IN PICS | Out with the old crowd — in with the new crew

If, like me, you find yourself trotting through about 100 social events a year, you get to see the usual suspects way too much.

So for this year’s edition of my annual “A-listers You Need to Know” list, I decided to kick things up a gear.

Out with the predictable faces and in with an eclectic new crew — those who are fascinating, on the rise in their respective fields, and refreshingly not the same old crowd.

Think of this list as a curated “who’s who” of intriguing South Africans you’ll want to keep on your radar.

The youngest of the 2025 A-listers cohort, Mihlali Koyana closed off last year as Spotify’s most-streamed female hip-hop artist in the country. The 23-year-old Gugulethu-born artist better known as K.Keed and another fresh face, Prev Reddy (a comedic actor who has already notched up a couple of trophies and a growing international gig diary), were the first to arrive at the little soirée held to mark the occasion.

“My friend just asked me what it was like to be called an A-Lister, and I said, ‘Tell that to my laundry waiting for me in the basket at home’,” quipped Prev, who was still getting goosebumps after being told he had made this year’s list.

Now, every A-list gathering requires an equally A-list setting.

Enter Jill Grogor and her Zebra Square dream team, who secured us the most glamorous spot in the country — Just Teddy, pastry king Teddy Zaki’s boulangerie-meets-patisserie jewel in Joburg’s chichi Hyde Park Corner shopping centre.

Nestled in the restaurant’s private dining room, we sipped on Mimosas and sampled the eatery’s molecular gastronomy menu developed by Teddy’s son Jeff, which forms part of the new Just Teddy bespoke catering service.

Think the fanciest “street food” to tantalise your taste buds (anyone for cream cheese and avo ice-cream cones?), delicious mains, and a Snow White-inspired candied ginger apple dessert that tasted like a fairy tale.

So, who else cracked the A-lister lunch invitation?

There was doe-eyed actress Makoma Mohale (who last year took the title role of Queen Modjadji in the much talked-about drama series), vivacious TV personality Kuhle Adams (ever red-carpet ready in a gold cocktail dress), the ever-so-stylish Lala Tuku (who has risen through the ranks to become one of the most powerful women in local programming), and Nitsa Comninos-Rose (the founder and MD of 51 Beauty, a retail company capturing the market for mindful self-care).

Then there was food blogger turned lifestyle influencer Li-Chi Pan, who swapped her building-site hard hat (she’s an architect with a master’s degree from Sydney University) for chic monotone (fashion girlies will want to know that her architectural cream blouse is from Aussie brand Aje).

Flying in for the occasion was an A-Lister on a mission to make art a more inclusive space — and that’s Khanyisile Mbongwa, chief curator for next month’s Stellenbosch Triennale.

Noting the contemporary art festival will be tackling such subjects as colonialism, enslavement and apartheid in a town still widely seen as a bastion of the Afrikaner elite, I asked the independent curator whether “the farmers were ready” for what she has planned.

“Only they will know if they are ready or not. We are coming because an invitation has been extended,” was her response.

Only one 2025 A-lister couldn’t make it, but at least Denetric Malope had a good excuse — he headed to Tokyo on Tuesday for three months of bookings in the Japanese capital, before taking up assignments in London and New York.

However, the Limpopo-born international model managed to fit in a pre-luncheon tea the day before he flew out, where he got first dibs on the special A-lister cupcakes gifted to all of his cohort, along with goodies from responsible beauty brand Panier Des Sens.

And — which comes as no surprise when you’re a fashionable A-lister — in Denetric’s case the cupcake serendipitously matched the hue of his Paris thrift-store sweater ...

THE 2025 A-LISTERS

DENETRIC MALOPE

Making his international modelling debut for Prada Menswear’s spring/summer 2021 show, the 6’2” model has gone on to walk with an equally impressive number of luxury brands, including Fendi, Comme des Garçon and Dolce & Gabbana.

KHANYISILE MBONGWA

This Cape Town-based independent curator is disrupting the local arts scene with an approach she describes as “curing and care”, which reimagines curators as agents of change and healing. The curator of the 2023 Liverpool Biennale returns as the chief curator of the Stellenbosch Triennale, which she helped found four years ago.

K.KEED

The Gen Z rapper’s new album, Bite the Bullet, drops on February 28 and is set to cement her reputation as a boundary-pushing and versatile artist (case in point, the album’s first single, Indaba Yethu, is a collab with J’Something and Kaylow).

KUHLE ADAMS

She landed her first TV gig at just 19 while studying at UCT, and this Gqeberha-born personality hasn’t looked back since. The popularity of the Expresso morning show host, who last year was the red-carpet interviewer at the South African Music Awards, has only continued to grow over the last 10 years, thanks to her infectious on-air persona, and she is now set to become one of the year’s most vivacious “it” girls.

LALA TUKU

With more than two decades of experience in the creative arts, communications and marketing, this award-winning exec has an impressive résumé. As head of content for the national broadcaster, the newly appointed member of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has one of the most influential positions in the local TV industry.

LI-CHI PAN

From collabs with luxury brands such as Dior and Tiffany & Co to being flown to Paris by Hermès, this lifestyle influencer’s knack for crafting a clean, minimalist aesthetic is being sought after around the world.

MAKOMA MOHALE

In theatre, she mostly played supporting roles, but on TV this Pretoria-born actress and model has found her place thanks to her breakout role as Tlhogi on e.tv soapie Scandal! Last year, she garnered even more attention after being cast in the biggest role of her career to date — as the lead, Maselekwane, in the period drama Queen Modjadji.

NITSA COMNINOS-ROSE

This entrepreneur has channelled more than 17 years of experience in the fashion and retail industries into creating a vehicle to introduce the South African public to innovative global beauty brands such as natural cosmetics product Panier Des Sens and “new-gen hybrid” makeup offering La Crique.

PREV REDDY

Last year, this Durban High School matriculant clinched a South African Film & Television Award for his first leading role in the comedy Miseducation, but it was his turn as “alter ego” Aunty Shamilla on TikTok that first got him noticed, garnering him a Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award. His stand-up comedy is also gaining attention beyond our shores, after his star turn at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.