She battled to keep her home while she was alive. Last year, Bulelwa “Zahara” Mkutukana was on the brink of losing her upmarket home in Little Falls, Roodeport. The Loliwe singer’s townhouse was set to be auctioned by May 7 after she defaulted on her monthly installments of R17,665 and she was given a six-day grace period to pay her R1.9m home loan. It was recently reported that the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) silently paid the debt on the home after the singer’s death from the sheriff. The reports revealed that the EFF paid R100 000 in the home loan account of Zahara after the Umthwalo hitmaker. The home has since been put up back on auction for sale after the singer’s death. Zahara died on 11 December 2023 at a hospital in Johannesburg after being admitted in mid-November with liver complications which worsened until she became unresponsive.
Zahara bought the Little Falls home in 2012 at the height of her career and lived with her family who often visited. It was during the COVID-19 pandemic that she struggled with finances and could no longer afford to keep the home. “Bookings were scarce, she was no longer the same. She left TS Records, you know the usual dry spell when you become an independent artist,” a close friend says. “She joined another label and, Warner Music, who basically did nothing – according to her. She said, they didn’t really do much and she didn’t see changes in her life. She was still living from hand to mouth and struggling to get gigs.”
A family member in the Mkutukana house has confirmed that the house which was up for auction has been sold. “The house has been up for sale since she passed,” says the mole. “She struggled to pay for the house for a long time and it was not a secret. But we all thought her parents and sisters would try and keep the house We thought they would take money from the police and donations to pay for the home, but they did not.” The family member says he is disappointed. “That is Bulelwa’s blood, sweat, and tears, working hard to save that house. She does not have children and the home was the last memory she had. That home could have been turned into a monument. Do you know how many people she housed in that home and the memories? To just let it go like that hurts.”
While she was still alive, Zahara expressed home she was never a materialistic person and had lost cars in the past but she was able to get up again. “I have lost my Range Rover and other cars, but I overcame all of that,” she said. “I’m not here for fame or money, I’m here to inspire. Money will never change me, fame will never change me because I didn’t come here for that. If I was here for fame, money or just to make hits, then that would be a different story.”
Cece Smith 
Bongi Sikelo 