South Africa’s 21-day lockdown period starts from midnight. On the
African continent, the country has surpassed Egypt with the highest number of
confirmed Covid-19 cases, with all nine provinces of the country hit. &nbsp;



With only a few hours to total shutdown, street vendor, Teboho Tsimo, cashes in by selling facemasks, gloves and sanitizers in the Crown Mines area of Johannesburg. Like other small traders, Tsimo’s business will be severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.



The lockdown was announced on March 23 by the country’s President
Cyril Ramaphosa who said a relief fund will be made available for small
businesses. But addressing the media the
following day, Minister of Small Business Development, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, said any misuse by entrepreneurs
will be penalized by a 10% interest rate payment.

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[PHOTO OF THE DAY] South Africa: 8 Hours To Lockdown

South Africa’s 21-day lockdown period starts from March 26 until April 16. On the African continent, the country has surpassed Egypt with the highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases – 709 as of today, and steadily climbing, with all nine provinces of the country hit. In his address to the nation on Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa pleaded with the public to avoid panic shopping that would disrupt the food supply chain. But in anticipation of the national shutdown, South Africans pay no heed as they queue up at retail stores. In this picture, shoppers line up with trolleys outside a major store in Johannesburg, also risking the spread of the coronavirus.

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[PHOTO OF THE DAY] South Africa: 33 Hours To Lockdown

From humble beginnings to the limelight in  Hollywood, their success is for every ordinary African with big dreams and a bigger mission.



From the dusty rural Moutse village in South Africa’s
Limpopo province to the bright lights of Hollywood, the Ndlovu Youth Choir have
proven there can be no impediment to global glory if your ambition is great and
your passion greater.



When this group of young boys and girls came together, little did they know the world would rise in unison to applaud them. Late last year, their turn as the finalists of America’s Got Talent, a televized American talent show competition in the United States created by Simon Cowell, earned them prowess and praise.



So when an opportunity came to meet them at popular South
African restaurant Nando’s in the suburb of Lorentzville in Johannesburg,
during a launch event last month, I seized it with conviction and my camera.



The choir’s co-founder and choirmaster Ralf Schmitt started from the beginning, about how he got involved with the group at the opening of the amphitheater in the village of Moutse.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/arts/2019/06/26/three-heavy-grammys-and-a-world-singing-their-praise/">Soweto Gospel Choir: Three Heavy Grammys And A World Singing Their Praise</a> 



What started out as a mission to serve the community ended up becoming an even greater force – on the world stage.



“This is the same village that raised the Ndlovu Youth Choir powered by the Ndlovu Care Group. The group was doing amazing work with HIV awareness and treatment in the early 2000s and the amphitheater was built for the community to gather, receive information and do drama workshops around HIV/AIDS.”



Schmitt was contacted to do music for the opening in 2008 because of his track-record in the industry, as he was also part of the internationally-renowned Drakensburg Boys’ Choir.



“I’ve always loved choir and singing. I went on to study music and it worked from day one. I started conducting school choirs and worked with young people. I love composing, I love conducting, I love performing and I love teaching and the medium of a choir allows me to do them all,” he enthuses. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"> These young people can be the beacons of what’s possible in a rural community. <cite>Ralf Schmitt</cite></blockquote>



He had originally suggested they start a brass band but
because of their location in Limpopo, far from big city Johannesburg, it would
have been difficult for the teachers and trainers to regularly access and
develop them.



The choir became the obvious choice as part of the orphans and vulnerable children’s program at the Ndlovu Care Group.



The horrific HIV pandemic had left many orphaned and the program was meant as a healing curriculum for the community. It became so successful that when it came for the participants to leave school, they were not willing to leave the program as they were unable to find employment or afford secondary education.



Schmitt says thus an idea of transforming the choir into a platform to generate an income for unemployed youth was born.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2016/07/01/choirboy-inspired-criminals/">The Choirboy Inspired By Criminals </a>



Today, the choir boasts about 40 members and includes a job creation program for the older singers who do most of the performances.



The choir has also started a home schooling program for learners – a full-time tutor travels with them locally and internationally.



“When we turned professional in 2018, it took about six months to get us going. I called a few people I knew in the industry and bookings were coming in slow,” recalls Schmitt.



“We needed a product and the arrangement we did of a Zulu version of Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran, brilliantly translated by Sandile Majola and Sipho Hleza, went massively viral on social media and had 25 million views and that got the nation’s attention and that was the first time we got serious publicity and bookings started flooding in.” 



Soon after, the choir performed live for a South African radio station and that’s where America’s Got Talent heard the Zulu arrangement and made contact and asked for videos. 



He remembers he couldn’t get the videos out to the producers
because of service delivery protests in the area. The choir conductor was
blocked by an angry mob with burning tyres and rocks, but that didn’t stop the
choir from performing at the Derby Theatre miles away from home. 



“I am so pleased that these young people can be the beacons
of what’s possible in a rural community, every single one of them are from that
community and not anyone went and studied music at tertiary level, all that is
produced is raw talent and they never had a music lesson in their life. As the
artistic director, I try very hard at preserving that talent because that’s the
magic,” he says. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1336-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-43250" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1336-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1336-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1336-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1336-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1336-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1336.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



The first time they got on stage, he recalls thinking that
the audience didn’t know them; they probably just saw the group as kids from a
rural community in South Africa. 



However, the warmth they received was unforgettable.
Whereas, in comparison, the experience at America’s Got Talent was intense and
draining, but exhilarating, he recalls.



“It was nerve-racking when the music went down and the lights dimmed and Gabrielle Union [American actress] screamed ‘you are going through!’ and everyone just lost their minds. It was special we were through to the live finale.”



Thulisile Masanabo is one of the senior members in the choir
who also assists with wardrobe. She has been with the choir since 2013 when she
was 16 and very shy. 



