Ntokozo Mbambo celebrated for her wins despite Kelly Khumalo’s social media shade

Gospel artist Ntokozo Mbambo has been celebrated as one of the night’s biggest winners at the South African Music Awards (Samas) on Saturday, but her Female Artist of The Year award triggered an onslaught of petty tweets from Kelly Khumalo.

Mbambo triumphantly walked away with three noteworthy awards at the 29^th edition of the Samas, hosted at SunBet Arena at Time Square, Menlyn Maine Tshwane.

The former Joyous Celebration member took home Female Artist of The Year, Album of The Year and Best Contemporary Faith Album awards for Lavish Worship. The KwaZulu-Natal-born songbird, who came on the scene as the youngest member of Joyous Celebration in 2000, continues to prove her powerhouse status as a solo act.

Industry peers such as Dumi Mkokstad, Rebecca Malope and Thandiswa Mazwai have celebrated Mbambo’s winnings, alongside a throng of fans. Even former Kelly bestie, fellow singer Brenda Mtambo, showed love to Mbambo.

“Congratulations Ntokozo. That voice deserves all the awards. It soothes and gives hope,” wrote Thandiswa.

But fellow nominee in the Female Artist of The Year category, Kelly Khumalo, was not only irked by the eventual winner, she went as far as vocalising her frustration on social media in a slew of tweets.

ALSO READ: WATCH: A video of drunk Kelly Khumalo sets tongues wagging

Disgruntled Kelly

The Empini singer bashed Mbambo, insinuating that she had better numbers and was more deserving of the award than the gospel artist.

Kelly was also slated for posting a tweet on X (formerly Twitter) saying that the winnings are long-decided upon.

The criticism triggered a barrage of posts from the singer, where she swore at everyone, declaring that she isn’t afraid of anyone.

“Kelly received a smidgen support for posting that Mbambo wasn’t deserving of the award. Ntokozo was done a favour to avoid having Kelly winning. Kelly would have attracted negative attention to Samas from her haters! People would have called for boycotts of Samas and some sponsors. We know Kelly deserved it. We apologise to her as the nation,” wrote an incognito @Constitution_94.

On Sunday morning, the singer posted a video from her bed, still standing by her statements from the previous night.

This social media outburst comes just days after Kelly also trended on social media for seemingly being drunk and spewing confusing statements on camera.

In the video, that has since made rounds on social media this past week, Kelly can be seen talking about her new song, being the breadwinner and even confusing Pakistan with Palestine.