- Police confirmed that Maja Janeska was found with a gunshot wound to the head on Friday.
- Janeska was in a relationship with Kyle Phillips, the co-head of Adriano Mazzotti’s Carnilinx cigarette company, at the time of her death.
- Police do not consider Janeska’s death suspicious, but family and friends have told News24 they cannot believe she would take her own life.
Famed makeup artist and businesswoman Maja Janeska, whose cigarette magnate boyfriend Kyle Phillips helped EFF leader Julius Malema pay his tax bill, has died of a gunshot wound to the head, police confirmed.
Police told News24 that they had opened an investigation file in relation to Janeska’s death, which means, at this time, that police authorities are not treating him as a suspect.
“Police received a call about a person who allegedly committed suicide on the Bassonia Estate. Upon arriving at the address provided, police found a woman in the bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head. There was a firearm next to her The woman was certified dead by paramedics,” said police spokesman Lt. Col. Mavela Masondo.
News24 has learned from impeccable sources that Phillips had told people close to the incident that he was in the house at the time of Janeska’s death and had run into the room where she was found.
Phillips’ ex-wife, Tracy, disputed this account of events, but was unable to provide details as to why. She said Phillips was “devastated and shocked by this tragedy.”
She said that he would “cooperate with the investigation.”
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The passing of the popular Macedonian Instagram influencer, whose 1.2 million followers included Malema and celebrities like Boity, Pearlthusi and Tamara Dey, has left her family in Europe and friends in South Africa reeling.
His sister, who asked not to be named, told News24 that the family was “absolutely shocked” by the devastating news.
“Our phones haven’t stopped ringing off the hook; this is all new to us. We’re in Europe and our hands are tied because we can’t come to South Africa because of visa issues. My sister is lying there in a morgue, and we have no clue what is really happening,” he added.
Maja Janeska (far right) speaks to EFF leader Julius Malema’s wife Mantwa at the wedding of Carnilinx boss Adriano Mazzotti’s daughter in Ibiza, Spain in July this year. Entrepreneur Kyle Phillips (second from left), in conversation with EFF’s Vuyani Pambo, is a business partner of Mazzotti at Carnilinx and a former partner of Janeska. He lent Malema R1 million to settle her tax bill with Sars. (Image: supplied)
According to her sister, Janeska’s family learned of her death from one of Phillips’s former associates, who called to say that her body had been found and that suicide was suspected as the cause of her death.
“She sometimes feared for her life. Her boyfriend had men working for him, and she feared them too. We are heartbroken and really don’t know what to do,” Janeska’s sister said.
He added that when Phillips contacted them about Janeska’s death, he seemed “distraught.”
For Janeska’s close friend, Iva Ristic, the news of her untimely death was “heartbreaking” and impossible to process.
“I spoke to her on Thursday and she was not suicidal. She was not that kind of person,” she said.
She added:
He had just returned from a diplomatic trip in Macedonia. She was such a beautiful woman, full of life, very talented and ambitious. She knew the country’s ministers and chefs well. She loved life, and I don’t understand why anyone would hurt her in any way.
Janeska’s social media posts and media engagements portray her as an optimistic and driven woman, who was determined to succeed.
READ | Malema’s Spanish party with the Mazzotti
In a speech to university students in Macedonia just nine days before her death, Janeska described how she had left Macedonia at the age of 19 and moved to Tanzania, where she got a job in a hotel. It was there that she learned Swahili and began a career as a makeup artist and hairstylist.
He urged his young audience not to give up on their dreams.
“You can have good and bad moments in life, but it is you who can and should make the changes. One thing is desire, another trust. Believe in yourself, because that’s the only way to succeed,” she said.
Vice Minister in the Presidency Pinky Kekana and Maja Janeska. (maya_mia_y via Instagram)
The Macedonian judge Darko Kostadinovski and Maja Janeska. (maya_mia_y via Instagram)
Maja Janeska and Kenyan politician Hassan Joho. (maya_mia_y via Instagram)
Maja Janeska and the Tanzanian politician January Makamba. (maya_mia_y via Instagram)
In her latest Instagram post, dated November 22, Janeska was pictured with North Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osman. She posted that the compromise was aimed at establishing diplomatic relations between “my country, the Republic of North Macedonia, and my second home, the Republic of South Africa.”
“The journey of uniting the two countries and nations was my mission as a patriot and the love for both countries and nations is what led me to start it. This relationship has brought incredible opportunities for business, education, tourism and exchange of cultural experiences…
“My heart is full of love and appreciation for both countries.”
READ | EFF leaders want Malema and Mazzotti ‘housekeeper’ story dropped and Pauw’s book pulled from shelves
Social media posts and Janeska’s LinkedIn profile show a profound shift from her early life as a makeup artist and beauty blogger to an aspiring businesswoman.
He said it “continues to grow” in, among other things, the energy, mining and tobacco industries.
Her relationship with Phillips, who is co-head of Adriano Mazzotti’s Carnilinx cigarette company, was described by those who knew the couple as “on and off”.
However, the couple was photographed together at Mazzotti’s daughter’s July wedding in Ibiza, which Malema and his wife also attended.
In 2015, the Sunday Times reported that court documents, relating to a tax dispute between Malema and the South African Revenue Service, had revealed that the EFF leader told tax authorities that Phillips had lent him R1 million to help him settle your tax bill.
