Zahara, the late ‘Loliwe’ hitmaker. What happened?

Zahara, whose real name was Bulelwa Mkutukana, died Monday 11th, December 2023, her family said in a statement posted on her official page on X, formerly Twitter. It gave no cause of death. The family said last month that Zahara had been admitted to a hospital with an undisclosed issue and had asked for privacy.

Last month, her manager, Oyama Dyosiba, confirmed she had been hospitalized “following complaints about physical pains”. She had suffered liver disease after problems with alcoholism, confirmed by Dyosiba in 2019.

I was saddened by this news as Zahara was one of my first introductions to South African music, my favorite song being DJ Sbu feat. Zahara – Lengoma. Netizens around the world have been confused by her untimely death and sad as they say that Zahara healed souls with her music.

Claims have been circulating the internet about her alcoholism and the cause of her dipping into bad health. This was about her contract with her record label as it was too much for her and this made her dip into alcohol. Her sister Nomonde said that year doctors had told her, “If [Zahara] continues drinking, she is going to die … We are making sure that there is always someone around her to monitor her so that she doesn’t start drinking again”.

Also in 2021, in an interview, DJ Sbu claimed Zahara had been paid for her Loliwe album. However, speaking to TshisaLIVE, Zahara said that she has never received any funds for her work with the Loliwe album. “It’s all lies,” she said, fuming.

Why did Zahara write Loliwe?

Zahara said the song is primarily about the train that transported her fathers and forefathers from Johannesburg to East London during the Apartheid era. Furthermore, she said many people had hope that the train would bring their loved ones back.

Zahara won 17 South African music awards, was also recognized in Nigeria and was included on a list of the 100 most influential women in the world in 2020 by the BBC. She released four more albums — one of them triple platinum and one platinum.

RIP to the legend that introduced South African music to the world, truly she did cure souls with her music.

Below are some of the messages that people had to say about Zahara.