Sandisiwe Mbhele

By Sandisiwe Mbhele

UX Content Writer


Zahara vs DJ Sbu: Who owes whom?

Speaking on MacG's podcast on Channel O, Zahara says TS Records owned by DJ Sbu still 'owes' her millions.


The dispute between Zahara and DJ Sbu seems to have no end, with the two arguing over who exactly owes whom money.

After leaving TS Records in 2017, Zahara claimed the record label owed her millions. The label was started by radio personality and musician DJ Sbu and Thembinkosi Nciza.

TS Records rejected the claims made by Zahara in 2019. In a statement at the time, they said she had been well compensated for her hit albums Loliwe, Phendula and Country Girl.

“These records were released through EMI South Africa and then through Universal Music. To the best of TS Records’ knowledge, Zahara and the producer of the above albums were paid and continue to receive all forms of royalties that are due to them.”

However, during her appearance on the celebrity edition of Podcast and Chill with MacG on Channel OZ this week, Zahara said she still wants the money she claims she’s owed.

DJ Sbu: “Zahara owes us”

Zahara explained she didn’t go to the courts because of the high legal costs but added TS Records “knows what they did.” The star also didn’t want to go into further detail about the claims she has made, expressing she wanted to move on.

ALSO READ: ‘Filtered and boring’: MacG’s podcast lands TV deal but fans are sceptical

The award-winning artist claimed two years ago she wasn’t paid for months by the label, resulting in her being unable to pay her bills.

Doing what they do best, “Twitter CSI” pulled up an old interview between DJ Sbu and Stilo Magolide that occurred in December 2020.

DJ Sbu claimed Zahara actually owes them money.

“If you go down the Universal books, she actually owes us money and she doesn’t know that. Zahara was getting paid 50 percent royalty rates and TS Records was getting paid 50 percent, and it wasn’t supposed to be like that.”

The radio host clarified this shouldn’t have occurred because Zahara was supposed to get far less, as she was an upcoming artist when he met her.

Dj Sbu added when they parted ways he was scapegoated as the “bad guy”, while he really should not be blamed for Zahara’s misfortunes years later.

Twitter was spilt as to who owes whom:

https://twitter.com/JayRaps4/status/1433326577467731972
https://twitter.com/Truthte83602973/status/1433170595760558090

Read more on these topics

DJ Sbu MacG Podcast and Chill with MacG Zahara

For more news your way

Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.