Zandie Khumalo finally breaks her silence

Singer Zandile “Zandie” Khumalo-Gumede (29) has opened up about her latest song, Ikhwela.

In an exclusive interview with the publication, Zandie said the song has got nothing to do with Senzo Meyiwa’s murder case.

“The song is about dating in the old times. It’s a typical story of a young woman, born and raised in rural areas. Unfortunately, her family is overprotective of her. She’s not even allowed to have a boyfriend. When she finally starts dating, her boyfriend has to use ikhwela (whistle) to get her out of the house,” said Zandie.

“For most young black women, this is a typical journey to womanhood. I just felt it was important to remind people where we come from as black people.”

Zandie described this song as a “restorative, feel-good traditional song. It talks about two young people who love each other but they are having challenges because the woman’s family is trying to block the relationship”.

In the past few days, Ikhwela has been on everyone’s lips.

Social media was abuzz as people associated the song with the Meyiwa murder case. They went as far as speculating that she wants to expose her sister, Kelly.

But Zandie dismissed this.

“The song was released weeks before the trial started. I wish people can respect my work and stop twisting and misinterpreting my song in order to satisfy their own agendas. It is painful to see my craft being distorted in this manner and I wish people can stop this,” she said.

“In this song, I worked with a young and gifted artist, Xowla. He had been following my work and trying to get hold of me without any luck. Eventually, we met at an event and we talked about this song. A few days later, I had done my part and he added his, then we put the song together,” Zandie said.