CHOCK-FULL CHUKKA CALENDAR
Have polo events overtaken fashion weeks in the social saturation stakes?
Who actually watches the match when you’re too busy social media-posting about the fabulous time you’re having?
And, why do celebs dress as though they’re at the Oscars or a nightclub for an afternoon where saddled blokes and sometimes gals pukka about the field?
These are the social problems that keep me up at night, having received invitations to more than a handful of polo dos throughout this year.
Which stood out? Trophies go to the African Polo Open for drawing the moneyed set rather than the envelope chasers; the Nedbank International Polo at Julius Malema’s stomping ground, the Inanda Club in Sandton, for its sheer glamour; and Pink Polo at the picturesque Val De Vie estate in Paarl, for raising awareness about breast cancer.
NEW COUPLINGS
While 2018 was the year of the break-up, 2019 saw the blossoming of romance on the social whirl.
In mid-October, The A-Listers broke the news that TV’s leggiest blonde, Leigh-Anne Williams, has found love in the arms of MasterChef Australia hunk Ben Ungermann after spotting them cosying up at the American Express Dining Awards.
A month later we also let the cat out of the bag about another budding romance, this time between Miss SA 2018 Tamaryn Green and her knight in shining amour, rising businessman Ze Nxumalo, who turned up hand in hand at the Pink Polo.
A ROYAL AFFAIR
Meghan, Harry and Archie fever hit in September when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex toured SA.
The A-Listers got the nod to attend a garden reception for the royals at the Cape Town residence of the British high commissioner, Nigel Casey, in Bishopscourt.
Harry proved he’s inherited his mom’s charm but all eyes were on the American starlet who won his heart.
Megs impressed with her keen interest in the guests she met, her flawless skin and her trademark understated style.
And she gets five stars for her upcycling approach to the royal wardrobe — she wore the same Martin Grant maxi dress she used at Bondi Beach on a previous Australian royal tour.
POWER OUTAGE
Imagine throwing an expensive party, inviting a few hundred VIPs and roping in radio and TV to cover it live — then your guest of honour fails to pitch.
That happened at the beginning of December when radio man Given Mkhari’s annual Conversation series fizzled when President Cyril Ramaphosa stayed away.
Instead, we had to sit through the Power FM boss’s rambling explanation as to how he tried to win over No 1, after two NGOs had pointed out it would be “in poor taste” because of the gender-based violence cloud hanging over Mkhari’s head.
Here’s hoping the MSG Afrika chair sees the experience as an opportunity to use his media channels to get the nation talking about how we can truly address women abuse. Now that would be a Chairman’s Conversation we would all appreciate …
BEAUTY MARK
Celebs always want to look their best when they traipse the red carpet.
So you can empathise with Anele Mdoda who felt her face-beat needed some work not long after making an entrance at the launch of her new TV venture, Celebrity Game Show, in October.
“Where’s my makeup artist? My makeup is blotchy!” exclaimed the Beyoncé fan.
Luckily, a brush-brandishing beauty technician was on hand.
Irony of ironies, though, was that the gap-toothed 94.7 host had been roasted on Twitter only a few days before for dissing US songstress Kelly Rowland , saying the former Destiny’s Child member only “looks amazing with makeup”.
BASSIE’S PAGE TURNER
They’re usually dull cheese and box-wine affairs, so who would have thought that a book launch would end up being the social event of the year?
But when the author is arguably the land’s most successful beauty queen, Basetsana Kumalo, it should be no surprise.
The launch of Bassie’s memoir, My Journey of Hope, drew 600 heavy hitters, including Julius Malema and his EFFers, business behemoth Bonang Mohale, actress Pearl Thusi and arts & culture minister Nathi Mthethwa.
The stars, though, were undoubtedly Bassie and her clan — cutie-pie daughter Bontle came in the arms of her bestselling author mom, and hubby Romeo Kumalo walked in with their dapper sons Kgosi and Nathi.
My only quibble? The official programme ran almost as long as it might take you to read War and Peace.
TRICK OR TREAT
You need guts to play a trick on one of the country’s most powerful business and political figures — and that’s exactly what a young lad from a small Free State town did earlier this month.
The setting was a fundraising dinner for the Cancer Association of SA and the Hinde Youth Foundation hosted by Tharina and Richard Gordon, with celebrity lawyer Billy Gundelfinger and his wife, Michelle, at Olives & Plates in Hyde Park, Johannesburg.
Part of the entertainment saw magician Wian van den Berg call up an audience member to participate in a trick in which water in a paper cup would miraculously disappear.
Wian, though, was oblivious that his victim happened to be former Gauteng premier, now wine farm-owning magnate, Tokyo Sexwale.
“Tokyo as in the city?” asked the Frankfort-born sleight-of-hander, to guffaws from the crowd, which included billionaire Robert Gumede and his wife, Portia; Summercon property developer Rod Frew; and property heiress Penny Cavaleros.
A NEW STAR IN THE UNIVERSE
Beyond her much-talked-about natural good looks, it is her easy charm and authenticity that won me over when I first met then newly crowned Miss SA Zozibini Tunzi in August at the Fairlady Women of the Future awards lunch.
So learning that Zozi had been crowned Miss Universe earlier this month came as no surprise.
Here’s hoping, though, that Sun International’s Anthony Leeming learns to pronounce the Eastern Cape beauty’s name before she arrives at the Sun Met in February.
The resort company CEO called her “Zonzibini” at the October launch of the horse-racing event in Cape Town.
NOT YOUR TYPICAL TROPHY WIFE
Move over Posh and Becks, the hottest couple in Mzansi is undoubtedly Siya and Rachel Kolisi.
And while you can’t argue about Siya’s leadership skills, after he led our manne to Rugby World Cup glory in Japan, I take my hat off to his blonde wife for her sheer feistiness.
I did a double-take when I saw Rachel call out a Cape Town fitness model for sliding into her man’s DMs earlier this year, but the wife of the Springbok captain has proved to be no wallflower.
At a launch at the swanky Tag Heuer boutique in Sandton City in May, I asked Rachel, who helps to raise Siya’s siblings with their own brood, if she’s still allowed near his phone.
“Ask him,” responded the co-founder of women’s upliftment group Rise, to which Siya responded: “Of course.”
DUST BUSTER
Regular readers will know the female celeb I am particularly fond of is that perky actress and UNHCR goodwill ambassador Nomzamo Mbatha.
Her effervescence lights up the room, and unlike some of her peers, she’s charmingly down to earth.
And She That Has a Rose to Her Name often knows how to blossom in the style stakes.
So I was a little floored when I got wind that the pocket dynamo might have not taken kindly to the cheeky comment I made about the dress she wore in April at the 15th anniversary in Africa for entertainment channel E!
Spotting the upcoming Coming to America sequel star at the sweaty shindig, held at the boudoir-esque Sandton spot Alice & Fifth, I wondered if that was a feather duster peeping out of her Gert-Johan Coetzee monochrome gown.
Nomz, can we give things a clean sweep in 2020?
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