ACTRESS Sonia Mbele has been given one last chance to appear on Friday, 20 October.
This as she has stood the court up twice already. She was meant to appear on 23 September but didn't show up, instead she sent a medical certificate.
Her next court date was set for 5 October, but she also didn't show up.
In her explanation, Sonia (46) said she has been working too hard. She said this led to her experiencing a burnout that turned to be chronic. So, she has been taking care of herself.
"You would all remember Sonia Mbele was admitted in May from work burnout which turned chronic. She is currently still getting treatment and taking weekly iron drips. As for the court matter, her legal representative, the NPA and Sars are dealing with the court matter accordingly,” her spokesperson said.
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Sonia also hasn't been active on social media. Her last post on Instagram, which she uses frequently, was on 20 September.
In response to her no-show, NPA spokewoman Phindi Mjonondwane said the criminal justice system will not be held hostage by Sonia. She said the NPA wanted to share what is wrong with her so they can know if she's really sick and if the matter should be postponed.
"The court has granted the last opportunity to Miss Mbele to attend the proceeding in that it marked the postponement as final following her submission of a medical certificate for the second time, where she could not attend court, citing ill-heath.
"We also raised concerns as the prosecution because we cannot have undue delays. We raised our concerns with the court and it then marked the matter final. So, we are hoping that on 20 October, all three accused will be present in court, so the matter can proceed," Phindi said.
Sonia and her co-accused Yolisa Gqunta and Rebone Sesing, who are all directors of Real Housewives of South Africa (Pty) Ltd, are facing 42 counts of not filing company income tax from 2019 to 2022, not filing their Value Added Tax (VAT) returns from 2020 to 2022 and also not filing their Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) from 2020 until 2022.
