Lumka and Bandezwa Mkutukana, the sisters of the late South African award-winning musician, Zahara – real name Bulelwa Mkutukana have reportedly opened up about the late Loliwe hitmaker following her untimely death last week Monday, 11 December.Zahara took her last breath at 36-years-old at a Johannesburg hospital and was “surrounded by family and loved ones”. She will be finally laid to rest in her hometown, East London located in the Eastern Cape on Saturday, 23 December. Her body was transported to East London over the weekend following her memorial service which took place on Thursday, 14 December at the Rhema Bible Church in Randburg.
In a heartbreaking TikTok clip, the Ndiza hitmaker’s family broke down in tears after seeing Zahara arrive at her hometown in a coffin.
Her sisters Lumka and Bandezwa Mkutukana are said to be struggling to come to terms with the death of the award-winning singer, TshisaLIVE reported. “Her departure to us is as if we’re dreaming. We still can’t believe it. We’ve been robbed of something precious to us. We feel like she’ll just make a call to tell us how life’s going in the country she has visited,” Zahara’s sisters were quoted as saying.EISH! MORE ABOUT THE LATE SINGER’S SISTERS GRIEF
According to the publication, Zahara’s sister Bandezwa also revealed that the late Afro-pop star had recently signed with a new record label. Before her death, Zahara had often opened up about her financial problems and contract issues with TS Records, the record company behind her fame.
“We had a lot of plans during her time in hospital and we really had hoped she was going to recover. She was just signed up by a new recording company and was planning to go overseas in February. Her future was promising,” Bandezwa was quoted as saying.
In an interview outside Zahara’s memorial service, TS Records boss TK Nciza said despite what many people may think, he and Zahara were on speaking terms before she passed away. “What I know as a matter of fact is that she’s sleeping there knowing that we were on good terms and we appreciated each other and I’m happy about that,” Nciza said.
Speaking about her sister’s character, Bandezwa reportedly said that Zahara “was a very bubbly person growing up. She was just funny, very talkative and loved seeing people around her happy. On Christmas Day she would cook. She used to make us laugh a lot, impersonating people. We were very happy the first time we saw her on TV and we thanked God because it was our wish for her to achieve all she wanted to achieve.”