In 2017, singer Lady Zamar known as Yamikani Janet Banda accused her ex-boyfriend Sjava for raping her.
In 2018, Lady Zamar then opened a rape case against her ex-boyfriend, Sjava further denied the rape allegations and filed an application so that his side of the story can be heard in the high court.
Sjava released a statement thereafter, according to Sowetan, the statement reads:
“As a final statement on this matter, I write to you as my colleagues, business partners, peers and supporters to inform you that I will not be engaging on matters of assault and abuse levelled against me on social media or any other platform.
“I have instituted legal proceedings in the high court of SA and as such the matter is now sub-judice,” he said in his statement.
In 2020, the NPA declined to prosecute the case and stated that there were no enough facts and evidence to support the prosecution.
Lady Zamar opens up about the difficulties she encountered after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) made a decision to withdraw the charges she levelled against Sjava.
The singer has since been a victim of cyberbullying following the rape allegations, she says that the whole thing has affected her mental to a point where she got diagnosed with PTSD.
Lady Zamar told TheSouthAfrican, that the alleged rape incident affected her mentally: “Mentally, I struggled for a very long time. In 2017, I had just dropped my first album, King Zamar, and then something really bad happened to me. I was never really allowed to deal with it because I had to keep being Lady Zamar. I was completely unaware that I didn’t deserve that. I used to feel like it was my fault that it happened to me. So, I kept quiet for so long. I know that a question a lot of people ask themselves is: ‘Why did she take forever about what happened?’ It was really bad; I didn’t think I had the right to.”
“Through a psychologist and psychiatrist, I was able to finally realise that I was never to blame. That is when I really started to heal. That was in 2020 and in 2021. I was still dealing with the anger and resentment I had. Last year, when I dropped my first single, I was still testing the waters. This year I’ve finally healed. I’ve forgiven myself for not being confident in myself. I saw that I could stand up to everybody and the monsters around me.
Lady Zamar claims that the decision the NPA made about her rape case does not take away the fact that she was indeed raped.
Main Image: Instagram