Forget rehab, Zahara’s on the ANC campaign trail

Two weeks ago, tabloid paper Sunday Sun “revealed” that the singer-songwriter Zahara had gone “back to rehab”.

The paper alleged that she was “back on the booze – big time” and it based this on three “highly placed sources” who claimed that she had relapsed following an outpatient rehab programme.

Her management team was allegedly concerned that any time out would affect her heavily booked schedule. One source said that “they did not know what was going to happen next”.

Another source said she was hanging out with “the wrong crowd” and it was very saddening.

The rehab apparently didn’t come cheap either, with the bills allegedly running into the hundreds of thousands of rands. The source pointed out that Zahara’s breakdown may have had something to do with social media mocking her for her “strange” pictures (pictured above). She had not been active on Twitter since then.

You can read about that here. At the time, The Citizen suggested that she might need help, but that had more to do with her hiring a social media manager or online publicist, not anything related to alleged substance addiction.

One source said Zahara needed to “lean on her family for support – not industry blood suckers who are posing as her friends”.

Zahara became a sensation nearly overnight when her debut album Loliwe sold more than 300 000 units. She won numerous awards thereafter.

Her producer, Robbie Malinga, told the tabloid that he knew nothing about “the rehab story”. He dismissed it all as lies. The co-owner of her record label, TK Nciza, also professed complete ignorance of the rumours.

It now seems that Zahara is fine, as she looked smiling and happy.

Picture: TV screenshot

Many popular artists have been punting the ANC in the lead-up to Wednesday’s elections.

Arthur Mafokate has said the party never booked him, but he availed himself to support the ANC through his music.

Reality TV star Dineo Ranaka and AKA have also said the ANC is not paying them.

Last week, a fan asked Ranaka on Instagram if she got paid for the services she offered the ANC. She responded to the fan, saying she offered her services for free, the same way people did at their churches.

Though AKA did not deny getting paid for the campaigns, he said he made more money from his shows than he did campaigning for the ruling party. He said his services were not motivated by money either.

This year, many celebrities made a point of showing their support for the ruling party, sharing pictures on social media of themselves in ANC regalia, and using the hashtag #Asinavalo.