OUT IN THE COUNTRY
Maybe it has something to do with us being holed at home for so long, but some of the year’s most memorable events took place in the great outdoors.
The Bombay Sapphire Art of Botanicals experience took place in the arty surrounds of the Nirox Sculpture Park near the Cradle of Humankind in Gauteng, while Nivea roped in that hostess with the mostest, Bonang Matheba, to officiate its “Your Shade of Beautiful” body lotion launch at Ground The Venue not far away in Muldersdrift.
Meanwhile, fruity alcohol brand Brutal Fruit unveiled its venture into fragrances at the prettiest locale of them all, Kleine Rijke in Hartbeespoort, at one of the year’s most glam affairs.
UNSEEN BABY BUMPS
Nomalanga Shozi had a tricky assignment at the start of the year: not drinking on the job while hosting a soirée for an alcohol brand.
This was at the Brutal Fruit fragrance launch in February because she hadn’t broken the news she was having a baby with Black Motion DJ Bandile Mbere. Though her dramatic pleated tulle dress disguised any signs of a baby bump, eagle-eyed guests noticed the BET presenter didn’t once sip from her glass of spritzer.
SOCIAL UNCOUPLING
At the Cape Town Met in January, I enjoyed catching up with adorable celebrity couple Lunga Shabalala and Thando Thabethe, so it was sad to hear that they might have called it splitsville a few months later. Social media snoops pointed out that they’ve deleted pics of each other from their Instagram feeds. Ouch!
A GRAMMY TOAST FOR A LEGEND
In April we all cheered up when Nkosinathi Maphumulo, known the world over as Black Coffee, became the first African recipient of the coveted best dance/electronic album award at the 64th Grammy Awards in Las Vegas.
And the hottest invite was the private celebratory dinner supported by Arena Holdings, Gallo and Rémy Martin held three days later at chic Sandton restaurant Tang.
Nathi, who arrived with mom Faith Dandala, drew a crowd including childhood friends Mnqobi “Shota” Mdabe and Siyanda “DJ Kabila” Makanya, a phalanx of politicians including Julius Malema and Fikile Mbalula — with his wife Nozuko, and fellow DJ Oskido.
TELLING THEIR STORIES
With a recent PwC survey showing that only 8% of JSE-listed companies have women CEOs, it seems business is still a man’s world. However, two women who’ve broken the glass ceiling in their respective fields both published books documenting their journeys this year.
In July, billionaire businesswoman Magda Wierzycka unveiled her book on the life lessons and business principles that have shaped her, at the Greenpoint, Cape Town offices of her fintech company Sygnia.
And on a Thursday evening in October in an auditorium at GIBS Business School in Illovo, Joburg, Nonkululeko Gobodo, the country’s first black woman chartered accountant, enraptured us with her story at the launch of her book, Awakened ... to my true self, which she self-published.
It’s a surprisingly unvarnished account of her journey, taking on the subjects of gender and race, business and leadership — with healing as its central theme.
“I want young people to know that life is full of ups and downs, but you can rise up again, rebuild again,” shared the woman who went on to co-found South Africa’s largest black-owned accountancy firm, SizweNtsalubaGobodo.
GOGO MAWENI’S EARLY MORNING CALL
One of the most curious events I attended was an eye-popping appointment with a controversial reality TV star.
Traditional healer Makgotso Lee-Anne Makopo is better known to viewers of Izangoma Zodumo as Gogo Maweni, and to others as Dr Maweni, while gossip lovers know all about the child maintenance dramas she’s had with exes SK Khoza, the former The Queen actor, and footballer Siyabonga Zulu.
On a Tuesday morning in July, though, the cute Gogo invited us to the Women’s Jail in Joburg’s Constitution Hill for the launch of her upcoming festival to celebrate African spirituality called the Ubungoma Festival.
Now, unless it’s a business breakfast, events before noon rarely work out — and this one was no exception.
It’s not a good sight when you spot event staff putting the finishing touches to décor while others set up the orange Glenmorangie bar next to the red carpet. However, things did perk up when Dr Maweni, sporting a fiery red dress finished off with a black Gucci belt, arrived and we headed inside to hear about her plans for “having traditional, spiritual, cultural people together, embracing music, arts, fashion, crafts — and having a blast!”.
A BASH FIT FOR A KING
When larger-than-life businessman Vivian Reddy invites you to celebrate his newest venture, you know it’s going to be a spectacle.
Vivian looked dapper in his Gucci suit, wife Sorisha Naidoo was a vision of old school Hollywood glamour in her antique and gold jewel-encrusted gown and, with a guest list including new Zulu king Misuzulu kaZwelithini, the creme of KwaZulu-Natal politics and a handful of reality TV stars, it was an occasion both sparkly and spicy.
The opening of the Radisson Blu Hotel Umhlanga, which marked the first phase of a R4.5bn development, was undoubtedly the year’s most lavish affair — from the Bugattis and Ferraris parked outside and a violinist playing in a bubble in the lobby, to the champagne that flowed as guests were escorted upstairs in gold-tinted elevators.
No surprise that the entertainment included Vicky Sampson belting out Afrikan Dream.
Who else showed up?
Then KZN premier Sihle Zikalala, hat-wearing police minister Bheki Cele and his glam wife Thembeka Ngcobo and Lalela Mswane, the Miss South Africa whose reign will be remembered for that clash with our flag-loving arts and culture minister over her decision to participate at the Miss Universe pageant in Israel.
LINDIWE’S LAUGH
In October I made the long trek to the opening of a new hotel and spa to hang out with a woman with presidential aspirations.
The Vivari Hotel and Spa is the brainchild of Dr Anushka Reddy and her cardiologist husband Manesh Naidu, who hope to snag a piece of the lucrative medical tourism market with a plush venture that includes a state-of-the-art hospital, managed by the well-respected Mantis group. Delivering the night’s keynote address was none other than tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu.
When I ask whether she would use the platform to announce her campaign to become the next president of the ANC, the daughter of political stalwarts Walter and Albertina Sisulu chortled: “Hahahaha! It started long ago!”
Alas, it proved to be a run that ended in a cul-de-sac for the woman who, in my books, is the most stylish pollie in the land.
Lindiwe, maybe it’s time to treat yourself to Vivari’s award-winning spa therapies — I hear their Kneipp therapy is the perfect rejuvenation for body, mind and soul ...
A-LISTERS IN ACCRA
Fancy an exclusive dinner in the company of the world’s leading philanthropists, African business titans and Ghanaian political royalty? Well, when Global Citizen — the activist organisation that coaxes governments and businesses to bring change through the pull of star-studded musical concerts — held its festival in the West African city of Accra, that was the itinerary.
The dinner, held at NsuomNam, the city’s chicest seafood and fish restaurant, was attended by a plethora of A-Listers: ANC loyalist Jeff Radebe, SA High Commissioner to Ghana Grace Mason, Nigerian billionaire Tunde Folawiyo, Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo and IT giant Cisco’s vice-president Fran Katsoudas, who was there as one of the advocacy group’s board members.
The night’s high point was when Tshepo Mahloele, chair of the company that owns this paper and also Global Citizen’s Africa patron, roused the crowd to become “the ancestors we want to be” by “making the conscious choices that future generations need us to [make]”.
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