Doja Cat Opens Up About Visiting South Africa Amid Tense Relationship With Father Dumisani Dlamini
- Doja Cat sat down with Jennifer Hudson to reflect on her first trip to South Africa as part of the Global Citizen Move Afrika tour
- The rapper, whose father is legendary Sarafina! actor Dumisani Dlamini, described the experience as both amazing and "nerve-wracking" given her history
- Doja Cat got to meet her paternal family during the visit, but her father reportedly missed her show under disputed circumstances
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Doja Cat is talking, and it's deeply personal. The Planet Her rapper sat down with Jennifer Hudson on The Jennifer Hudson Show to open up about her trip to South Africa, where she headlined the Global Citizen Move Afrika tour in early 2026, and the complicated emotions that came with it.
Born Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, the singer has always carried a dual identity: her mother, Deborah Elizabeth Sawyer, is an American Jewish painter and clothing designer who raised Doja and her brother as a single mother across Los Angeles and New York City.
Her father, however, is Dumisani Dlamini, a celebrated South African actor and dancer of Zulu descent from Durban, best known for playing Crocodile in the iconic 1992 musical film Sarafina! alongside Whoopi Goldberg. He met Doja's mother while touring the United States with the stage production of the show, before returning to South Africa when Doja was still an infant.
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Doja Cat's nerve-wracking African adventure
That backstory is precisely what made setting foot on South African soil feel so loaded. The rapper kicked off the tour in Rwanda before making her way south, and she admitted the anticipation was overwhelming.
"I started in Rwanda, and I was like, 'I don't know what it's going to be like.' I did my best, but it was nerve-wracking and scary the first time that I got there," she said.
The experience clearly had its lighter moments too. Doja broke into laughter recounting a safari, describing the warthogs as adorably skittish. She also spoke warmly about spotting rhinos and witnessing what she called a "grandpa elephant with a younger elephant teaching him how to be a man," a moment that clearly stayed with her.
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Doja Cat and her estranged father
Beyond the wildlife, the South Africa leg of the tour carried far more emotional weight. Despite the estrangement from her father, Doja was able to connect with her paternal relatives during the visit, a meaningful step given how little of that side of her heritage she grew up with.
The reunion with her father himself, however, did not materialise. Doja claimed he made excuses to avoid attending her show, while Dumisani Dlamini maintained that he did make it to the Pretoria concert but was turned away by security. Their accounts remain at odds, and the relationship between them continues to be strained.
The conversation with Jennifer Hudson stretched beyond the South Africa trip. Doja also reflected on her mental health journey and the complexity of growing up largely disconnected from her South African roots. It's a side of the star that fans rarely get to see, and one that clearly resonated with many who watched the interview.
Watch Doja Cat's interview below.
Doja Cat makes Spotify history
In an earlier report, Briefly News shared insight into Doja Cat's latest career milestone.
The star cemented her place in music history after becoming the first female rapper ever to have 10 songs surpass a billion streams each on Spotify.
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Source: Briefly News
