MOSES MALAPELA aka SHUMBA RATSHEGA
Celebrated traditional musician, Moses Malapela popularly known as Shumba Ratshega has been ordered to pay maintenance for his four-year-old child whom he fathered with ex-girlfriend Goitsemang Manyothwane after she dragged him to court for failure to support the child.
Magistrate Basetsana Keakantse of the Gaborone Magistrate’s Court this week awarded Manyothwane P750 monthly towards the child’s maintenance.
Manyothwane revealed that she took Malapela to court because he was not contributing to his child’s welfare. She said she understood his position when he was not supporting the child when he was born because he was not working and she was taking care of all the child’s need.
“I had met him in 2004 when we started our relationship which later broke down because of a girlfriend who called while I was with him in the bedroom. He ignored the phone but I later picked it up only to find that it was a lady. When I gave him the phone, that certain lady asked him who she was with but he failed to answer. It was then that Malapela became angry and moved out of my house during that night. He never came back despite attempts to call him on his phone, which he refused to answer. I gave up on the relationship,”said Manyothwane.
Manyothwane told the court that Malapela once gave her mother P1000 but has since disappeared despite being celebrated on TV and radio stations around the country.
She said she was happy with the court's decision because he will know that he is supposed to maintain his child. She claimed the child had only one pair of takkies, which are the only shoes he ever bought him.
However, Malepala maintained in court that he had been taking care of his child.
“I once bought my child a bicycle and this shows that I take care of my child. I always give her more than P750 and now I am being ordered to pay less,” he said.
