KWAITO musician Tokollo Tshabalala of TKZee fame has turned to the courts to ask for protection from his former lover.

Tshabalala claims that Taylor Mokeleni, an information technology specialist, has threatened, harassed, intimidated and verbally abused him - and has also deliberately scratched his car.

But Mokeleni said she had no idea he had obtained a protection order against her.

The Number One Tsotsi singer yesterday applied for an interim protection order from the Domestic Violence Unit at the Randburg magistrate's court.

He asked the court to restrain her from harassing, intimidating or verbally abusing him.

The bad boy of kwaito, Tshabalala, has previously faced murder charges in Botswana for which he was acquitted last year.

He also appeared in the Johannesburg magistrate's court on charges of tax evasion.

Tshabalala says Mokeleni is a danger to his life and yesterday, the court granted him the protection order in terms of which she has to stop sending him threatening SMSes.

"She has been blackmailing me and my new girlfriend and has gone to the extent of tarnishing my image in Sunday newspapers and magazines," he said in court papers.

Tshabalala, 34, also claimed that Mokeleni threatened to destroy him.

"She even scratched my car while she was forcing her way inside a friend's complex in Fourways," he said in court papers. "She is threatening all my friends and has told them that she will never stop terrorising me and that I must come back to her. She is dangerous."

In his affidavit, he said he feared for his life.

Mokeleni said yesterday that she was unaware of the protection order against her because she had not yet received a copy of it.