This story was previously published in the DRUM print edition.
She’s been bullied for everything from boozing to her looks and clothes. And most recently, people laid into her simply because she was out having a good time. In a video circulated on social media, Zahara is seen laughing, dancing and generally having a blast with her buddy Mshayi. Nothing wrong with a little innocent fun between friends, right? But when the Afro-soul sensation is heard singing along to his gqom track in the wrong key, the knives really came out on social media.
Was she drunk, people wanted to know. Had she fallen off the wagon? Not at all, Zahara tells us. Earlier that day, she had performed for a 30 000-strong crowd at a stadium in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. After belting out her best ballads to fans, she wanted to let her hair down a little, so she decided to let loose with Mshayi during his set.
“I am young and I also like to have fun with my peers,” she says. She didn’t think twice when he asked her to sing along to Shaya, and she certainly didn’t think singing off-key would cause a social media storm.
In the video, Zahara laughs when Mshayi jokingly takes the mic back from her. She’s still laughing at rumours that she “botched” the song because she was intoxicated.
After years of feeling taunted, teased and targeted, she no longer pays any mind to her haters – and she couldn’t be happier. But there’s another reason for the twinkle in her eye, she admits. “There’s a new man in my life and we are in a beautiful courtship,” she says.
Having had her fai r share of heartbreak over the years, she doesn’t want tionship just yet. As any celebrity can tell you, being famous sometimes feels like you’re living in a glass bowl. And while she doesn’t mind sharing parts of her private life, she’s tired of being judged and isn’t afraid to let her critics know it. “Even though I don’t drink anymore, it doesn’t mean I can’t have fun.”
Since revealing her battle with depression and substance abuse a few years ago, the Loliwe singer has turned her life around.
She’s not just an award-winning artist – last year she became the first South African musician to sign a five-year residency with Emperors Palace hotel. But despite cleaning up her act and blazing a trail , she often trends online for her personal life rather than her career. In the latest case, Zahara wasn’t aware she was being filmed and she’s not sure what all the fuss is about.
“We travel across the world and we spend most of our time in hotels so this time I just decided to have fun. There was nothing wrong with what I did,” she says. “I will go out if I want to go out and have fun. If anyone has a problem, then it is theirs to deal with.”
Read more| Zahara on her new single, the album she's working on and life after losing her sister
Zahara may not want to dish all the details on her love life, but she’s thrilled to let us know she’ll soon be sharing the stage at Emperors Palace with her mom. “It is going to be wonderful,” she gushes. Music runs in their genes. Her sisters – Nomonde, Lumka and Bandezwa Mkutukana – released a gospel album under Zahara’s record label in 2016 and, Zahara says, they get their love of music from Nokhaya.
“My mother is a great singer. She and I are in sync – we don’t even need to rehearse because music is what we do,” she says. “I am very excited.”
