A Johannesburg stylist has lifted the lid on the exploitive nature of the entertainment industry after musician Makhadzi allegedly failed to pay R2 700 after styling the muso.
Zoe Bhozza also accused Makhadzi of taking advantage of her after she took a designer outfit and failed to pay R800 for it three months after she promised to cough up.
Speaking to Sunday World on Thursday, Zoe said she was introduced to the Ghanama hitmaker by her videographer Zee, the director who begged for a discount in order for her to come and style Makhadzi for a music video shoot.
After negotiating R2 300 down from her normal price of R5 000 a day and giving the star an extra free day for the shoot in March, she has still not been paid for her efforts.
The new mother from Kwa-Thema, east of Johannesburg said she cut off her maternity leave to attend to Makhadzi, born Ndivhadzannyi Ralivhona.
“I am not the only one. The whole team who worked on that shoot that day did not get paid a cent. I tried exposing them and then Makhadzi called me and begged me not to speak out, saying she will pay me,” said Zoe.
“I left my young child at home on the day and went to the music video shoot. I charged them R5 000 for three outfit changes and then Zee complained. I said its fine, make it R3 500, he [Zee] said it is too much and I said R3 000. He still complained until I lowered [the price] to R2 700.
“We filmed the first day in Soweto. The shoot ran until late and then they asked that we come again the following day. I said it is fine, I came in the next day for free.”
She said she was promised payment the same month, adding that Makhadzi went as far as asking for a two-piece outfit from her costumes, promising to pay for them on the same weekend.
“They did not pay me until the end of April. I then started reaching out to them on social media and I finally got hold of Zee through a third party. I was promised payment a week later,” she said.
The payment did not come through until two weeks ago when she approached a friend to help expose Makhadzi, who called begging Zoe not to expose her.
“I told them that I am going to expose them. Zee said I can do what I wanted to. A few minutes later, I got a call from Makhadzi and then I told her that I am not happy, she said why have I not raised the matter with her, and I told her it is because I worked with her through Zee, so I wanted to speak to Zee.
“She begged me saying she has been trending for wrong reasons lately and I should not speak out.”
The musician promised to send her the money after her Durban July trip two weeks ago, but still the money did not come through.
“A few minutes later, her manager called me and said I must send through an invoice. Since then, I have been asking for the e-mail address to send through [the invoice] but nothing has come,” she added.
Makhadzi and her new manager, known as Lucky, were not available for comment after their phones rang unanswered She also did not reply to text messages sent to her.
On Tuesday, Sunday World reported that Makhadzi was embroiled in another payment saga after she failed to pay a producer and event organiser Rabs Vhafuwi R16 000 for failing to perform at an event in 2022.
This was after she made headlines a few months ago for lambasting her former record label Open Mic for owing her money.
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