She is one of the most celebrated gospel musicians in the country. Zanele "Zaza' Mokhethi is set to perform at the Moja LOVE Easter Gospel Festival on 9 April 2023 at Carnival City alongside Benjamin Dube, Dumi Mkokstad, Canaan Nyathi, Lebo Sekgobela, Ayanda Ntanzi, Tebogo Moloi, and Zaza Mokethi, supported by the Rising Sun Choir. 

BEAUTIFUL CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

 Born and raised in the township called Kwa-Thema, East of Johannesburg, Zaza started singing at a very young age. "I come from a family of singers. I got my musical gene from both my parents. My mother influenced me to get into music,' she says. Zaza has amazing childhood memories of singing at home with her siblings and parents. "We didn't have a TV, so every evening we used that time to sing. I miss that so much. I was destined to be a gospel artist because of my upbringing. Had I not been one, I would have studied biochemistry,' she says.

 STARTING OUT

This is her 13th year in the music industry and her career began when she joined the award-winning gospel group Joyous Celebration. "I did a song with them titled Namhla Nkosi and it opened doors for me and introduced me to the world,' she says. Now, she ministers in song, all over the world and the people are receiving her music in a way that she says she couldn't imagine. She has travelled to places such as The Netherlands, London, the USA, Paris, and within the continent performing in Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania to name a few.

 LIFE LESSONS

Being a healer through music, also means she needs to also be healed. "I've faced a lot of challenges when starting out in the music industry which I have learned from,' she says. "I entered the industry with excitement and trusting people. I've signed contracts that didn't favour me. I used to go sing without getting paid and those lasted years.' Zaza has since learned to treat her career as a profession instead of a hobby. "The most testing time in my career was when we finished doing the recording of my second live DVD with the song Imbewu. We were held hostage with my husband and these guys took us to some place, demanded our pins, and then went to withdraw every cent we had since our limits were reached. This happened after we had just paid the people we work with,' she says. "That situation was so traumatic, we prayed the whole eight hours, nonstop and God saved our lives.'

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

 What has motivated her to go on is that she has seen this God pulling through tough situations. "I trust Him with everything in me and I don't see myself doing anything else than serving Him with my voice,' she says. Zaka looks forward to sharing her musical gift with the audience at the LOVE gospel festival "I want to minister God's heart to his people. Times are hard, people no longer have hope. Music always has a way to smooth the heart more especially gospel because it is good news.'

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