Ladysmith Black Mambazo squashes claims of an ongoing feud following Joseph Shabalala’s passing about a month ago.
The stories that have trailed Ladysmith Black Mambazo after the passing of Joseph Shabalala have not been fun ones. We still do not know who to believe in all of it. First, rumours of them cancelling their shows trailed the internet but their manager came out to call them false, and not what Shabalala would have wanted.
A recent report by TimesLIVE alleged that there is an ongoing feud within the band for who would succeed Shabalala as the leader of the band. Joseph’s son, Thami is believed to have been chosen by his late father but his brother, Sibongiseni, and manager, Xolani Majozi have been accused to going against his wishes and taking over.
In a recent statement, Xolani refuted these claims saying,
“There haven’t been any issues or discussions around succession. Joseph formally and permanently retired in 2013. If there were any issues, those issues could have occurred when Joseph retired from the group.
“I don’t remember a single meeting where we sat down because we were unable to operate because there’s an issue on who is leading the group. I’ve been with the group for 10 years and I don’t remember a time where we had to discuss that.”
