Despite negative comments made on social media about True Love Magazine's cover featuring Zahara, editor Dudu Leshabane maintains that the publication will neither apologise nor issue a statement. The cover of the January 2017 issue, which carries the cover line "Zahara: marriage, drugs & selling records," led to singer-songwriter Zahara reposting it with a caption calling it a "sick joke".
Zahara (real name Bulelwa Mkutukana) said she would take legal action against the magazine if it did not retract the cover which she feels associates her with drugs. She went on to call the mention of drugs on the cover "utterly tasteless and misleading".
But the magazine team stands by the cover and the story that went with it. When The Huffington Post South Africa contacted Leshabane for comment, she said that the magazine had tried to contact Zahara following her comments on social media but could not reach her. Leshabane was unable to comment further to HuffPost SA, saying that she wanted to protect the brand.
Despite efforts to reach Zahara and her management team for comment on the matter, HuffPost SA was unable to make contact with her. We will continue to update the story accordingly.