“I have nothing against Advocate Thulani Mngomezulu and I don’t know him.”
The Afro-pop singer, Zandie Khumalo-Gumede, was defending herself following the backlash she received on social media. She was accused of making references to the Senzo Meyiwa defence lawyer’s death, which was announced on the same day.
Khumalo-Gumede is sister to singer Kelly Khumalo, whose boyfriend Senzo Meyiwa was shot dead at their mother’s house. Both sisters have been part of the ongoing case to solve the 10-year-old murder case.
On Tuesday, December 10, Khumalo-Gumede posted a snippet of her new song, Ngeke Zulu, and social media went berserk.
Posted song lyrics same day that Meyiwa defence lawyer died
People felt that the song was being insensitive and mocking the late Mngomezulu, who died on Tuesday morning after suffering from an undisclosed illness.
But Khumalo-Gumede hit back and said she did not even know that Mngomezulu has died.
“I can’t control what social media thinks. Yesterday was the third time I posted that song since I recorded it and there was no uproar and when I posted it I haven’t even heard that the lawyer had passed away. Why would I be talking about the lawyer, what did he do to me? I don’t know that man from a bar of soap and when I went to court to testify he was not even part of the lawyers then. He only came after I had testified so what would I have against him,” she told Sunday World.
However, she had a problem with Advocate Malesela Teffo and Advocate Zandile Mshololo.
No hard feelings towards late advocate
“The only person I had a gripe with was that loud mouth Teffo, who kept coming up with [foolish] conspiracy theories that he couldn’t prove in court. And the other I still have a gripe with is advocate Mshololo, who as a woman and as a mother, knows very well that those guys killed Senzo. But choose to stand in court every day and defend them. But even her I wouldn’t wish death on her or even celebrate her death. She is just doing her job, so social media must relax,” she said.
Mngomezulu represented Muzikawukhulewa Sibiya in the Senzo Meyiwa trial. And Khumalo-Gumede was one of the witnesses in this case. Khumalo-Gumede has always maintained her innocence, but not everyone believes her. As such, she is always under the spotlight.
The lyrics of her new song are: “Bathinta thina bazofa baphele, imikhonto yethu ingcolile sizinsizwa webafana, ubosiphathisa okwezikhali zaMantungwa.” Loosely translated, it says: “You dare touch us and you’ll die. Our spears are dirty, we’re not boys but real men, so tread carefully.”
Song recorded a year ago
She said the song was recorded a year ago and she has been sharing snippets of it. “This is actually an old song that was sung by the Zulu warriors. It’s a song about conquering enemies, a song about victory over our enemies. I wrote it together with Mondli Ngcobo. It will be released in January next year,” said Khumalo-Gumede.
“It’s not the first time I shared a snippet of that song. In fact it was recorded over a year ago,” she said.
