RIGHT now, a young man is dead. Right now people are hurting. Right now a country is in mourning. Right now, should the morals of a young woman be questioned?
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Kelly Khumalo has Twitter all a-tweet about her supposedly nefarious ways when it come to the male species. Men are defending men and accusing females of turning on their sisters all in the name of retribution and vice versa.
The “debate” on Twitter is whether she is partly to blame for the Bafana Bafana star Senzo Meyiwa’s death because of the fact that he chose to leave his wife and colleagues to go and party at her place last Sunday afternoon. Either way, Khumalo is more famous for tabloid news than being famous as a credible artist.
It is reported that Meyiwa’s family attacked the songstress at the hospital on the night of his death. In other reports, Khumalo is said to have carried his body to the car from her house to save the man she loves.
But why is Kelly Khumalo considered to be a she-devil in the eyes of the public?
• Google says Kelly Khumalo was born on the “rural outskirts of Nquthu, KwaZulu-Natal in 1984”.
• She was first discovered in 2003 when she performed at a Gospel Star search.
• She reached national fame when her debut album, TKO, was released in 2005 including the hit song, Quinsela.
• Like Britney Spears, Ms Khumalo had an ace up her sleeve when she arrived on the scene. She claimed she was a virgin. It was a time when men were raping young virgin girls in the misguided belief that their actions would cure their Aids.
• During those early years, the alleged virgin performed in a concert wearing no panties. It is clear from the pictures that, while lifting her leg during the performance, Ms Khumalo was well aware of the fact that the photographer was capturing her nudity.
• She went on to release a few more albums and had success with the hit, Sobaili, her most famous to date. She released further albums to relative success. This included her hit duet with maestro producer, Robbie Malinga.
• In 2013, she went on to win the MTN South African Music Award for Best Female Artist of the Year.
• In terms of television, Khumalo had a successful stint on Rhythm City in 2007 and, more recently, Rolling with Kelly Khumalo which was commissioned soon after her public break-up with Jub Jub Maarohanye.
• This was precipitated when she appeared in a fur coat and sunglasses at the first hearing of the Jub Jub murder case. Her attire suggested no remorse over the fact that four children had died because of her boyfriend’s reckless driving. Instead, the songstress seemed more interested in portraying to the media that she was as glamorous and as cool as her corn-rowed rapper boyfriend and baby daddy.
• When she realised that there was no way out for Jub Jub she told the media that Jub Jub beat her and that she and him used illegal narcotics on a regular basis.
• She also released an autobiography about her life – The Kelly Khumalo Story, penned by Melinda Ferguson with Sarah Setlaelo – which, by all accounts, was a disinterested flop.
• Three weeks ago she released a new album produced by Chicco, Brenda’s famous producer. It is the first album to be released through his new label, Top Crew Music, which is owned by himself and Trompies and former Kalawa Jazmee director, Eugene Mthethwa. The press release describes her new sound as “the only one we could match to Brenda Fassie and Sis Busi Mhlongo’s ability to sing both in the studio and off the studio.” The album is called Back To My Roots.
• However, it is the well documented tug of war between Meyiwa, his wife, Mandisa and Ms Khumalo that has social media all a sweater and a tweeter. The alleged beating of Meyiwa’s wife on a Johannesburg highway resulting in the arrest of Khumalo and her sister, the rejection of Khumalo by Meyiwa’s family, the birth of Meyiwa and Khumalo’s child out of wedlock and her persistence in Kardashian style instagramming has some South Africans up in arms. But, should the fallout of Meyiwa’s death include us speculating about Kelly Khumalo’s behaviour?