ZIMBABWE’S two remaining representatives in Big Brother Africa – Rockford ‘Roki’ Josphats and Maneta Mazanhi – were kicked out from the TV show on Tuesday after a physical confrontation.
Maneta and Roki had survived until day 44 of the show’s 91-day run when things flared up, sparked by Roki dousing Maneta with water. She retaliated by squeezing washing liquid in his face, temporarily blinding him.
But Tuesday’s events were not isolated. Here, we chronicle how the mutually destructive feud between Maneta and Roki developed over time, culminating in their disqualification from the M-Net TV show:
DAY 7
Maneta survives eviction but her sister, Teclar, leaves the show.
She is upgraded from Downville to Upville where Roki and six other African celebrity housemates are housed.
DAY 8
Roki makes his move on Maneta, tells her: “I could walk away from you and still have your face in my head.”
Maneta walks away as Roki begs for a hug.
Roki tries some flattery but draws fire from Maneta.
Maneta tells Roki “you know me very well, I ain’t falling for that s***.”
DAY 9
Roki says Maneta is playing “hard to get”.
“You know how some girls are. Some girls that’s how they show a guy that they like them, by being negative about everything that guy is involved in. She is trying to bully me emotionally a lot, maybe it’s because she is young, she is more energetic and that’s the way she talks and stuff. I don’t know,” he tells Big Brother.
DAY 11
Roki seduces Maneta with a sensual massage.
DAY 14
Roki says Maneta has a “put on” accent to convince people back home that “I’m strict down ghetto”.
“People in my country don’t talk like that,” Roki tells DKB and Prezzo.
DAY 15
Roki tells Maneta that she is spoiled, to which she replied: "My mother died when I was three and my father when I was 11. How can I be spoiled?"
Roki tells Maneta – a law student – that she “took a break from stupidity” to enter Big Brother.
Maneta tells Big Brother in the Diary Room that she has “resorted to silence because I’ve seen that if I don’t resort to silence, I might be kicked out of this house, disqualified for beating him up because he is really riding on my last nerve. You’ve no idea.”
On the same day, Roki nominates Maneta for eviction.
DAY 20
Maneta and Roki appear to heal rift as they cuddle up in bed.
DAY 21
Maneta survives eviction as Zambia’s Mampi is sent home.
Roki and Ghana’s DKB are punished by Big Brother for a verbal spat.
DAY 22
Roki tells Big Brother Maneta sees him as competition, claims Maneta makes up names for him like “nemesis”. “Right now I’m just gonna stay away from her,” he says.
He then tells Big Brother that Maneta looked “fly” yesterday and says his “tongue almost dropped from my face”.
DAY 27
Maneta complains about Roki. She reasons: “His main problem is that we are the only two people in this house who come from the same country. He feels so threatened by me that he has to bring me down all the f***** time.”
DAY 29
Maneta nominates Roki for eviction. The latter notches two nominations but is saved from facing the public vote by the disqualification of Ghana’s DKB and Sierra Leone’s Zainab.
DAY 30
Just as Maneta and Roki appeared to be on a path to peace, old hostilities return as the two are locked in a fiery exchange.
Maneta vows to “kill” Roki, adding: “I will stab him to death.”
Maneta turns down an invitation for a drink from Kenya’s Prezzo, saying alcohol “aggravates the anger, it gives me more mojo and energy to f*** [punch] somebody.”
She adds: “Let that nigger come to my face one more time, I swear, Lord help me!”
DAY 39
Maneta writes rap song in memory of her late mum who died when she was aged just three.
“Mama this song is for you/Everything I do I do it for you/Wish you were here to tell me well done,” she raps.
DAY 40
Roki tells Keitta and Prezzo that he showed Maneta his member last night, but stresses: "I did not strip, I flashed.
"She has seen it and felt it before.”
Roki has a heart-to-heart with Nigeria’s Goldie and appears to suggest she knew Maneta BEFORE they entered the house.
He claims “somewhere in Maneta’s little Hip Hop mind she probably does think of me before having sex with another man.”
Roki claims to have “hit that before” – suggesting he previously bedded Maneta.
DAY 43
Roki nominates Maneta for eviction. She is up for the chop with Namibia’s Lady May and Ghana’s Keitta.
Roki strips naked while in the jacuzzi with the bikini-clad Maneta and Namibia’s Junia.
DAY 44
Maneta – dressed in all-black – has a meltdown in the Diary Room as she tells Big Brother that her housemates hate her.
“The fact that in Season 7 I’m the one housemate with the most nominations – three times – I feel like something is wrong with me. Maybe my personality is bad, or I’m a bad person or people are right I’m just a horrible person [sic]. I don’t know if Africa is gonna keep me for a third time, so I’m depressed and I feel dark,” she wailed.
Hours later, a water sport goes wrong after Roki sprays Maneta unexpectedly, and she retaliates by squeezing washing liquid in his face.
A doctor is called and Roki is said to be alright.
But after Maneta is summoned to the Diary Room and housemates gathered in the living room, Big Brother announces the two Zimbabweans have been disqualified.
Big Brother said over the speakers: “Maneta and Roki you have both contravened the provocation rule, repeatedly. Roki you intentionally provoked Maneta by pouring water over her head. Maneta, you then threw cleaning fluid in Roki’s face.
“Maneta, you also threatened to stab Roki. This after you had both thrown fluids over each other earlier in the day.
“Big Brother asked you both to show restraint – and neither of you did. As you are both no doubt aware, you have left Big Brother with absolutely no choice. In terms of the House Rules you have both been disqualified from the game.”
Day 8 MANETA: ‘LEAVE ME ALONE’
Day 9 ‘MANETA PLAYS HARD TO GET’
Day 11 ROKI GIVES MANETA A MASSAGE
Day 15 MANETA: ‘ROKI PROVOKING ME’
Day 20 ROKI JUMPS INTO MANETA’S BED
Day 22 ROKI ON MANETA’S BEAUTY
Day 23 MANETA AND ROKI BURN MIDNIGHT OIL
Day 27 MANETA: ‘ROKI FEELS THREATENED’
Day 30 MANETA: I WILL STAB HIM TO DEATH
Day 39 MANETA SINGS FOR LATE MUM
Day 43 ROKI STRIPS NAKED IN FRONT OF MANETA
Day 44 MANETA DREPRESSED, FEELS DARK
Day 44 MANETA AND ROKI FIGHT
Day 44 MANETA AND ROKI EVICTED