Skeem Saam actress, pastor, and media personality Innocent “Inno” Sadiki has rubbished allegations she and her husband, Pastor Phindulo Sadiki, deliberately burnt their house for an insurance policy payout.
On Monday, 2 July, the Skeem Saam actress – who plays the character of Sthoko on the SABC 1 educational drama – shared a heartbreaking video revealing the damage the fire caused on their Fourways home.
In the video, Inno and her husband comfort each other as they walk towards their destroyed house. This, together with a Story Hghlights on Inno’s Instagram account labelled “our burnt house”, fuelled scrutiny on social media as the actress was accused of “clout chasing”
Others resurfaced a controversial picture of the Pastors Wives reality TV star, lying on her late grandmother’s casket during the night vigil in October last year, as a reference for their clout-chasing claims.
Following the fire incident, Inno’s twin sister Millicent “Milly” Mashile shared pleaded for donations, further fuelling social media speculation that fire was deliberate.
Upon further digging, netizens found images of the house, in which it appeared to be abandoned.
Speaking to ZiMoja, Inno said that she is not fazed by the negative comments. She said her focus is ensuring that her family is physically, emotionally, and psychologically well.
“What kind of mother would put her kids in such a traumatic experience just to trend or to gain fame? I would never do that to my kids. What kind of monster would I be?”
“I told my family members and friends who have been sending me all the negative screengrabs from social media to stop,” she added.
According to Milly, who spoke to TshisaLIVE on Tuesday, items worth approximately R2 million were lost in the devastating fire.
“The house was around R3m and the things inside were about R2m because as content creators we have a lot of expensive equipment. Roughly R5m was lost. They had literally just finished doing renovations in the kitchen and bought appliances. They did a lot of work on the house. It was starting to feel like a home and then this happened,” Milly said.
Inno told ZiMoja: “I am stressed about my kids’ books, school uniforms, and getting them into therapy. People’s opinions won’t help me at this time.”
The actress further thanked everyone who has been by their side.
“To my followers, churches, businesspeople, and celebrities who have been helpful, we are grateful for your support,” she said.