Clearing the decks with DJ Zinhle

This House sensation is terrified of gigs & party balloons - but facing your fear is better than laziness, she tells Leigh-Anne Hunter

DJ Zinhle's Newtown office is plastered with posters of Michael Jackson. "I had a thing for Michael," she says, "but I felt sorry for him, with that kind of life. It was too big, too much."

The club siren, who fell into the scene a decade ago when a DJ didn't show for his gig, is ambivalent about her own fame.

"I just want to be a DJ. I don't want everything else that comes with being popular."

Like social media abuse. "Someone tweeted: 'How can Zinhle's boyfriend sleep with her? It's like he's sleeping with another man.' I've been teased about my broad shoulders my whole life. It hurt when I was growing up."

Ntombezinhle Jiyane was once a far cry from this Amazon in a red weave and miniskirt who gets showered with cash by dancing crowds. She grew up in the backwaters of KZN, with "dusty roads, candles for light, and 11 dogs.

"If an uncle gave me R5, my mother would make me give it back. It taught me the value of waiting. The first time I went to a club was in my 20s."

When she became a DJ, friends teased her about this. "But you never went anywhere."

Some disapproved of her career choice. "One DJ said to me: 'Aren't you the sound girl? What are you doing behind the decks?' I never wanted to be one of the guys.

"I think I'm a better DJ because I'm a woman. We're more attentive and caring. But whether you're female or male, it takes a plan to build a name. Women are so apologetic about making money. We need to get to the point where we are like, 'We want this big money'."

Her 2012 hit, the you-go-girl roar My Name Is, did just that for the 30-something vinyl spinner. In House havens like Miami, people twisted their tongues around the lyrics. "If you know you're a diva, uzo-representa ."

"DJs are the new superstars," she says. "I think I've contributed a lot to the industry."

Five years ago, she started an all-girl DJ school, Fuse Academy, but she's far from lenient towards her own sex.

"My message to women is: Stop being lazy." She jabs her pen. "Women can fight harder for the things they want. Dreaming takes guts. It must scare you."

When is she scared? "All the time. My brother used to say I have Parkinson's because I'd shake so much at gigs."

She's developed an alter-ego to cope. "I tell myself Zinhle must stay here - DJ Zinhle needs to entertain. I'm very conscious of getting out of myself to represent DJ Zinhle the way she would do things."

Not much else scares her - except for brightly coloured balloons. "This one time at McDonald's, I could smell them and I had a panic attack. I just have to tell myself nothing's going to happen. I don't want this to consume me." What about fear of spiders? Snakes? "Nah. I'm very logical."

She is extending her brand beyond being a DJ. Last year she posed topless for fashion retailer Legit. "Two days of being sprayed with oil to look dripping hot." No, she didn't mind baring her assets. "I was a little cold, that's all."

She also runs an online accessories shop, Era. Students get commission from products they sell. "You often hear stories about girls on campus who have to date certain people for money to buy food. I don't want those stories."

On her desk is a photograph of her smooching a man. His face is obscured, so I ask who it is. "It's Kiernan." Aka AKA. "My boyfriend. We've been dating for two and a half years." They're like the Beyoncé and Jay Z of Jozi, yet she says: "We're boring, just a normal couple."

Is this House getting into bed with Hip-Hop? She clams up. "I don't talk about him as AKA. I don't want to talk about AKA. Girls look up to me. I don't want them thinking a man is more important than hard work and education. A good man is a complementary service. I want to inspire people and I don't see how my personal life will inspire anyone."

She will say that she wants kids. A girl. "If I give birth to a boy I'll tell the doctor to push it back." And she's working on another single.

She used to worry about being a "gogo" behind the turntables, "but the music keeps me young. Miriam Makeba was on stage until she died. Everything else can stop, but I'm a DJ. That's the one thing I want people to know."