Tanzanian singer Sefu Shabani, widely known as Matonya, has been arrested and charged with rape in Kenya.
The 43-year-old denied the charge when he appeared before a court in the coastal city of Mombasa.
Kenya’s Director of Public Prosecutions said in a statement on X that the court granted him bail set at $4 000 and ordered him to surrender his Tanzanian passport.
Matonya is a well-known figure in East African music, popular for his “bongo flava” style, a genre from Tanzania that blends Swahili lyrics, romantic melodies and urban beats, often influenced by coastal taarab music.
Prosecutors told the court that the alleged incident took place at an apartment in Nyali, a beach area in Mombasa, on Tuesday.
–ChannelAfrica–
