By A Correspondent- After being blocked from attending a red carpet event in Zimbabwe, South African celebrity chef, Somizi Mhlongo finally broke his silence.

Somizi was scheduled to be the guest chef at the reopening of Garwe Restaurant in Harare.

His invitation to grace the iconic restaurant which has hosted big international visits, such as Nigeria’s P-Square duo, Sean Paul and Brick & Lace has caused a lot of controversy in the country as different players have weighed in. Churches in Zimbabwe mobilised to block Somizi from attending the function.

In a letter addressed to the Office of the President and Cabinet and several government ministries and the churches asked the government to block Somizi from the country because of his se_xual orientation.

Somizi posted a video on his Instagram account explaining to his fans how disappointed he was to have been blocked from coming into Zimbabwe.

“I have some sad news…I was booked to be in Zimbabwe as part of my cooking thingy. There is a reopening of a restaurant. Everything was done properly, they had made the payment and they started saying no because I haven’t posted the event, they want their refund and want to cancel,” he said.

He claims that something felt offish when they contacted him telling him that they wanted to cancel their arrangement because he didn’t post the event on his Instagram.

”I suspected something was off. From last week Thursday, I didn’t have my phone and I don’t have my login details for Instagram and I made clear to them that I won’t be able to reach my Instagram because my phone is in for repairs and the other phone I have doesn’t have Instagram….”

Somizi rubbished claims that they cancelled him because he didn’t post the event as he claims that he informed the restaurant management prior that he didn’t have access to Instagram.

He claims that he only got to discover yesterday that he was blocked from going to Zimbabwe when he logged in to his Instagram and was about to post that he is jetting into Zimbabwe.

Somizi said his suspicions were confirmed when he found his inbox flooded with messages from people asking him to comment on the issue.

He said, he was not banned because he still wants to go to Zimbabwe. Somizi revealed that there are people who don’t want him to come because of his se_xuality.

”They are people in Zimbabwe who don’t want me to come based on my sexuality, they have made it clear. And this is not the first time this has happened to me, am used to it, am okay with it but am not okay at the same time.”

He bemoaned how some African countries are not yet accepting LGBTQI+. He added that hom0phobes were no different from xenophobes and racists.