Actress Shalate Sekhabi has spoken out after fake news about her personal life began spreading on social media. The House of Zwide star took to her Instagram stories to address false claims that she is pregnant, which were shared on Facebook using manipulated images and misleading captions.
Shalate made it clear that the story is completely untrue and that the situation has left her upset and frustrated. She shared screenshots of the fake posts and asked her followers to help stop the spread of the misinformation. In her first message, she wrote: “Hi my loves. Please help me by reporting the following posts that are spreading fake news. Some people really need to get a life, and urgently so. It’s actually so sick.”
The fake post used her character name and praised her appearance, claiming she was expecting a baby. The caption falsely read: “Shoki, the talented House of Zwide actress, is glowing with health and happiness as she embraces her pregnancy.” Shalate also reacted strongly to the use of artificial intelligence to create the image, writing: “I HATE AI sooooo much!!”
To clear up the confusion, the actress shared two images side by side — the edited photo showing her as pregnant and the original photo that had been altered. She explained the situation by saying: “This was my original post that was the manipulated.” In another story, she pointed out that what people were mistaking for a baby bump was simply an outfit choice. She wrote: “Like y’all know this is a dress right?! Bathong ke kopa le direng something ka Al. It’s actually scary.”
As the fake news continued to spread, Shalate explained why she eventually decided to speak up. She admitted that she initially wanted to ignore the situation but felt forced to address it after strangers began approaching her about the false pregnancy. She said: “I didn’t want to address this and make it a thing because there’s no truth to it but so many people believe it. And after having several strangers come up to me regarding this, it gets to a point.”
She described the experience as deeply uncomfortable and violating. According to the actress, it is disturbing that someone would create a fake image and story about a person they do not know. She shared her feelings honestly, saying: “It’s just an extremely violating feeling knowing that somebody woke up and decided to create an image and a post about someone they don’t know, knowing it’s fake. Surely such a person is not okay upstairs? Like is everything ok at home?”
Shalate ended her message by once again asking for support from the public to help report the fake posts. She said: “Anyways, I would appreciate everyone who sees this post to please click on the links shared and report the posts. Thanks so much in advance.”