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2020/02/25/dont-be-afraid-to-bend-the-rules-miss-universe/">‘Don’t Be Afraid To Bend The Rules’ – Miss Universe</a>



“I used to stand at the back of the row at the beginning. As
the years went, I began to gain confidence and moved to the third row, then
second, now, I’m in the first row,” says Masanabo.&nbsp; 



She opened the song Africa by Toto wearing bright yellow
garments to a noisy and ecstatic American crowd. 



Looking back, she chuckles saying she had auditioned singing
the South African national anthem. 



“I was on my way back from school and Sandile called me in.
He was standing outside and just calling people in to audition. He didn’t want
to know if you can or cannot sing,” Masanabo says of her recruitment into the
group. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1339-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-43247" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1339-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1339-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1339-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1339-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1339-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1339.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



All members of the choir are under the age of 30; among
them, is 25-year-old Majola who helped arrange the Zulu version of Shape Of
You.



He joined when he was a 14-year-old school boy accompanying
his sister to the auditions. 



“I was invited inside to try my luck on August 23, 2009,” he
recalls vividly. 



“I first traveled internationally with the choir in 2011 to
Holland and the performance was average, it was not as nice as we perform
today.”



He says the choir upped his self-esteem and he now can
communicate better with people and perform more effectively on stage. 



One of the songs instilled in him was written by Schmitt
titled Believe dedicated to the choir.



 “The message was for us, but now, it’s for other young people as well. They should never stop dreaming,” says Majola. 



This young group of music-lovers is testament that believing
and dreaming big can indeed make you cross borders. 



Their journey was from a tiny village, to grabbing the
limelight in one of the globe’s biggest talent search shows. The world is now
truly their stage.

America’s Got Talent – Season 14

The Talented Choir That Never Had A Music Lesson

From glamorous Paris to gritty Johannesburg, Zazi Nyandeni arrived with $2,700 and updated sartorial skills to showcase haute couture on South Africa’s racks and runways.



With just $2,700 in her bank, transferred from her savings
account in France, Zazi Nyandeni returned home to the South African fashion
industry with her freshly-minted talent. But if Paris was school, Johannesburg
proved to be university. Qualifying was never easy. 



About 53kms from Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International
Airport is Constantia Kloof, a scenic, upmarket suburb in the West Rand, where
we meet Nyandeni, the up-and-coming 25-year-old fashion entrepreneur whose
brand, Zazi Luxury, has showcased in Paris, the fashion capital of the world. 



“I wasn’t really introduced to fashion, but more so to art,” recalls Nyandeni of her early days. “Ever since primary school, I was exposed to paintings, drawings and music by my father when he would come back with artworks from his travels.”



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3374-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-43167" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3374-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3374-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3374-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3374-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3374-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3374-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3374.jpg 1280w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /></figure>



She thought she was going to become a doctor growing up
because of her choice of subjects in high school but still pursued design to
stay close to art. Thankfully, her parents picked up that she was artistically-inclined
and gave her their unstinted support. 



In 2013, after high school, Nyandeni took the plane out of
South Africa and went on to study fashion at ESMOD, an international fashion
design and business school in Paris. She wanted to express herself without
saying a word, and found her way. She spent close to six years there, studying
full-time for the first three years and partially for the last two, whilst
freelancing and interning for various companies in the glitzy city.



“I love to draw and not really to sew. For my first freelance job, I went for a company that would help me work on my weaknesses; I went to Loon Paris boutique and worked on my sewing techniques. They were very strict and meticulous when it came to sewing and I learned a lot about technique,” she says.



The intense training meant that even the inside of a garment
had to be as exquisite as the outside and if the hand stitch was incorrect, she
had to undo and redo it all over again.



READ MORE: <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/life/2019/10/31/conscious-fashion-so-much-more-you-can-do-with-discarded-clothes/">Conscious Fashion: ‘So Much More You Can Do With Discarded Clothes’</a>



“When I asked ‘aren’t we wasting material’, they would say
‘I’m wasting their time’,” she laughs.



The eager fashionista was juggling two jobs; the other was
at a PR agency named DLX Paris, which was sourcing brands for international
celebrities like American singer-songwriter Kelly Rowland.



She soon came to a realization that in fashion, there is
nothing new, which is when she moved to fabric store Boutique Malhia Kent, a
French manufacturer of haute couture. 



Nyandeni has a soft spot for weaving. She clearly adores fabrics, and this is apparent in the weaving machine she has at her Constantia Kloof studio, placed in a corner of one of the work rooms.



She says her weaving differentiates her from the other
designers, as she compares herself to South Africa’s Laduma Ngxokolo of MaXhosa
Africa and Greek fashion designer Mary Katrantzou. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3391-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-43170" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3391-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3391-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3391-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3391-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3391-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3391.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



“You can make a silhouette similar to somebody else but the real interesting part is the fabric, so Malhia Kent deals with fabric customization, and this is where I learned that in the world of fabric, you are two years ahead of the industry; like Chanel orders their fabric from Malhia Kent,” she says.



That was the space she wanted to be in.



So in between jobs, Nyandeni co-founded Garbage, a business that looked into environment-friendly garments.



“We wanted to speak on the notations of how do we pick up
the fashion industry and say that there are other ways to look glamorous and
chic and it doesn’t have to be wasteful and terrible to the environment.”



The business ran for a year and sold a few garments, but sadly, collapsed. That inspired the birth of an idea, one that would solely work for her, a business that would include all that she had learned from fashion school and the stylish streets of Paris. She had also personally worked with Katrantzou, building a portfolio and a first collection. She was ready and had under $2,700 in savings.



READ MORE: <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2019/10/02/owning-the-african-narrative/">Owning The African Narrative </a>



Nyandeni returned home to South Africa and registered her
company in 2018.



