Much has been talked about, and heard of socialite Zari Hussein Zantel. Her numerous flings with strings of guys in Kampala and across the globe, her flamboyant lifestyle and of course, her on-and-off sex romps with lover Ivan Ssemwanga, not to mention the recent Bed-Minton jigs with Isaac Lugudde, the celebrated basketball icon.

However, what nobody has ever mentioned about Zari is her mistrust of men, an unchangeable feeling she adopted way back as a teen when still in Jinja where, she was regarded as the most beautiful teen in the early nineties.

Like her real age is as mystery as herself, her real father too, remains in obscurity. After years of grassing in Jinja, her Indian-Mutooro mother, Hassan Halima was recently uprooted and transplanted in Munyonyo, shortly before Zari’s introduction, thanks to lover Ssemwanga.

The Zari You Do’ Know

Though she claim to be in her late twenties, one of Zari’s old good friends called Toto who lives in Denmark, put her age at “slightly above 36 years.” And little is known about her early school life, apart from the fact that she had a stint at Victoria primary school and at one time, attended Jinja SSS from where she vanished before the end of second term.

Many party-hoppers in Jinja still remember Zari of yesterday. “She was a must run-in beauty at the defunct Dam Waters club, Town Council Hall, Dingoes Cinema Hall and the obsolete Earthquake Club, the most happening place at the time,” Moses, one of her group members then recalls.

She was always in the company of two Arab guys namely Mohammed and Abudlatif with whom; she used to share a single room muzigo along Jinja town Main Street. It is during that time that she reportedly, picked the vice of chewing Mira and cigarette smoking, but with little results.

As fate would have it, one of the guys, Abudlatif to be precise, allegedly abused her terribly. Though the assault kind of turned into a normal sex affair, she always felt bitter and finally dumped the Main Street, stressed. Alone and quite frightened, she found solace in hard liquor from safe environs of Blue Cat bar and restaurant along with her newfound troop of randy Choti babes. It is these four friends that she moved in with, in a single room along Clive road. It was a trying situation because, most times, one of them (girls) had to have a swirilili date, which meant the four others would sleep on the floor as their roommate made Yoriyori in their earshot.

Abudlatif

To make matters worse, Zari, who had lately kind of forgiven the offensive Abudlatif, realized that the molester had developed an intimate relationship with Toto, her roommate and best friend at that.

Infuriated to the lower nerve, Zari reportedly went feral and chose to revenge by picking on Abdulatif’s friend called Nick, a son to a top military pilot then. The pair is said to have made merry happenings every other day only to retire to the guy’s hideout, a garage near the then Okem Motor shop on spire road. However Zari’s   plan didn’t succeed as month’s later, word went round that Toto and Abudlatif had flown out of the country. To her chagrin, Toto was expecting Abdulatif’s first Child. Heartbroken and torn apart Zari started frequenting Kampala cheap night spots like Planet Plaza in Bwaise, Horizons and Pulsations in Kabalagala. It is during this time after months of nursing a broken heart that she is said to have met a sharp and fairly ‘loaded’ guy, Ivan Ssemwanga.

Ivan Sets In

After months of romps around town, the then Wilson road-based Ssemwanga hatched a plan to move to South Africa where, Ugandans were said to mint money via ‘witch-craft’ stunts. Though many think that Zari and Ssemwanga headed to South Africa through Entebbe, the ugly truth is that the pair spent almost a month on the road, trying to connect to the land that Ivan always promised, would change their lives forever.

They managed to link up with a friend of his, a one Jajja Ali who, happened to be a prominent native doctor with a base in Soweto. Zari and Ivan spent much of their time hitch-hiking and staying in cheap motels and inns, while he sought out ‘deals’ among the Ugandan community,  to make ends meet. Ssemwanga started life in SA as one of Jajja Ali’s assistants. He mastered the art of his boss’ trade that in a space of just five months he was the most sought out for ‘consultant’ at the ‘Clinic.’

With now a big following, Ssemwanga quit the Soweto base and headed to Kwa Zulu Natal province where, he made his first million rand with his then trusted assistant and live-in girlfriend Zari. The now loaded guy started traversing the country and other places like Nairobi, this time round by plane.

With the ever growing wallet, shrewd Ssemwanga joined real estate industry before he was joined by a trusted friend and relative, Kyeyune aka Chuene whose education and irresistible business antics enabled him to successfully run all their investments which sought them humongous profits from the buying and selling of properties.

