Winnie's Family Feud

Songbird Winnie Khumalo is battling ill health and baby-mama drama. She opens up about her row with her grandson’s maternal family.

- Qhama Dayile

SHE’S spent the past decade dealing with one health crisis after the other – stomach ulcers, asthma, chest pains and fainting spells have seen the singer in and out of hospital and wreaked havoc on her music career.

But Winnie Khumalo has a lot more than wellness woes to preoccupy herself with these days: Just as she was preparing to get back to work, a private drama erupted – setting her back all over again.

A baby mama’s mother is making her life “a living hell”, she says – and the family’s dirty laundry is being aired for all to see.

Winnie (43) has been accused of being at war with Poppy Dlamini (23), her son Thando Thobela’s girlfriend and mother of his child.

Thando – Winnie’s son with former boxing champion Dingaan “Rose of Soweto” Thobela – has been accused by Poppy’s family of not owning up to his responsibilities. But it is Winnie who is bearing the brunt of the allegations.

Poppy’s mom, Mpho Khumalo, has allegedly accused her of being an evil mother­in­law. In addition, recent reports suggested Winnie wanted a DNA test to prove the child’s paternity, but the singer strongly denies this.

“I know he is Thando’s child,” she says. “Even Dingaan’s uncles went to see the child and said he looks exactly like Dingaan. Even if I wanted to deny he was my grandchild, there is no way because he looks like my son and my son’s father.”