“In my heart, I thought I was going to be able to buy sewing
machines and a small car to travel back and forth for business, be able to get
staple fabrics that people would love,” she says.



It was not the case, but she started the business despite a
shortage of funds.



“I called it Zazi Luxury because it speaks to more of the
inside and outside of a garment and the technique used which is the core of the
business. The inside is about matching the outside; I should literally be able
to wear it inside out, and if not, it’s not [a Zazi Luxury product].”



Her first client was South African comedienne Tumi Morake
referred by a mutual friend, and later actress Zenande Mfenyana, but currently,
her clients are also doctors, lawyers and drawn from the corporate world.



“In the beginning, the business was focused on couture and it developed a bit more into business such as television, dressing anchors, and we also have ready-to-wear garments. We are broadening the business to other boutiques too.”



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3153-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-43169" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3153-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3153-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3153-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3153-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3153-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3153-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_3153.jpg 1280w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /></figure>



Zazi Luxury recently showcased at South Africa Fashion Week.
This year, she will be working on a fourth collection that will be both couture
and basic women’s workwear garments but featuring the Zazi aesthetic. 



Zazi Luxury currently employs seven young enthusiastic
fashionistas; one of who is Lebohang Ketlele, who has worked with Nyandeni for
two years.



“I am a dressmaker and stylist. I don’t think I would know
the things I know now if I wasn’t working here, we have dressed celebrities and
that is a great experience,” attests Ketlele.



Inspired in Paris, but made in Africa, Zazi seems to have
made the cut.

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The French Silhouette In Africa: How This Designer Started Her Own Business Despite A Shortage Of Funds

A car accident made this graphic designer more grounded, and take to farming, tending to vegetables on a piece of land far from Johannesburg. 



About 250kms from the sanitized suburbs of Sandton in South
Africa’s Gauteng province is Randfontein, a rugged gold mining city in the West
Rand, where we meet 31-year-old Katlego Pitse on his farm where he is currently
producing rows of crisp green lettuce. 



A few years ago, the Soweto-born farmer was far from any
piece of earth, and closer to a computer desktop, earning a living as a graphic
designer. 



The only definition he gave himself was as a
‘creative’.&nbsp; 



“Straight after high school, I studied graphic design from
2008 until 2012. From there on, I pursued a career in commercial arts.
Advertising is the number one industry that absorbs creatives,” says Pitse of
his ‘other job’.



He worked for various companies in Johannesburg and his
career was well on to greener pastures as he enjoyed a hefty salary with annual
increments and a lavish lifestyle, until an unfortunate incident threw him out
of gear. Pitse was involved in a road accident in 2015 and the snazzy, pricey
car he had been spending so much on, had to be written off. The accident was a
facilitator, as he was faced with some life-defining choices, and the prospect
of a new direction, one that made him more grounded.



“I had to start over. This was the kind of catalyst that
gave me a bit of a wakeup call; going forward, [I realized] if I was to spend
money, it had to be on valuable assets that are going to yield returns that can
be passed on,” he says.



He left a full-time job to freelance at a night club; this
is where he was exposed to the day-to-day operations of a business. It helped
him take to entrepreneurship, pursuing agriculture full-time; which had been a
burning desire since his days as an art student thumbing through agriculture
magazines. 



“I was constantly doing research. It was something I knew I
wanted to do but I wasn’t sure when I was going to be able to pursue it fully
because you need an actual career,” he says.



“There was an article I read about a farmer based in
Winterveld. I called to ask if I could visit to see his operation in 2015. Just
that farm visit was an inspiration to start my business.”



Pitse saved up enough money to buy a vacant two-and-half
hectare plot in Randfontein for R200,000 ($13,400). It took him three years to
start production, during which time he pursued his graphic design career on the
side. 



In 2019, the first year of production, Pitse focused on
cucumbers – his pet passion – and did cycles of long English cucumbers. Due to
the high costs, Pitse had to re-evaluate and decided to move to a less
cumbersome crop, lettuce.



Pitse is currently employing two family members and still
does the odd graphic design job to supplement his income. 



Surely, a small-scale farmer with big graphic dreams of the
future.

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Soil Toil: How A Car Accident Made This Graphic Designer More Grounded

On February 28, Sandton, known as Africa’s richest square mile, witnessed a wave of red berets and angry faces, as members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) took to the leafy streets lined with commercial buildings, to protest the power cuts crippling South Africa. The country has seen a spate of load-shedding in recent months due to the Eskom crisis. In this image, an EFF member lapses into a serene moment, looking up helplessly, amidst all the singing and chanting at Innesfree Park where the masses had gathered ahead of a march to the state power utility’s head offices in Sunninghill, singing struggle songs and disrupting traffic.



Image by Motlabana Monnakgotla

EFF 832

Painting The Town Red

The freight and logistics sector is changing face. More women are at the helm – and speeding ahead.



For many years, the logistics and trucking industry in South Africa was dominated by men until a young woman from Durban saw a gap in the market and took the opportunity to overtake them. They didn’t see her in their rear-view mirrors, speeding ahead.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.forbeswomanafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nicci-Scott-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-41461"/><figcaption>Nicci Scott</figcaption></figure>



Nicci Scott is today the founder of Commercial Transport Academy (CTA), a program designed to help students enter the trucking industry. In an industry where there are few women even now, she is a formidable force.&nbsp;&nbsp;



In 1995, at the age of 21, Scott started Siyaduma Auto Ferriers, which she says was the first female-owned logistics company in South Africa. This was soon after the country had gained democracy and women were unheard of in the industry. But she had been an entrepreneur long before that. At the age of 18, Scott started a business and sold it for just enough to go to work in the United States where she spent two years.



