Somizi Mhlongo, one of the most celebrated and wealthy stars in South Africa, says he’s is tired of people pestering him for money.
He recently revealed he received an average of five requests for financial help per day.
In his “Bathroom Talk with Somizi” Instagram video series, he spoke of how overwhelmed he felt when requests for money came through.
“I receive nothing less than five requests per day, not from social media, but people on my contact list either family or friends that would ask for financial help.
“And yesterday I think I got overwhelmed when I got texts from different people asking for me to borrow them money. And I’m tired... I am tired. I don’t blame them, I feel sorry for them. I’ve been in that situation before,” he said.
The “Idols SA” judge said they did not realise they were not the only ones asking him for money. However, if they knew, maybe they would understand.
“As the receiver, it feels too much. Why do people think I have money to borrow around. That’s me thinking, and not me blaming them,” he said.
The cookbook author said people's tone differed when they asked for money and when they needed to repay.
“People’s tones are very different. The tone when they are asking is ‘please’ and ‘promises’, but when they have to bring it back you have to now say ‘please bring my money back’, ‘Please, I need my money’. And based on that experiences my heart has now hardened,” he said.
“If I keep on helping my cup is getting emptier and emptier and emptier and who is going to help me when I am in that situation. I need to get to a place where I say ‘I can’t, I can not’,“ said the ”Living the Dream with Somizi“ star.
He asked those he did not help not to take it personally.
“It’s not personal, sometimes people get tired, people get drained...When Somizi says ‘I can’t’ it’s because he can’t. Not because he doesn’t want to...and him saying he can’t is not because he doesn’t have, but because what he has is his, to protect himself,” he said.
His fans agreed and commented with their personal matters.
miss_mahlatsi07 said: “I wish my entire family and friends could listen to this 👏👏👏👏.”
jabu_brown wrote: “Eish jah ne.. 🤦🏽♂️🤦🏽♂️ and mina sometimes I borrow them knowing they would not bring it back.. so I can put them on a -1 problem list, cause nami I can’t keep on making a follow up on when are they going to pay me.”
refiloe_fifilicious commented: “I can relate. It’s so draining 😢😢 I need to learn to say NO and not feel bad about it.”