Zahara is an important newsmaker all over again and this time around it aint about her musical talents or her six SAMA nominations. No, the news is about the controversial handling of her finances. On Sunday 15 April, South Africa woke up to two conflicting articles in the leading Sunday tabloids the Sunday World and the Sunday Sun.
My fellow TVSA bloggers Cheesa and Tazteeq insisted I should write something on this and are of the opinion that I can do it somehow better or something along those lines.
The story
The Sunday World had a leading front page story detailing how Zahara continues to serve as Nhlanhla and TK Nciza’s maid. The paper alleges Zahara has got no copy of the contract she signed with TS Records. The artist who has today sold over 300 000 copies of her 2011 national anthem Loliwe – an SA record last achieved by Malaika almost a decade ago - doesn’t own any property, doesn’t have a car, let alone a driver’s license. Her parents and siblings back in the rural Eastern Cape villages, stay in a dilapidated house that looks like a three roomed house, while next door there is a really “nice” house that can be easily mistaken for a house she built her parents.
The Sunday World goes further to allege that TK and Nhlanhla, or TS Records for that matter, are ripping Zahara off. When they go to the Eastern Cape to visit Zahara’s parents, Nhlanhla instructs Zahara’s parents who are reportedly illiterate, that she would like to speak to them alone and doesn’t allow the songbird’s siblings to be part of whatever talks.
Zahara’s family spoke exclusively to the leading Sunday tabloid telling them of the Nciza’s promises to their family. The promises include decent house, yard paving, stop nonsense wall to “to protect Zahara from tsotis”, among other things.
In the article, it is stated that TS Records didn’t respond to any sms, email, phone call and voice messages until the paper went to a music ntoni ntoni to talk to TK who denied all the allegations and ended up having the security throw out the tabloid’s journalist.
Just so you know, when Zahara became a household name, TVSA bloggers saw this money fiasco coming. Mbulela commented in one of the Cheesa articles on Zahara: “I hope TS Record doesn’t rob this poor girl of her money”. Some of us responded saying: “DJ Sbu is part of the management and he is passionate about young people so we don’t think that can happen under his watch”.
TK doing damage control
In what I as Makisto see as a bid to do damage control, I am arguing that TK called the Sunday Sun to give them a story to “stop rumours about Zahara’s finances”. In the Sunday Sun article, Zahara is trying to “set the record straight” about her “millions” but you need not have studied text analysis modules at varsity to decode that Zahara was in fact defending the Ncizas, sounding very naive, stupid and very gullible. The Sunday Sun reports that Zahara’s royalties for the past six months amount to over a million rand.
In the Sunday World, it is reported that Zahara struggles when she goes home to the Eastern Cape as she doesn’t have shuttle money. She allegedly asks her 55-year old mom money to buy airtime. Zahara’s siblings are not happy with the situation and the Ncizas’ empty promises.
TK “fucked up”
Editor of blogging site
www.goxtranews.com Buchuke Rabba, yesterday told TK, in an exclusive interview that he “fucked up” with this Zahara thingie like he did with Ntando and Brown Dash. The interview takes turns and twists and TK is asked about his property and why he and Nhlanhla are buying cars while Zahara has no money at all. TK insists Buchule must read the Sunday Sun article, as I said, the article sounds much staged and the answers very rehearsed. The interview also touches on TK’s property who hits back saying he took Zahara in while she was just a “mere a stranger and stayed with her in my family”. The interview is very interesting and Buchule must take over 3rd Degree, period. The whole confrontation takes place on this sound clip:
http://soundcloud.com/buchule-raba/tk-b Makisto defends and lashes at the media
I know TK thinks and possibly made Zahara think she shouldn’t care about what the public say about her social standing not reflecting her fame and millions. A whole lot of people are asking why the media should care so much about this. Here is why: The media is society’s watchdog, cannot keep quiet when certain individuals abuse other individuals. The media’s job is to report about such things without fear and favour.
Zahara is a public personality and what she does is of significant interest to the public. It is in the public interest that she be written about. Anyone who uses the media to build their career cannot in turn say I want my privacy and scream “leave me alone”. You lose your privacy the minute you become a public personality.
This whole article in the Sunday Sun being about Zahara setting the record straight is very ridiculous and the article sounds like it was written by my 12-year old niece who aspires to be a journalist. Firstly, the article’s background to the story seems to be about the Sunday World article but the Sunday Sun doesn’t state the origin of such rumours. The origin should have been stated because the two papers ran with the conflicting stories on the same day. Again, the paper doesn’t ask probing questions and seems to have been doing a PR thingie for TK.
Sunday World yesterday proved to be a force to be reckoned with as it was clear in the article and with the pictures that the journalist travelled to the Easter Cape as part of gathering facts for the story. Big ups to Sunday World! Big ups to you guys. That’s good and you proved to be a reliable tabloid. On the other hand, TK used the Sunday Sun to execute his mission and never gave them the background of his promises to Zahara’s parents and that the house they stay in is almost dingy.
What we make of Zahara
In all honesty, Zahara sounds like a girl who you can take out of rural areas and you can never take the rural areas out of her. Yes, she must remain eternally grateful to the Ncizas for believing in her and giving her an opportunity to live her dream. She must equally be grateful that they took her in while she worked on the album. Kaloku she needs to grow up naye and have her own place. What’s with her still leaving with the Ncizas? Is she really saving her money as that’s the impressions she gave Sunday Sun?
Sometimes not going to school is a problem.
Zahara cannot tell the media the truth because she is still staying under the Nciza’s house and if the Sunday World is right when it reports that Nhlanhla treats Zahara like a maid and shouts at her probably for not doing the dishes, she cannot say anything about such big news. I allege that she cannot tell the media the real truth because she may feel she will lose everything she has, i.e, fame, recording contract and other privileges. But in all fairness, Zahara has rights, whether she stays in the Nciza’s house or not. We appreciate that they gave her a break she desperately needed but they should not mistreat her. Akere the Sunday World allege she has no bank account.
In the film Avatar, Sam Worthington’s character who transforms into an avatar and goes to Pandora to learn about the avatars, after having been there for quite a while, he is still treated badly and like an outsider despite him having shown his loyalty to the Pandorans. He becomes fed up and utters these words: “I am a part of you and that means I also have rights here”. When you are part of something, despite of the help you got, at some point, you accumulate and or earn rights which I believe should be the case with Zahara.
Guys, do you remember that Zahara charges R75 000.00 per performance? Sesi nyana, build your parents a decent house.
Message to the Ncizas
Yazi nina bantu and your promises, building a decent house in rural areas aint really expensive like here in the city. I am pretty sure a very good construction company can build Zahara’s family a house in less than a month provided you have your house plan and all the works.
Not fulfilling your promises is not on and just because you gave someone a break doesn’t mean you should exploit them as per the allegations we are reading. Arg, some niggers need to really be ashamed of themselves! Bloody hell!!!!
Encourage the poor child to learn the art of independence and give her the freedom to control her money. Let her make her own financial mistakes as that’s the only way she will learn. You lot know experience remains the best teacher akere? It isn’t really your place to decide that you wanna pave her parents’ yard, build them a house at whatever time. Hell, when I was 24 I was earning a full salary and deciding on my own how much to spend on my family and what to build and not build for my parent.
Having said all of these, deciding on building your artist’s parents a house and the money being the artist’s, smacks of a strategy of stealing money from artist qha!!!!!!!!!!!
@dimakatsomokwen