Poet a petrol-bomber?

"PEOPLE'S poet" Mzwakhe Mbuli is facing the possibility of being charged with arson. It has emerged that the police will be questioning him in connection with the petrol-bombing of a lawyer's house last year.

Sunday World has reliably learnt that police from Mondeor, southern Joburg, are now interested in Mbuli's understanding of what happened in July last year when lawyer Zweli Zakwe's house was attacked.

Zakwe is the lawyer of Mbuli's ex-wife, Thembeka Ndaba.

He helped her to apply for a court order when her relationship with Mbuli soured.

His house, which was attacked a few days after he helped Ndaba to apply successfully for the restraining order, was badly damaged. The police have made no arrests.

A police source, who saw the docket, said new evidence supplied by witnesses shows that Zakwe received threatening messages prior to the bombing.

The messages were sent from an identifiable number which was given to police.

One of the messages reads: "You dog, you are representing a witch, the Taliban will deal with you. Your children and wife are not safe."

The officer could not give exact details of how Zakwe's home was attacked.

Police spokesman Lungelo Dlamini could not confirm the allegations by the time of publication.

According to a close friend of Mbuli's, who did not want to be named, the convicted bank robber and struggle veteran uses the term "Taliban" often.

Mbuli's lawyer, Jerry Koma, said they have not formally been told of any charges against his client.

"I had an informal conversation with advocate Zakwe either late last year or early this year and he told me that they had some information which makes Mbuli a suspect, but we didn't discuss it any further," said Koma.

He said he would inform Mbuli.

Mbuli, who attended and read some of his apartheid-era poems during a service for Nelson Mandela at Air Force Base Waterkloof yesterday, could not be reached for comment.

Mbuli, a former deacon of the Apostolic Faith Mission Church in Soweto, has had seven cases opened against him in the past 20 years.

They include fraud, theft, abduction, assault and intimidation.

When Sunday World contacted Zakwe, he denied knowledge of Mbuli being sought in connection with the petrol-bombing.

"I have no knowledge that there is already a suspect in my case. The police have not told me of any developments," he said.

Ndaba said: "Ask Zakwe - it's his house that was bombed, so he would have more information."

Cracks in Mbuli and Ndaba's marriage started showing when Mbuli reportedly accused her of "being a witch" after finding muthi in their home in Mondeor.

She then accused him of failing to "lift up his main-switch" and satisfy her in bed.

The two were married for less than a year before they separated.

 - Additional reporting by Amos Mananyetso