Fired and happy — Kuli Roberts denies venturing into politics

Media personality Kuli Roberts has denied venturing into politics, and says she's doing fine after her dismissal as lifestyle editor at Sunday World.

She was suspended by the Sunday paper after Mzwanele Jimmy Manyi claimed in September that Kuli had joined the African Transformation Movement (ATM) as a councillor candidate for ward 65 in Tshwane.

Kuli confirmed to TshisaLIVE that her contract with Sunday World had come to an end, but said she is happy.

“I was there for 10 years. Then I left and came back for a year and that's when they gave me hell. Sending me to Connie Ferguson's house to interview her when her husband's died, and I'm like I'm a fashion and lifestyle editor,” she said.

“So when they saw me in the T-shirt it was like, now we can get rid of you. I know they didn’t want me. They took the press code which was written during apartheid. It’s over. It’s concluded. I am no longer with Sunday World. How do I feel? Happy. I'm so OK. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me.”  

The media personality claimed Mzwanele had created a poster of her from her wearing an ATM shirt at a function.

“Do you see how these motherf*&%ers are killing each other? Why would I be interested in that? I never had any political ambition and they knew that. I was wearing the T-shirt for their function. Then Jimmy Manyi made a poster and posted it. So Jimmy Manyi lied about me.”

Responding to her claims, Mzwanele took to Twitter on Thursday to post email threads and an official statement from the ATM as proof Kuli had asked to step down from her affiliation with the political party.

“After careful thought and consideration, I thought I should let Kuli Roberts get away with her lies because perhaps she needed that lie for her new job, etc. However the thought of covering up for her and being complicit in a lie was unbearable.”