A popular singer and music promoter, Godfrey "King Mlatiro" Ndou, thanked Limpopo Mirror for publishing his painful story, which touched the hearts of the members of the Vhembe Pastors' Forum and Munna Ndi Nnyi men's forum.
In an earlier article, King Mlatiro told the newspaper that there were people who moved around saying that he was HIV positive, had many children with many different women, and that he was an addicted womaniser and a Satanist.
"People from Munna Ndi Nnyi and Vhembe Pastors' Forum offered me counselling free of charge this week," he said. "I am now relieved from all stress and anguish. After all the malicious lies from evil and jealous people, who wanted to put me into misery, I emerged a strong man after the publication of my story."
He added that apart from the two forums, there were churches, community organisations and previous educators who held intervention prayers for him. "They knew I am a clean man," he said.
Munna Ndi Nnyi's Dr Bardwell Mufunwaini condemned all acts of psychological and social abuse levelled against King Mlatiro. "People must know that cleanliness is next to godliness," he said. "This young man loves himself. Any person who ill-speaks of King Mlatiro is a coward – if not so, they would have been approaching him if he had ever wronged them. We urge all men in Vhembe to emulate this young man and remain clean and presentable all the time."
Vhembe Pastors' Forum's Rev TP Ramahala said: "We counselled this victim of vile abuse and conducted our observation and assessment of him. According to our findings, we can surely declare him a non-Satanist. What bad is he doing to the community that makes him a Satanist?"
Rahamala said that every person should have a social guardian to confide in them. "Even though the victim maintains that he is HIV negative, his status is nobody's business," he said. "People should not feel inadequate about any gossip that they are HIV positive. And, again, any person who utters that the next person is HIV positive has just committed a crime."