Malusi Gigaba's attempt to halt broadcast of ex-wife's explosive episode on ‘Untied' fails

The Citizen

09-07-2025

Gigaba headed to the Joburg High Court to try prevent Mngoma's appearance on the Showmax show.
Malusi Gigaba and ex-wife Norma Mngoma. Gigaba failed to halt the airing of a Mngoma interview. Pictures: Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images/ and Supplied
Malusi Gigaba's attempt to halt the broadcast of an episode where his ex-wife Norma Mngoma details the politician's alleged infidelity during their marriage has failed.
After heading to the Johannesburg High Court to prevent Mngoma's appearance on the Showmax show, Untied, the court has thrown out the matter.
Mngoma is part of Untied, a talk show series that unpacks the complex world of divorce through the stories of famous women who have lived it.
Broadcaster Relebogile Mabotja hosts the Showmax programme.
An episode has been released each week on Multichoice's streaming platform, with the first being Real Housewives of Durban cast member Nonku Williams, followed by media personality Palesa Madisakwane.
Mngoma's episode was set to be broadcast before Williams' episode. However, the episode was temporarily halted by the politician, fearing that his ex-wife would speak about Gigaba's alleged infidelity during their marriage and the use of public funds.
The Citizen was still awaiting comment from Multichoice at the time of publishing, but reports have stated that the case will not be heard, and Showmax can proceed to air the anticipated episode.
The story will be updated when the broadcaster's comment comes through.
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Gigaba's attempts
Gigaba applied for a court order to prevent ex-wife Norma Mngoma from speaking about the politician's alleged infidelity during their marriage, porn addiction and misuse of public funds.
In the lawsuit filed by Gigaba, MultiChoice is cited as the first respondent, with Goat Originals, which produced the show, as the second respondent, and Mngoma the third.
In court papers quoted by the Sunday World, the former finance minister is reported to have said that he became aware of the Untied episode when he received a WhatsApp message from its executive producer, Vanessa Tloubatla, in May.
Gigaba stated that Tloubatla had indicated that she had recently interviewed Mngoma, who had mentioned his name on the show, and wanted to offer him a right of reply.
'In terms of the attached document, Vanessa [Tloubatla] indicated that the third respondent, shared her experience of our former marriage, particularly her own perspective about our marriage, allegations of infidelity, pornography, the incident involving the Hawks, and further allegations about the use of taxpayer's money for personal trips,' Gigaba is quoted as saying.
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Gigaba requests for copy of Mngoma episode
In June, Gigaba's lawyers reportedly wrote to Tloubatla requesting a copy of the episode so he could listen to the specific allegations made against him.
Gigaba said the production company's lawyers sent him a letter stating the specific allegations Mngoma made in the show.
'In light of the aforesaid, the second respondent makes the following unfounded allegations with respect to my private life: that I was engaged in multiple extramarital affairs during the subsistence of our marriage; I was addicted to pornography; and further that I was involved in her arrest,' Gigaba stated in the court papers.
A few days later, on 10 June, Gigaba's lawyers wrote a letter to the production company's representatives, stating that Goat Originals' letter did not address the specific allegations made against him.
In light of that, this rendered him unable to respond appropriately.
'On 12th June 2025, my attorneys advised that the second respondent's attorneys provided us with snippets of the interview for the purpose of watching [it],' he said.
Gigaba said that after watching the snippets, he advised his legal team of his desire to interdict the broadcasting of the interview, on the basis that it would tarnish his name and not be in the public interest.
Some of the allegations that Mngoma makes in the interview are that Gigaba's infidelity stems from seeing his father, a priest, cheat on his mother.
'[She responded by saying] he would blame his father, because his father was a priest, he grew up looking up to his father, and his father cheated on his mother.'
'He would say 'I am going to deal with it', and he doesn't know why he is doing it,' the court papers read.
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