Our hands-off encounter with R Kelly

By Stevens Muendo

Unless he stays in your hometown, you don’t get to cross paths with American R&B music maestro, Robert Kelly often. Understandably, it was a spectacle when we bumped into him enjoying an evening stroll. The singer was visiting South Africa for a series of performances and decided to have some fresh air at Nelson Mandela Square in upmarket Johannesburg.

While Kelly was all smiley, his security detail was in a totally different mood.

Earlier in the day, Kelly’s management had forced journalists attending his press conference to sign contracts preventing them from publishing any material that he had not approved.

The contract went as far as threatening journalists in breach of the contract with a R800,000 (Sh8 million) defamation lawsuit.

Kelly’s managers said they were censoring local media so as to stop journalists from misquoting the super star.

But we still tracked him down the streets, pressing for an interview — all in vain.

Apart from one waitress who had a chance of a lifetime to hug the venerated singer, his fans had to contend with waving from afar. The paparazzi were not spared. The bodyguards had thrown a security ring around the singer and any civilised interaction was reduced to shouting and jostling to interview the singer who effortlessly ignored the questions. To get a good shot, the paparazzi had to wrestle his security detail. It was amazing that the security guys would not take the cue from their boss, as he was keen to earn a few more fans in Africa. But then, Kelly later apologised to journalists as South African police questioned his possible role in an investment scam where pensioners were swindled millions of dollars.

"We apologise for any misunderstanding this may have inadvertently caused," a member of his team said.

"Over the years we have found that the media have quoted R Kelly selectively or even misquoted him completely to create sensationalist publicity about him."

The singer was due for questioning over a scam where a South African woman was arrested in 2005 for promising investors a hefty return from an R Kelly concert that never happened.

Kelly was indicted in 2002 on 21 counts of having sexual intercourse with a minor. He was acquitted last year.

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MP cohabiting with radio girl

Are they married or just cohabiting? A married MP is said to have moved in with a radio presenter from a leading FM station. The two are said to have been in a steamy relationship for the last eight months. The not so youthful MP from the Coast region has been dropping and picking the girl from her office. Recently, the two took a flight to Mombasa where they spent a weekend in a popular hotel. The sassy presenter recently told her close friends that she didn’t care if the MP had ‘another’ wife as she is currently living with him. She even went ahead to boast that the MP was about to buy her a new car. The girl moved to some apartments in Kileleshwa some months ago.