“While I was there, during the sanctions that South Africa was exposed to, I got to experience services that I had never seen before, like delivery services. These were services we never saw in the country, especially where I grew up,” says Scott.&nbsp; She returned home, worked for a car rental company for three months, and during that time, saw a gap in the market. The company she worked for moved cars based on bookings, so she saw that as an opportunity to provide these companies with drivers.



That epiphany marked her entry into the industry.



These rental companies would either use labor brokers, who would just drop-off the cars, or use big car carriers which would load the cars on to trailers restricted to 80kmph, and there was nothing in between, she says.



She started her own car delivery service and her list of clients kept increasing.



Her clients didn’t want to work with labor brokers anymore because there was no screening process – drivers with licences who were barely vetted for their criminal records were allowed to drive.



Scott offered a 90-minute turnaround time and that grew the business immensely.



“The big organizations at the time were running like a cartel and they were ignoring me until they couldn’t anymore and these were men, it didn’t matter to them that I was a woman. There was no charter to develop women back in 1998; no one was doing anything to help women in the business,” she says.&nbsp;



What was key to her was that she was only as good as her last delivery. Every damaged vehicle was an absolute personal failure, so she had to make sure that all was perfect.



However, while the technology on passenger vehicles was improving, she had to find a new market and the technology on trucks hadn’t evolved as much.



“From around 1999, I moved on to the trucking side and offered the very same service solutions to deliver trucks and the industry had never ever seen such a turnaround time,” she says.



Her first customer was MAN Truck &amp; Bus.



She then started phasing out the passenger vehicle market, sold the various regions that came under her purview to the young entrepreneurs and branch managers she had being working with for long.



For her, the commercial trucking industry was far more engaging and stimulating because her services were new to them and Siyaduma Auto Ferriers was innovative.



“In 2008, there was the recession, and by 2009, my business lost 54% market share within three months, not to somebody else, but because trucks were not sold. There were more trucks parked in South Africa than trucks on the road,” she says.&nbsp;



Again, the company had to look at how they were going to reinvent themselves to survive the recession. There was a lot of innovation from the industry during that time to try and cut costs, recalls Scott.



In 2011, the industry started revving up again and business was doing well. But by then, it came to a point where she was totally exhausted as an individual.



“I had made the worst mistake any entrepreneur could make; I had worked myself to the point where I was sick, I then decided to sell,” she says.



The business was making a turnover of R100 million ($6.7 million), employing 280 people in 2018 and Scott sold the 23-year-old business to One Logix and became part of a big organization.



She now truly wanted to develop young startups and wanted to give back the opportunity that was given to her in 1995.



The CTA became her new focus; she left the organization to focus on the academy. She started with Volvo with the very first program training 20 men, but at the same time, she knew she wanted to be a catalyst for change.



Her goal was to curate an academy focused on the development of men and women, with a special focus on women in the transport sector, offering bespoke training.



“We are currently running a program with Volvo called Iron Women, it takes women with a Code 10 driver’s license and then a Code 14; they then do theory about operating a combination vehicle successfully and safely,” she says.



Then, they are incorporated into the workplace and train for three months, driving all kinds of trucks. “I then go into the market and find them jobs and at this point, there has been 80% employment,” says Scott.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nthombizodwa-Khumalo-inside-one-of-the-many-trucks-she-can-operate-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42678" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nthombizodwa-Khumalo-inside-one-of-the-many-trucks-she-can-operate-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nthombizodwa-Khumalo-inside-one-of-the-many-trucks-she-can-operate-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nthombizodwa-Khumalo-inside-one-of-the-many-trucks-she-can-operate-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nthombizodwa-Khumalo-inside-one-of-the-many-trucks-she-can-operate-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nthombizodwa-Khumalo-inside-one-of-the-many-trucks-she-can-operate-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nthombizodwa-Khumalo-inside-one-of-the-many-trucks-she-can-operate.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption> Ntombizodwa Khumalo </figcaption></figure>



Ntombizodwa Khumalo from Sebokeng, a township in the south of Johannesburg, is one of the 80% women now employed as drivers.



Before that, Khumalo worked in a hotel, booking in drivers from parts of southern Africa. The inquisitive Khumalo would page through some of the truck manuals that she would find in their rooms.



About two years later, she heard from a friend that a mining company was looking to employ women. Out of the eight women that were interviewed and tested, she was one of four that got an opportunity to work for the firm in 2007.



Khumalo had never driven a truck in her life and received her Code 14 driver’s licence and a certificate to operate a truck.&nbsp;



“It was a success because they found that women drivers were better than male drivers, we were reliable, we were not involved in accidents, barely take sick leave or come to work with a hangover,” says Khumalo.



The 36-year-old was operating a dump truck in and around the mine.



In 2012, the contract ended and she was left unemployed. It was not easy gaining employment with logistics companies because she was a woman.



“This was until I met Nicci Scott, she made it easier for companies to trust that as women, the job can be done. Today, I am driving all industrial trucks all around South Africa for an international soft drink manufacturing company.



“Safety-wise on the road, you always have to be alert of your surroundings, and now, we have drivecams (cameras), but we also have convoys, we are never alone. So I feel safe on the road,” she says.



Khumalo is working towards getting her own fleet and becoming an entrepreneur.&nbsp;



The transport industry has seen drastic changes over the last few decades and thankfully, there are women in leadership positions too, specifically in road freight.



Matlhodi Senyatsi, Director: Logistics Infrastructure, of the National Department of Transport (DoT) in South Africa, has a commerce background and has been in the industry 10 years now.



Her work focuses on policy and regulations in the transport industry. Her portfolio revolves around freight, the movement of goods and services, and coming up with new policies or reviewing existing ones.



“We engage the industry and stakeholders to reach a consensus and after that, we take the processes to cabinet and portfolio committee to say this is what we think needs to happen in the industry from the policy point of view,” says Senyatsi.



That being said, going back to 2008, former transport minister Jeff Radebe had stated the sector would change the face of transport. The South African Network for Women in Transport (SANWIT) was established the same year.