The duo later went into the car export business and before long, the pair set up Brooklyn City and   Kingsbridge schools, facilities that since have turned into a colleges. The Colleges are said to be some of the best, with several branches in South Africa. The success Ivan and Chuene had missed out during their youth was fast catching up with them. Several theories however surround Ivan’s abrupt riches and big-spending but that is another investigative piece for next time.  

They stared partying like there was no tomorrow and soon word went out to Zari  that Ivan had a string of  beautiful South African friends and Ugandans with whom he spent evenings. It is at this time that the pair started fighting at their home. With threats of her going public, a humbled Ivan asked her what her life dream was. Zari demanded that she introduces him to her family and that she wanted it done the big way with another condition for him to facilitate her new singing career, finance her fashion business now running at the forest mall and, an annual White party that happens to be one of the must-attend events in Kampala and among the Ugandan community in the UK.

Lugudde LK4 Features

Any man who thinks they can underestimate the power of a woman, who has ever faced both dejection and domestic violence, must be a day dreamer. It is said that the same applied to Zari and that after she introduced Ivan at Munyonyo and Serena last year, Ivan reportedly resumed his woman-battering syndrome.

 Zari was so bitter and tired of the status quo. She excused herself from their ‘marital’ home in Pretoria and first nursed her heart ache and body scars at a secret location in Muyenga, a Kampala leafy suburb. It is during this time that she met the very popular Isaac Lugudde aka LK4 of the Friday night Lites fame. She met him through her close friends Suzan, Judith and shockingly, Ivan’s trusted side kick Vicky. And obviously, Vicky, who as well had a thing for Isaac, spilled Zari’s beans before Ivan.

Pals opened that Zari was so deep into Lugudde that she invested millions of her savings. Gone were the days when Lugudde had to wait for his salary from his ‘D’ mark power team or from his dealings with the Kinetic group. He was able to fully pay and pimp his Ipsum ride and also redesigned his secret apartment in Najjeera off Ntinda road. Lugudde had ‘arrived’ but he also had issues with his live-in girlfriend Cynthia, who had vowed to show Zari her true colors if she didn’t let go of her live wire.

As the love blossomed, Lugudde was convinced it was time to make it official. He started going out with bootylious, reportedly water-logged Zari to swanky places like Nawab, The Lawns in Kololo and Nanjing. Their romantic pictures became viral amongst friends, colleagues and now, The Investigator. At one time love-smitten Zari was talked into tattooing the guy’s LK4 initials, a suggestion she grabbed like a God-sent one.  

On both her torso and shoulder sections, a drill was carried out by Kampala’s top tattoo ace Khan. And this was done in a special top Hotel room around upper town as Lugudde took snaps of every step. Little he guessed that the same pictures would soon fall in the hands of some scrupulous fellow who leaked them to the media and posted them on other social networks.

When word and pictorial evidence reached Ivan, through Vicky, all hell broke loose. He trotted to the Airport and jumped onto the next Entebbe bound plane. Our spy close to Lugudde said it is at this time that he was picked by police, arrested and detained at Wandegeya Police Station and later, Kiira road police before he was released on police bond but with no charges preferred against him.

Zari U-Turns

Folks, don’t be fooled that the showy Zari is always carrying around thousands of dollars with her. The truth is that she is just given an allowance and up keep by Ivan in the name of children’s welfare. And remember, she had blown her life savings on Lugudde. And when Ivan zipped his wallet on her face, yet her White Party was around the corner, the humbled mother of three swallowed her pride and flew back into Ivan’s eagerly waiting arms.

 Though it didn’t take them long to rekindle there’ love’, insiders tell us that the trust that Ivan had in Zari was quashed and has never been fully rediscovered. Friends of the couple intimated that this is the ultimate reason why, instead of being in the hitherto warming company of Zari, Ivan hangs out with his close pals King Lawrence and Kasha, among others. But King Lawrence has never had kind words for bed-hopping Zari. And recently attacked her for concurring with jailed Meddie Ssentongo’ mocking statement, branding Ivan as a ‘kid’ before him (Ssentongo), when it comes to counting dimes.

King has since become a persona non grata at the couple’s home though he still hangs out with Ivan. Zari further went deep into endless apologies as Ivan looked reluctant to fund her last year’s White party do. Her party was held days after his own boat cruise that did not live up to its wild billing, but that was only when she gave in on appearing with Ivan in public, an occasion that dug deep into his pockets to have  paparazzo’s’ attention and media space. Watch here for thrilling pics next week…

 

 

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