He may be unemployed but Katlego Maboe’s fans made sure he had a lekker birthday.
The embattled TV presenter and actor turned 34 years old yesterday, just a week after a video scandal in which he was outed as a joller.
In the video, the mother of his child, Monique Muller, accused him giving her a STD.
In an interview, she also claimed she had got a protection order against him for a “physical attack”.
Kat was suspended by Expresso while Outsurance removed his TV adverts after the video went viral, but fans have come out in support for the popular presenter saying it was unfair that he is losing work over issues in his personal life.
A “Bring Back Katlego Maboe” petition on Change.org had over 62 000 signatures yesterday.
Fans also created a “We Support Katlego” Facebook page which has nearly 5000 followers.
On Thursday, they flooded social media with birthday messages.
Many posted on the Expresso Morning Show Facebook page, wishing him happy birthday and continued their campaign to have him reinstated.
Enhle-Mbali Buthelezi wrote: “Happy birthday, Kat, may God bless you. So many ppl are cheating in South Africa and everyone deserves their Job. His personal life not anybody’s business #bringbackKat.(sic)”
Tankiso Boleke wrote: “Happy Birthday Katlego Maboe, we miss you so much, When is our brother Katlego coming back bathong,” to which Expresso Morning Show replied: “Thank you for sharing your birthday message Tankiso”.
Marc Isaacs, who started the We Support Katlego page on Facebook, says he is surprised to see that most of the supporters are women, in light of Monique’s abuse claims.
“When starting the group, I was aiming for the support specifically of men and fans, surprisingly the support is mostly women in favour of Katlego,” he said.
“I started the group (last Friday) mostly because I felt that Katlego’s partner handled the situation incorrectly and that she aimed to destroy his life.Yet the brands he worked for decided to take premature action against him, not realising that he would have the support of the people.
“On many occasions, some members asked to join simply to express their opinion on Gender-Based Violence because of reports that Katlego abused his wife.
“This was quickly dealt with by female members who advocate that he is innocent until proven guilty.”