“This umbrella body was established as a strategic vehicle to engage business and government on issues that impact on women in the transport sector, including entrepreneurship,” said Radebe in a statement.



Indeed, this has happened and Lebo Letsoalo is a perfect case in point.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="851" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Lebo-Letsoalo-201-1024x851.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42679" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Lebo-Letsoalo-201-1024x851.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Lebo-Letsoalo-201-300x249.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Lebo-Letsoalo-201-600x498.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Lebo-Letsoalo-201-768x638.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Lebo-Letsoalo-201-1536x1276.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Lebo-Letsoalo-201.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption> Lebo Letsoalo </figcaption></figure>



Letsoalo is a supply chain coach, a thought leader in the sector, from procurement all the way to transportation and the logistics subdivision.



She currently runs her own organization; Sincpoint, founded in 2016.



The company offers integrated supply chain solutions in the industry. It also enables knowledge, skills and experience to assist in the development of procurement, logistics, information systems and distribution among other fundamentals.



A few months after Sincpoint was founded, she also founded AWISCA (African Women in Supply Chain Association), a non-profit organization, with the focus of building technical capacity and skills through mentorship.



“Part of what I do as a mentor and coach is focus on skills development; we develop capacity around the supply chain sector. I am passionate about supply chain and have being in the industry for 18 years. I started my career doing media studies and after the first year, I dropped it because it wasn’t in sync with what I wanted,” says Letsoalo.



She, therefore, researched the future around certain careers, and the one that caught her attention was the supply chain sector. Her focus was always logistics, she says.



“During my third year, I was recruited into the industry and worked for my first big corporate company as a procurement officer. Over the years, I was moving companies and getting promotions and eventually worked as a senior manager at a mining company. The last organization I worked for was a petroleum company as a general manager for one of their business units, was then promoted&nbsp; to vice-president for supply chain running the logistics of the chemical sector which was about 60% of the organization’s income.”



She learned as an employee that the industry is male-dominated and realized there was a bigger gap in upskilling, especially around logistics and procurement; she built relationships and currently contributes to upskilling in the sector.



Today, she employs six permanent staff and works with about 10 associate companies, including freelancers.



The name, Sincpoint, came about synchronizing all the subsectors in the supply chain industry which are driving the GDP, and AWISCA was created for students, women, entrepreneurs and professionals.



“With the student chapter, we have partnered with universities that drive the transport economy, logistics, supply chain, and we have a memorandum of understanding with these institutes. We prepare them [the students] for the workplace and also show how you can be an entrepreneur in this sector, like owning a truck in road freight and going into the clearing and forwarding business,” she says.



Letsoalo goes on to add the issue with women driving trucks are the safety measures. “If you are a woman and you have to drive from Johannesburg to Cape Town, you are not allowed to drive non-stop, they need to rest. So the concern of having women on the road has always been a challenge. There is the issue of rape or cargo getting stolen while they are resting, but now the landscape is changing. There are a whole lot of young women that are looking to driving, and trucks have cameras now so that drivers can be monitored. Technology has played a major role in terms of safety for women,” says Letsoalo.



However, in the number of years that she has worked and managed in this sector, she has never met a female truck driver moving freight, although, there are a number of female truck owners.



“It’s an entrepreneur’s space,” she says.



The issue of women empowerment has brought a lot of opportunities for women and Senyatsi testifies to that.



“In the late 1980s, there was a deregulation of the law that trucks were not allowed to move certain commodities, and out of that, we saw a lot of trucking businesses mushrooming,” says Senyatsi.



She says anyone can get into the business; it just depends on which type of business you are interested in. What the DoT finds is that it is easy to get into the industry and people want to own trucks without looking at factors like maintenance and management.



As government, they are looking at making sure there are quality regulations in the industry.



The Road Freight Strategy document will regulate that everybody competes on an equal footing, be it male and female, and this will highlight that owners are properly operating, the truck is serviced regularly, the driver is competent, trained, and also have a person who manages the business for the owner if the owner has other priorities.&nbsp;



“We find a lot of women in the clearing and forwarding business because you don’t have to have a lot of money to start, you must just understand the trade. In the value chain, there is insurance, maintenance and not just owning a truck, people seem to think that those trucking industries are not as important,” says Senyatsi.



The journey for women in this space has just begun, and they are here to stay.

Trucks parked at the One Logix facility in Kempton Park, Johannesburg

Heels On Wheels

Morongoa Mahope feeds her love for extreme biking with petrol and adrenaline. The funds for her pet passion come from her nine-to-five accounting job.



About 10kms north of the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in South
Africa is another racetrack, where superbikes and sports cars are noisily
revving up their engines, getting ready for a practice run on a cold Wednesday
afternoon in Johannesburg.



At first glance at the Zwartkops racetrack is a melange of
male drivers and mechanics.



But also revving up a superbike, the one numbered 83, is
Morongoa Mahope from Mahwelereng in the Limpopo province of South Africa.



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She is about to clock 270kmph on her black bike, tagged #Mo83 in pink. 



When she is not burning rubber on the racetrack, Mahope is an accountant working for an advertising agency in the city. 



“When I started [superbiking], it was mainly only for
leisure because I love the sound bikes and cars make. I’m a petrol head and
just wanted it to commute to work,” she says.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.forbeswomanafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/2019-02-16-13.06.52-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-41456"/><figcaption> Morongoa Mahope </figcaption></figure>



Her journey started in 2013 when she convinced her husband
and family about buying a superbike. Her family was initially apprehensive and
viewed superbike racing as dangerous. 



Her husband finally relented and Mahope went for a day’s training
to see if she really would be interested in the bike before investing in it.
The 36-year-old sports fanatic succumbed, and indeed pursued her wish.



