Reality TV personality Mel Viljoen cut short a sit-down interview with eNCA on Wednesday after senior reporter Silindelo Sebata pressed her, reports Cape {town} Etc.
The interview took a turn just as it was starting when she disputed the theft amount on her March 2026 arrest in Boca Raton, Florida. Authorities alleged she and her husband, Peet, stole more than $5000 worth of groceries from a Publix supermarket across 52 visits.
It was supposed to be a fact-finding interview on her arrest in the US, but Mel Viljoen cut the mic on senior reporter, Silindelo Sebata, leaving before Sebata could find out more about her time with ice.
Read full article here: https://t.co/yWHgQ1M0ag pic.twitter.com/H82BXoXWAt
— eNCA (@eNCA) June 10, 2026
Viljoen, who returned to South Africa last week following over a month in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, had been making media appearances appealing for public sympathy.
Sebata invited her in for what Viljoen later claimed was misrepresented as a softer interview. When the questions turned to the theft allegations, she told Sebata:
‘I don’t think this conversation is going anywhere, with respect. You invited me on false pretences,’ before unclipping her microphone and leaving the studio.
Viljoen maintained that the Florida grocery incident stemmed from a bank card payment failure, not theft and insisted she has not been convicted of any crime.
The eNCA interview also revisited the couple’s legal disputes with the US owners of the Tammy Taylor nail franchise, which Viljoen dismissed as business fallout.
Her husband remains in a US federal detention facility, awaiting an immigration hearing. The walkout drew immediate reaction on X, with many users praising Sebata’s composure.
Businessman Vusi Thembekwayo questioned why Viljoen was given airtime at all, writing: ‘Why, in the name of all that is holy, would the nation need to hear from a person who has been charged with criminal behaviour in two separate countries?’
eNCA noted the parallel with US President Donald Trump, who walked out of a Meet the Press interview days earlier.
Mel Viljoen abruptly left eNCA’s studios after Sli Sebata questioned why she had returned from the US under another cloud of accusations. A familiar scene this week after US President Donald Trump similarly stormed out of an interview with Meet the Press on Monday. pic.twitter.com/71suqecclz
— eNCA (@eNCA) June 10, 2026
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