6 interesting facts you didn’t know about socialite Zari Hassan

Zarinah Hassan commonly known as Zari Hassan, is a Ugandan socialite and businesswoman, who resides in South Africa, where she runs her businesses.

Zari is used to the stares she gets wherever she goes. She is, after all, a household name in East Africa.

Here are the interesting facts you didn’t know about Zari;

1.Zari was born in 1980 in Uganda’s Jinja town to mixed-race parents. She says, ‘I’ve never asked how they met, but they were both Ugandan by birth. My mum’s mother was from Fort Portal in Western Uganda, while my dad was Indian. My dad is of two origins as well. His mum was from Burundi while his dad was from Somalia.’

2.She was raised by a single mother. ‘My mom was a hustler, she raised all of us singlehandedly. I remember her being overloaded with orders for curtains for almost all the hotels in Jinja. At the time, she was the best dressmaker in town. She barely slept, saying she needed the money to feed and school us. (I) never saw that kind of hustle from a single mum at that time. I learnt so much from her. She will forever be my MVP.’ In July 2017, Zari’s mum died of pancreatic cancer. ‘It was caught in its very late stages and there was nothing we could do to save her.’

3.After her high school, Zari went to the UK for two years where she did a cosmetics course. She came back to Uganda in the year 2000 before relocating to South Africa where she met her late ex-husband Ivan Semwanga.

4.In 2012, the socialite introduced Semwanga to her parents in Munyonyo in a multimillion introduction ceremony. The two have three sons together. A year later the couple had a bitter split whereby Zari accused Semwanga of domestic violence but they later made up.

5.In 2014, she again left Semwanga for lover boy Farouk Sempala and in 2015 Zari found her way into Tanzanian musician Diamond Platnumz’s heart. In 2018, the couple broke up. They have two kids together.

6. After dumping Platnumz, Zari started moving out with King Bae real names Cedric Anthony Fourie. However, at the beginning of this 2020, the mother of five decided to end her relationship with the South african boyfriend after accusing him of lying that he was rich, yet he was broke.