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Zahara

Zahara has given Somizi and the SAMAs a week to publicly apologise for comments made about her at the awards or face legal action.

Zahara did not find jokes by Somizi funny and said she was “really upset and offended” by the remarks he made at the awards which were broadcast live.

Somizi, who co-hosted the awards with comedian Tumi Morake, told audiences that there was a bar at the after-party and that Zahara would be there, alluding to her rumoured battle with the bottle.

Zahara who was apparently dumped by her boyfriend because of alcohol abuse, was in Swaziland when the remarks were made, but got calls from her mother and family telling her about the comments.

“Imagine how upset my mother must have been to hear that. It’s not true and it was not right for Somizi to make comments like that. He should have been talking about my accolades and all the SAMAs I had won in the past, not nonsense,” she added.

The singer called for an investigation into whether the remarks were scripted or not and said she would sue both Somizi and the SAMAs if they did not issue a public apology by the end of the week.

“I don’t care if he was joking. At whose expense was the joke? This will hurt my image and could impact whether I get sponsorship deals or not. It’s not funny and I want him to apologise.”

While Somizi clearly was the talk of the evening, most of his jokes on personalities were mostly well received, except the Zahara ones which clearly left her upset and disappointed.

He was however alerted about Zahara’s anger and apologised on his Metro FM radio show. But still, Zahara wants him to make his apology more public and sincere.

“I’ve been trying to get hold of him and he won’t take my calls. If he was joking, maybe he’d have answered and told me he was joking, but maybe he’s ashamed of what he said,” Zahara added.

Recording Industry of South Africa (RiSA) CEO Nhlanhla Sibisi told TshisaLIVE that they had not received a formal complaint from Zahara, but would apologise to her personally. — TimesLive