Zodwa brings down Summit
Her life’s been a rollercoaster ride
Zodwa Wabantu says she kept her bra and G-string on for her sold-out performance at The Summit strip joint in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, at the weekend.
The Soweto-born provocateur, who now lives in Durban, described her much anticipated show in Johannesburg as beautiful. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It was packed and they were all happy. I was paid upfront, but I was given more money,” she said.
“I imitated the ladies who work there but I couldn’t take off my bra or G-string. I wore a transparent net. I also tried pole dancing but I failed. It was too hard, I thought I could pull it off but I’m stiff.”
Wabantu said she would return to The Summit. “I love money, I would do it again.”
Yesterday she performed in Klerksdorp en route to Rosebank to perform at Kong club for a Davido bash.
She admits to having taken money from men after sleeping with them.
“If you asked me out I would sleep at your place and in the morning I would expect money. Some may say it’s prostitution but I was hustling. I just needed to survive,” she said.
Reflecting on her burgeoning career, Zodwa said she had come a long way.
“Growing up, people always told me I would be nothing [but] I knew I had ‘something’ but didn’t think it would be this big.”
At the beginning of the year she was working at a debt collection company and getting money after performing at clubs and sleeping with men.
These days she has Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe talking about her.
At 32, Zodwa’s life has been a rollercoaster ride. Wearing a tight black dress (without underwear), she described how she was brought up by her grandmother and aunt after her mother died.
“My mom passed away when I was 11. That is the reason I left home when I was 16. Life wasn’t easy. I had to fight for food and I was asked why I was eating when my cousins weren’t. I needed to hustle.” Zodwa isn’t ashamed of what she did to get cash but said she had seen young girls do it for Brazilian hair and Instagram bragging rights. “For some reason the owners of these places would allow me to go in even when I had no money. I would dance and entertain and by the time I got to KZN, I already knew my skills.”
Now her main focus is on making cash. As mother to an 11-year-old son, she has no intention of being in the “industry” for more than five years.
Being raw and real has made people love Wabantu. But she knows nothing lasts forever. “Even now that I’m famous, I know that I’m an outsider,” she said.
‘‘ Even now that I’m famous, I know I’m an outsider