South African content creator Mihlali Ndamase is trending on social media and it has nothing to do with her work but everything to do with her messy love life.

The beauty influencer broke the internet on Sunday, August 4, when she posted pictures of herself with a bruised face and the caption, “Thank you my angel @leeroy_mab”.

A screenshot of Mihlali Ndamase’s Instagram story showing her bruised face.

The post sparked debate, with people saying Leeroy Sidambe, who was/is in a relationship with Ndamase, had hit her.

“Need everyone to stay focused on Leeroy and his abusive action. Your opinion on Mihlali and what she has done is irrelevant right now,” commented @BALUCIAGA.

The image features a mix of photos of Mihlali Ndamase and Leeroy Sidambe.

After the story made headlines, Sidambe released a statement to clear his name.

In it, she alleges that it was Ndamase who was abusive and claimed she was bruised when she fell and hit the wall after he defended himself.

Sidambe’s statement read: “On 4 August 2024, Mihlali Ndamase attempted to contact me by placing a total of 78 calls, of which were not attended to as I had fallen asleep. Mihlali then arrived at my residence and persistently requested that my son open for her so she could see me.

“Upon arriving, as my son recollects, she headed to the kitchen to equip herself with a knife in the attempt of stabbing me as she allegedly was shown evidence of me being unfaithful.”

“Mihlali Ndamase then came to my bedroom as I was asleep to confront me for being unfaithful and attempted to stab me of which I then protected myself by pushing her away from me, resulting in her sustaining injuries as she made contact with the wall.”

Sidambe added that Ndamase had a history of physically assaulting him, especially when under the influence of substances he could not name.

READ THE FULL STATEMENT BELOW

A screenshot of Leeroy Sidambe’s statement.

Netizens were shocked at how many times Ndamase tried to call Sidambe, who posted a screenshot of his call log, to prove that he had received over 70 missed calls from her that day.

A screenshot of Leeroy Sidambe’s call log.

Some users said that Ndamase was better off when she was single, because dating Sidambe had tainted her image as one of the best content creators who was all about securing her bag.

“Leeroy is the worst thing to happen to Mihlali yeses,” commented @Dus_Tee_

@aseisheated said: “Leeroy is not only calling Mihlali mentally unstable he also called her a druggie 🙂🙂🙂🙂… I hope she really leaves this time bawooo (oh Lord) this man has been nothing but trouble to her and her image!”

Others concluded that the two were toxic together and would be better off being single as South Africa was a country with a high gender-based violence rate and the situation could escalate

According to an article published by Statista in July last year, domestic violence-related common assault accounted for around 34 percent of the overall number of common assault reports in South Africa.

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Leeroy Sidambe denies Mihlali Ndamase’s allegations, alleges substance abuse

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