Welcome back to Gemini Best TV. Today, we’re going to be sharing 10 South African celebrities who went wrong. If you’re new to the channel, we publish new videos every week, so please hit the Subscribe button for more exciting videos.

1. Dr. Malinga

Dr. Malinga is a popular South African record producer and musician. The peak of his career was around 2018, after the release of his hit single “Via Orlando.” He later went on to sign a record deal with Universal Music, and after releasing his album, he won the South African Music Award for Best Kwaito Album.

A couple of years at the top, making a lot of money for his music and selling out shows, unfortunately, as time went by, his career would eventually start declining, but the bills kept going up. In 2019, he was drowning in debt of 2 million rand. He was able to pay off half of it, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, and he completely ran out of gigs.

He appeared on the Mac G podcast where he broke down, explaining how he was stripped of his furniture, music equipment, and a bakkie, with a total of 500,000 rand by the South African Revenue Service.

Fortunately, after the interview, fellow friends and industry colleagues such as Black Coffee came to the rescue and assisted him with his debts, with Makazi even adding him to his “Hold On” single.

2. Zola 7

Musician, actor, writer, TV presenter, and poet, the household name Zola 7 started his career as an actor on the television series “Izolo.” He also became very successful in music and had his own TV show named after himself, “Zola 7,” which aired on SABC1. Through his show, he hoped to help a lot of people achieve their personal and social development goals, such as building libraries for their communities.

Despite enjoying immense success in his multiple careers in the media industry, it recently emerged that Zola 7 has been struggling with financial problems. It is unclear when his financial woes began, although some sources blame his child support battles with his alleged baby mamas and his health issues, as he suffers from epilepsy.

In 2020, Zola 7 also disclosed that he spent around 4.5 million rand of his own money to shoot season 8 of his show “Zola 7” and had not been repaid by the production company. After stories about Zola’s financial problems came to light, his fans started a fundraiser campaign for the musician.

At first, Zola 7 had been reluctant to accept help, but he later shared his banking details on social media and expressed his gratitude to everyone for their overwhelming support and help. Besides these fans, celebrities such as Mama Kizi and their son, Angelo Pisani, also looked forward to sharing their support for Zola 7.

3. Zahara

Zahara is a South African singer and songwriter who was once a top-charting musician in South Africa. Her accolades include 17 South African Music Awards, three Metro FM Awards, and one Nigerian Entertainment Award.

Regardless of all the success she had in the past, Zahara did not exactly make the best financial decisions and she ended up struggling to pay her bills. A video showing Zahara extremely drunk during a performance and another one showing her begging for money from her friends during a performance went viral, and it became quite clear that the singer was in a bad state.

In May 2022, Zahara revealed that she was about to lose her home after failing to pay her home loan. She took to social media to appeal for financial assistance from her friends or anyone who could help her at all.

As always, some fans and industry fans stepped in to help her, and she was able to save her home. Although alcohol addiction was a factor, Zahara has maintained over the years that the reason she’s broke is because DJs exploited her and never paid her for her albums released through TS Records.

4. Massevenza

Actor, singer, and songwriter, Massevenza is most popular for appearing in a 2008 Savannah cider drink advert. He is also an accomplished actor who appeared on several movies and TV shows, including “Ashes to Ashes,” “Scandal,” and “Generations.”

Unfortunately, it seems something suddenly went wrong for the actor, and his life completely turned around for the worst. Initially, Massevenza was spotted begging on the streets sometime in 2015.

He was able to pull himself up and pursue his music career further, but it didn’t last. His most recent social media post was in 2018, and a few years later, he was reported to be now living in the streets of Pretoria as a beggar. Family members told City Press newspaper that Massevenza developed mental issues after he was struck by a car in Pretoria a few years ago.

5. Innocent Masuku

Innocent Masuku is a South African actor and kwaito artist best known for his portrayal of Bobo on the SABC1 drama series “Uzalo.” He also appeared on “Zone 14,” “Rhythm City,” “Istambiso,” and “Soul City.”

This road to the top was short-lived after a friend of his introduced him to drugs. Innocent admitted that he lost around 500,000 rand as a result of his addiction to drugs. Fortunately, the actor was able to win the battle against drugs and has been sober for a couple of years now.

The actor appeared on the Mac G podcast and is also said to appear on the Mzansi Magic show “I Blew It,” explaining how drugs ruined his life and how his path to recovering his life has been so far.

6. Bricks

Bricks is a multi-award-winning kwaito artist. He was on the path of becoming a kwaito legend and was even featured on the soundtrack of the award-winning movie “Toti.” However, his career came to a complete halt after he was accused of raping his 17-year-old relative in 2018 and was sentenced to 15 years behind bars.

Bricks was canceled from the entertainment industry after this incident, and with no radio station playing any of his songs while he was behind bars, it meant that the artist, who was a breadwinner for three families, was now broke since his main source of income was his music.

7. Steve Chabangu

Steve Chabangu is a former South African football player who played for Premier Soccer League clubs Moroka Swallows, Orlando Pirates, and for the South African national team.

Steve made so much money during his career that he thought it would be wise to go into an early retirement. Unfortunately, he made all the wrong decisions with his money, and due to his lavish lifestyle, gambling, and partying, his funds dried up very quickly.

It was common for him to get into fights in nightclubs because of women, and he was even bashed for behaving inappropriately. Steve admitted in Soccer Laduma’s San Andreas Edition that he had gone bankrupt after breaking ties with his clubs and retiring at such a young age.

8. Katlego Mphela

Katlego Mphela was a South African soccer player who played for several clubs, including Mamelodi Sundowns, Supersport United, Moroka Swallows, and Chiefs United.

Mphela also played for the South African national team and was part of the striking force in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. At one point, he was even linked with big interest from European teams, but unfortunately, a lack of financial and professional discipline proved to be a setback in his career.

After Chiefs United dumped him, everything started going south for the soccer player. He admitted that he blew up all of his money because he thought he was always guaranteed a salary the following month. The striker says he lost his house in Boksburg and his car was repossessed after failing to keep up with repayments.

As if that was not enough, he separated from his wife because of his financial crisis and he could no longer see his daughter. Things got so bad for him that he had to move to his grandmother’s house in Tembisa.

He has tried pleading with the PSL to give him another chance, but unfortunately, his edge is no longer on his side. His advice to footballers is to think about the future and save as much money as they can.

9. Pitch Black Afro

Pitch Black Afro is a South African kwaito/hip-hop artist from Soweto. His debut album, produced by DJ Cleo, sold 50,000 copies, making it the biggest ever-selling South African hip-hop album at the time.

He made a lot of money at the peak of his career, but unfortunately, due to his demons and wrong decisions, he managed to throw his legacy away right in the trash can. The musician was addicted to alcohol and ended up blowing every single penny he had made from his career.

Bankruptcy was only the beginning of his problems. He’s currently serving five years in prison for the murder of his own wife.

10. Vusi Kunene

Vusi Kunene is a South African actor known for his iconic roles on shows like “The Queen” and “Mzansi Universities.” Many would assume that the actor is financially stable based on his long career in the entertainment industry, but unfortunately, that is not the case.

Vusi recently made social media trends after he released a video asking for financial assistance, as he has fallen on hard times.

He received a lot of sympathy from fans and fellow industry colleagues all over the country, who felt he should not have been struggling in the first place, considering some of the shows that he featured on are still on air. Although it’s not clear how much the actor received, video reports suggest he received over a hundred thousand rand in donations.

As always, thank you for watching. Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more exciting videos.

Video