“I still have my first bike; it’s a green and black Kawasaki
Ninja 250cc. I was just using it to [go to] work until I met a biking club, the
Eagle Bikers Club Limpopo,” she recalls. 



Mahope was riding with the club, doing breakfast runs between Johannesburg and Limpopo; but, in 2015, they took a trip to Nelspruit in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. 



READ MORE: <a href="https://www.forbeswomanafrica.com/woman/2019/06/26/making-up-for-millions/">Making Up For Millions</a>



Navigating the mountainous, curvy roads, Mahope was
overtaking men with her small 250cc bike at the bends. 



She was then goaded by her fellow riders to try the racing
circuit. 



“I went to the track and met a superbike racer; Themba
Khumalo, and I started following his journey. I spent more time on the track,
practising so I could start racing in 2016. The love for the sport was getting
deeper and deeper,” says Mahope. 



Khumalo, a professional superbike rider who has raced in the
European Championships, says he met Mahope at Zwartkops and it was her first
time at the track, and she was quite fast at the corners. 



He went up to her to introduce himself because it was rare to see a black woman on a racetrack. 



READ MORE: <a href="https://www.forbeswomanafrica.com/woman/2019/11/01/higher-revenues-and-greater-optimism-female-owned-small-businesses-are-gaining-ground/">Higher Revenues And Greater Optimism: Female-Owned Small Businesses Are Gaining Ground</a>



“I then took her through the fundamentals of racing and the
basics; the type of bike she would need and the equipment. I could see how
committed she was and how quick she was learning, and her lack of fear. She was
going farther than where she was,” says Khumalo.&nbsp;&nbsp; 



However, her male counterparts were not impressed with her
pace on the track; they remarked negatively about her. But Mahope didn’t let
the minimizing comments derail her mission. 



Unfortunately, Mahope was involved in an accident during
training on Valentine’s Day in 2017 and fractured her clavicle before her first
race. That took her off the bike for six months. 



She joked about the incident with friends, but they
persisted and told her it’s an unsafe sport. That encouraged her even more; she
wore her helmet and gloves, clocking higher speeds than ever before on her
superbike. 



Indeed, it was a learning curve. A few months later, she was invited to Bulawayo in Zimbabwe to race.



READ MORE: <a href="https://www.forbeswomanafrica.com/woman/2019/06/26/shopping-for-ideas/">Shopping for ideas</a>



Her first official race was the same year as the injury; it
was a club race in Delmas, Mpumalanga, at the Red Star Raceway. She had never
been on the grid nor practised how to stud, but for her, it was more about the
experience despite the shivers and nerves. 



“I finished the race and I was second last. It’s part of how
you start but you will improve to be better. And now, I have lost count of the
races I have competed in,” she says. 



Mahope is racing in the short circuit series for women who
use the 250cc, being the only black woman to participate. She also participated
in the Extreme Festival tour series, a regional race in which she used her
Kawasaki Ninja ZX600cc, racing men with bigger and louder bikes. 



“I am the first black woman to be in the grand prix and the
challenges that I faced were having to teach myself a lot of things. I had to
learn how to ride on the track, the speed, the decelerating, all was new to me.
I wasn’t helped.”



Mahope started at a late stage with the sport, and had to put in more time and effort in a short period to get to where she is currently. 



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Today, she assists women who are starting with the
sport.&nbsp;&nbsp; 



Sadly, in South Africa, there is no national league for
women to race and represent the country despite finishing in the top three in
the 2019 races. 



With all her achievements thus far, Mahope’s salary sustains
her motorsport passion.



“Racing is very expensive; the more you practise, the more
you get better and the more you spend money. On practice day, I spend about
R3,000 ($206) and would practise twice a week at different tracks. In total, I
would spend R18,000 ($1,235) a month for the track excluding the travel costs
to the track and race day,” she explains.These costs cover tyres, fuel and
entrance to the tracks. 



A sum of about R40,000 ($2,744) can get you geared up for
the bike and track.



It just shows this daredevil accountant can balance both the books and the bike.

DSC_9159-2

Get Set Mo!

Fashion is about creating beauty, but its ugly side is the carbon emissions. Designers are now looking to play it safe, even if it means going to dangerous lengths for the sake of greener fashion.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



In South Africa, the fashion industry is now starting to do
its bit to negate the effects of climate change, with some designers going
green, in interesting, creative and even lucrative ways. 



Ayanda Nhlapo, a stylist and entrepreneur, is one of them. 



She hosted and co-produced her own TV fashion show, Ayanda’s
Fashion House, where she explored the work of some of South Africa’s most
prolific designers and creatives in the fashion industry. The fashion aesthete
says the influence of the industry is far-reaching, and therefore, must be more
responsible about the environment and preservation of resources. 



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“I’ve always had a knack for creating, whether I’m creating
from scratch or recreating something that already exists,” says Nhlapo. So,
upcycling, or repurposing, is what she is into. 



“However, recreating or upcycling has always given me much
more excitement and a deeper sense of purpose. 



“Upcycling can be challenging but rewarding in the sense that it’s not just about the creativity but it’s more so about contributing to solving the effects of fast fashion on the environment and the economy. It is very important that we preserve our culture, identity and resources,” she says. 



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Fascinated about culture as well as traditional wear, some of her design ideas are fairly unconventional, such as Zulu sandals made of tyres. Besides clothes, she also designs accessories, such as earrings and key-holders. One of her designs is earrings shaped like water droplets to highlight the importance of saving water, whilst also bringing forth the beauty and importance of recycling and upcycling.



Her market is largely young women, but the brand is also for
those who love and consume fashion consciously. Nhlapo uses fashion as a tool
to influence people and encourage them to think carefully about how they use it.




“Fortunately, through traditional media and social media, I
am able to reach thousands and thousands of people, not just in South Africa
but across the world. If we consume fashion correctly and consciously, we have
the power to reverse certain cycles and change the direction of our future,”
says Nhlapo.



