Kwaito legend Zola7 gets his flowers
The Star newspaper’s Sifiso Mahlangu with Bonginkosi Dlamini, better known as Zola 7, who had an interview with The Star reporters at the headquarters of independent media on Wednesday. Picture: Itumeleng English/African News Agency(ANA)
Following a much-publicised music hiatus due to health issues and other challenges, award-winning actor, performer and musician Bonginkosi “Zola” Dlamini says he is ready to continue building stronger and better communities.
His recent comeback on stage this past weekend has been hailed as true testament to God's grace as many had written the kwaito star off after his many battles with the media, which resulted in him being regarded as a bad boy.
The 45-year-old music legend, who dominated the spotlight through his TV show, music and acting, visited The Star offices for a brief chat.
He was part of the line-up of artists at the “A night with Legends” kwaito concert, which featured other kwaito legends such as Mdu Masilela on Saturday.
The former Yizo Yizo actor, who was in the company of his wife and daughter, told this newspaper that he is ready to record, make music and help turn young women into tech whizzes through his recent partnership with cellphone brand, Mobicel. Having learnt some hard lessons, Zola told The Star that he is ready to continue in his quest to build better communities through some of his outreach programmes.
“To deal with an image is important. It took me a while to realise that there are people who should not be around you. That includes family members. I had family members approaching the media and using me. There are people around you who should not be around you. Other people feel they are entitled to you,” he said.
After amassing fame and fortune and goodwill through the popular tv show Zola 7, the Soweto-born music star says he took a decision to part ways with the show as there were too many people dictating matters of the show.
“Zola 7 did not end, I decided to end it after an executive meeting because there were too many fingers in my pie just pulled the handbrake. There were just too many fingers in my pie. I woke up and I saw that there were too many fingers and I decided to pull the plug," he said.
Having built swimming pools, libraries and made people's dreams a reality through the show, Zola said he wants to go back to the streets to do what he does best and knows that he will be able to achieve just that through the new venture.
“I built a swimming pool in Emndeni and I built a library in Mthatha and why was it the only one? I am told that these things are not working. So I never got to Mbombela. I never got to Gqeberha. I never got to Durban. Here I was thinking that we were building and will continue building across the country but that never happened. That is what I thought but they thought differently,” he said.
“That is what I do, I build. I build a library and it takes me two weeks because I understand the concept of building. You must remember that I am from Emndeni Technical High School. It is easy to build a library and I have done it before and can do it again. I got computers from Gauteng Shared Services and we were able to take them all the way to Mthatha,” he said.
Zola says his mission is to continue to build libraries for previously under-served communities across the country, but he wants to make them technology hubs.
“Obviously, now the libraries must change a bit and have all the technology that is relevant for today’s world. They have to be digital and I believe with my new partner, Mobicel that will be possible. So the ones I want to build now must be semi-digital,” he said.