a cemetery.
Khawula isn’t just tweeting about celebrities, he is giving us a free Masterclass, in real time, of how to get away with murder. In this South Africa, you can murder a former partner in cold blood but as long as you tell us who is sleeping with who, your murderous actions will very quickly be forgotten — at least in the public imagination that is.