&nbsp;She goes on to say
that the fashion industry is among the highest polluters&nbsp; in the world, however, thankfully, it is
gradually moving towards a more responsible way of operating. 



“In fact, green fashion is the next big thing. Designers and consumers are finally becoming more and more aware of the damages and negative, rippling effects of fashion and are now beginning to take such issues seriously. We are starting to see more sustainable fabrics on the runway and more eco-friendly brands launching into the market, while well-established brands are also moving in the direction of going green. Before we know it, green fashion will be the only thing we know.”



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South African designer JJ Schoeman elaborates on ‘fast
fashion’ and ‘green fashion’.



“I think we need to still go on a robust campaign on the
implications of fast fashion, where we create more awareness around its
consumption, as I feel that most consumers are still a little blasé about their
purchase.



“There was a call for green fashion, because of the wasteful
nature of production lines within our industry. This call was made to encourage
designers like myself to use environmentally-friendly fabrics and methods in
the production line.”



One of the ways he implements this in his production line is
to cut material in a way there is less wastage. 



“Over and above this, I also found ways in which to ‘get rid’ of the waste we accumulated over a season – these included donating to the trade, for reuse. I also try my absolute best to use fabrics that are more environment-friendly, but of course, I always need to take into consideration what the client wants.”



Schoeman opines the green fashion trend is growing.



“Absolutely, if we just take into consideration the amount
of international names that have agreed to not using real fur in their
collections. Recently, I read about the #G7Biarritz movement, which saw the
Prada Group, Ralph Lauren and 30 other fashion industry brands sign the pact.
The Fashion Pact is going to change the game in sustainable fashion all over
the world.”



Yet another trend is ‘thrifting fashion’ that has become the cornerstone of shopping trends popular among the youth. 



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/thrift-326-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42170" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/thrift-326-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/thrift-326-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/thrift-326-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/thrift-326-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/thrift-326.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Vathiswa Yiba is an employee at a vintage thrift store in
the lively Braamfontein area of Johannesburg. She has immersed herself in the
culture of thrifting. 



The store is one of several thrift stores in the city, and
among the popular ones at the thrift market not far from Africa’s largest
railway station, the Johannesburg Park Station. 



“Thrifting is buying clothes that people think are not good enough anymore and those that they have discarded,” says 22-year-old Yiba.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"> “It’s interesting with thrifting because the most dangerous places are where you find the nicer things&#8221;<cite>&#8211; Vathiswa Yiba</cite></blockquote>







The lower prices also offer financial reprieve and more options for the buyer. 



Yiba has been thrifting since her high school days when she
started with her own clothes.&nbsp; 



“I don’t step into retail stores unless I am buying shoes,” she says.



“My first thrift was buying from people who sold from their
bags, then from their car boots, then I leveled up and started going to the
biggest market in the&nbsp; Johannesburg
Central Business District; MTN Taxi Rank, known for its pavement crimes,
despite the danger in that part of town, they have the best clothes.” 



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/recycled-fashion-145-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42173" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/recycled-fashion-145-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/recycled-fashion-145-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/recycled-fashion-145-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/recycled-fashion-145-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/recycled-fashion-145.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



The street-savvy Yiba offers advice to those who are novices
in the industry.&nbsp; 



“It’s interesting with thrifting because the most dangerous
places are where you find the nicer things, and here is a tip when you are
going thrifting – make sure you have loose change and put it in safe pockets,
away from pick-pocketers. That way you will be able to shop safely. However,
you can find good-looking items but it’s not in your size; which is where the
community comes in. 



“We have tailors to alter the garments for you and it will
be exclusive because it’s thrifted, no one has the same clothes. There is so
much more you can do with discarded clothes. With the littlest things, you can
make an amazing thing and you’ll be the only one who has it.”



Of course, there is a tinge of stigma associated with
thrifting. Yiba says people think the clothes could also have belonged to those
who have passed away, but she’s of the view that thrifting creates other
opportunities. 



“The [thrift clothing] may look messy and seem dusty, but once cleaned or altered, they will look retail. So it’s not just the connotations, it can be something perfect and the next person wouldn’t even know.” 



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/recycled-fashion-132-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42175" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/recycled-fashion-132-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/recycled-fashion-132-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/recycled-fashion-132-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/recycled-fashion-132-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/recycled-fashion-132.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



These are sentiments also echoed by Leago Nhlapo, a content
creator for fashion brands like Adidas, Sportscene and Skechers, who began his
journey as thrifter. 



“It started with thrifting because it makes you unique;
there is no similar garment, every single garment is different from the next.
So, I jumped from really cheap clothes [recycled clothes] to really expensive
clothes,” he says.



However, Leago encourages green fashion because he says the
fast fashion industry is the second-highest contributor to carbon
emissions.&nbsp; 



“The more people buy clothes, the more we contribute to
global warming and we all know the global crisis, so if we recycle clothes,
there will not be a need to make clothes, there are enough clothes for everyone
existing. I am proof that second-hand clothes are cool and look better than
people paying tons of cash.” 



Seventy kilometers south of Johannesburg’s Central Business
District is Nokwakha Qobo, who was born in the squatter camps of Phuma
Zibethane in Sharpeville. And in the garbage dumps of these camps, the fashion
designer in her emerged.



Qobo currently has a clothing line with an international reach. She fashions garments out of wastepaper she collects from rubbish dumps. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"> &#8220;I’m a self-taught designer from a dump in Vanderbijlpark, that’s where I learned everything <cite> &#8211; Nokwakha Qobo </cite></blockquote>







As a young girl, Qobo had to walk to school, and through the course of her journey home, she would pass a garbage site where old fashion magazines and newspapers were discarded. 



