The glare of the celebrity spotlight has shone on Hloniphile Makamu in the wake of an embarrassing sex scandal involving her husband Bishop Israel.
Bishop Makamu in full denial mode
Makamu, a revered religious leader and host of Moja Love TV’s Rea Tsotella, was thrust into sexual aspersions after a leaked audio recording surfaced on the internet, where the bishop was heard allegedly soliciting sex from a woman.
Makamu, who voluntarily stepped down from the popular TV show, has vehemently denied these claims. In fact, the bishop believes that the audio recording we heard was altered and used as an attempt to extort money from him.
Since the scandal broke out, Makamu has opted to stay away from addressing the situation, while internal investigations at Moja Love TV continue.
Five things we know about Hloniphile Makamu
In the midst of all this, Hloniphile has stuck out as the real victim. The bishop’s wife has yet to issue a public statement on the viral audio recording which Makamu stresses was from a conversation he had with the woman in 2017.
We did a bit of digging to get to know more about Hloniphile and here’s what we uncovered:
How she met Makamu
The couple has always been candid about their 16-year-old marriage. In a 2019 interview with News24, Makamu detailed how he mustered up the courage to ask his wife out the first day he met her at a taxi rank in 2003.
He’d just dropped off a friend at the Katlehong public transit district when his eyes locked onto Hloniphile who stood by a nearby traffic light.
After a week of stalking her every move, the bishop finally gathered the gall to approach her and years later, the couple is still married, albeit not so happily at the moment.
She studied nursing
When Makamu met Hloniphile, she was a 19-year-old nursing student at Ann Latsky Nursing College, in Johannesburg. At this time, it’s not known if the bishop’s wife completed her course.
Her marriage to Makamu was ‘a calling from God’
In her reflection of their long-term relationship, Hloniphile has admitted that she never saw herself spending her life with a religious leader.
The fact that she grew up in a Christian home did play a big part in her taking a liking to Makamu.
“He and I spoke the same language… I was nervous about being Mamfundisi [but] it was my calling from God,” she said.
She is from Katlehong
Hloniphile was raised in Katlehong, a large Joburg township that’s home to some of the country’s biggest stars like Kwesta and Makwa.
She has three children
Hloniphile and Makamu have three children: Ntwanano (14), Ntokozo (12) and Ntsumi (three).