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Zola, whose career is intertwined with the rise of Kwaito record label Ghetto Ruff records, is set to sue his former partner and manager Lance Stehr, according to an article recently published in Sunday World.
When I interviewed Zola back in 2003, he had nothing but good things to say about Lance and Ghetto Ruff, the label that pumped out hitmakers like Brown Dash, Mzekezeke, Mdu, and more: “He’s my brother,” Zola claimed over the telephone from a car travelling cross-country.
Now, he tells Sunday World, “I want my millions back and everything that belongs to my name.” He still owns a 20% stake in Ghetto Ruff, but claims he’s been cheated out of millions by his former mfo.
Zola went from being the name on everyone’s lips, to a household hero and TV star of community shows like Zola 5 and Zola 7, to an international figure of hope as the a cultural ambassador to the UN and collaborator on charity songs with top international acts like Mattafix. But he’s dirtied his rep in recent years with dodgy car accidents, baby mamas and more.
He’s also always been known as a tad unreliable. His failure to show up at the recent YOU Spectacular Awards to collect his trophy - even though the organisers delayed the start to allow him to fulfil his RSVP - wasn’t an isolated event, and getting an interview with him usually means tolerating more than one or two missed appointments and brush offs.
Stehr claims the star has simply gone crazy: “Zola never attended business meetings and everybody knows what he is like.”
What to believe? Ster is a publicist’s wet dream, lubing up the media with delicious lies and half truths and generating those all-important Sunday Sun spin stories like magic. So could this all be another elaborate publicity ploy?