It is often said that ‘one man’s trash is another man’s
treasure’. This adage was not lost on her because she took inspiration from the
articles in those magazines and now creates pieces that are sought after.



“That’s where I learned about fashion trends, that’s where I
learned about different colors for different seasons, that’s where I learned
about the body structure of a woman, actually, I’m a self-taught designer from
a dump in Vanderbijlpark, that’s where I learned everything,” she says.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="681" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Nokwakha-093-681x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42174" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Nokwakha-093-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Nokwakha-093-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Nokwakha-093-600x902.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Nokwakha-093-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Nokwakha-093-768x1155.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Nokwakha-093.jpg 1277w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 681px) 100vw, 681px" /></figure>



Inadvertently, she too is contributing towards a shift in
culture based on conscious consumption. 



Perhaps, with the benefit of time, green fashion will be the norm as many believe we already have all we need.



&#8211; Motlabana Monnakgotla

Nokwakha 022

Conscious Fashion: ‘So Much More You Can Do With Discarded Clothes’

The South African hip-hop artist and entrepreneur
experienced a hurricane and a seismic spiritual shift in the city of
Cancun.&nbsp; 



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



It has been a journey, a lot to learn and a lot learned,”
says Siyabonga Metane, popularly known on South African hip-hop stages as
‘Slikour’.



The learnings have been in music and business, but the
journeys have been beyond both.



Just two years post South Africa’s democratic elections in
1994, Slikour was part of a rap group named Skwatta Kamp, formed on the streets
of the country’s Gauteng province, with the aim of commercializing the local
hip-hop scene.



The group consisted of seven members and most of them went on to release solo albums. Slikour released two, Ventilation Mix Tape Vol.1 and 2, in 2005 and 2007. Long before that, in 2002, Slikour had turned entrepreneur, co-founding Buttabing Entertainment, a record label and artist management organization.



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&nbsp;Today, he is also the
founder of SlikourOnLife, a prominent urban culture online publication that he
started in 2014 catering to music lovers. 



Returning to the word ‘journey’, it especially sparks
memories of a trip he undertook in 2011 to Cancun, a Mexican city on the
Yucatán Peninsula bordering the Caribbean Sea, known for its beaches, resorts
and nightlife. Slikour was there for a television shoot as part of a group. The
trip still stands out in his mind. 



He was not blown away by the city initially, but as he
visited some of Cancun’s tourism attractions, he began to change his
perception. 



Ultimately, it proved to be what he calls an amazing
rendezvous. 



“The people were pretty much speaking Spanish,” he chuckles, recalling being immersed in the local culture.



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“There are a lot of laborers there and the people are
beautiful and accommodating, but we never really spoke or interacted with the
community.”



Slikour decided to savor the city’s famed nightlife instead
and see for himself what all the hype was about. 



It all began and ended with tequila, a distilled alcoholic
drink and one of Mexico’s most famous exports, made of the blue agave plant
from the city of Tequila in Mexico.&nbsp; 



“Everything you do there is done with tequila. I don’t drink
alcohol, but I had to accept and apply myself because there, they don’t use
tomato sauce, they use tequila; I literally had to get into the tequila swag;
it’s everything there. Tequila started there,” Slikour says.



Mexico is known for its recurring hurricanes too, which
Slikour also got a taste of while there.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;




“After a few days of getting there, we were warned of a
hurricane, and asked to close our doors and windows, and because these things
happen regularly, there’s a drill to follow. The hurricane wasn’t a major one
but I was excited because I wanted to see it. I had to look through the
window,” he says. 



The hurricanes are so frequent in Mexico that he likens the
precautions taken to lighting a candle during South Africa’s frequent power
cuts.&nbsp;&nbsp; 



Despite this exhilarating encounter with nature, the real earth-shaking experience for him, however, happened deep inside a cave in the city of Cancun – and also deep inside him. 



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“My spiritual [epiphany] was when I went into those caves.
You go in there with your self-assurance, claiming you understand everything.
Thereon, they tell you where everything comes from and all of a sudden, you
become this very small thing in this big ecosystem. It just shows how
everything affects everything,” Slikour says.



The tour guides explained how everything inside the cave
came from rain, elaborating how it was connected to the core of the earth; which
is where they were at the time.



Slikour was in Cancun for two weeks, and also visited the
pyramids. 



“The Mexicans didn’t have all the mathematics that we have
now but the pyramids were built to perfection. It just showed you how
forward-thinking they were and how behind we are in as much as we think we are
forward; we just have technology. We don’t think the way historic societies
used to think,” says Slikour, in deep reflection.



Mexico is a place he would return to, anyday, in a
heartbeat.

Slikour

Executive Travel: Slikour’s Mexico

Snapshots of the outrage against foreign nationals and
protests against sexual offenders in South Africa in recent weeks, captured by
FORBES AFRICA photojournalist Motlabana Monnakgotla.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



As the continent’s second-biggest economy, South Africa
attracts migrants from the rest of Africa. But mired in its own problems of
unemployment and political instability, September saw a serious outbreak of
attacks by South Africans on foreign nationals and foreign-owned businesses.
And they have been ugly.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



The spark that fueled the raging fire was in Pretoria, the
country’s capital, when a taxi driver was shot dead by a foreign national who
was selling drugs to a youngster in the central business district (CBD).



The altercation caused a riot and the taxi industry brought
the CBD to a standstill, blocking intersections. It did not stop there; a week
later, about 60 kilometers from the capital in Malvern, a suburb east of the
Johannesburg CBD, a hijacked building caught fire, leaving three dead. As
emergency services were putting out the fire, the residents took advantage and
looted foreign-owned shops and burned car dealerships overnight on Jules
Street. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="924" height="617" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest2.png" alt="" data-id="42001" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42001" class="wp-image-42001" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest2.png 924w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest2-300x200.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest2-600x401.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest2-768x513.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 924px) 100vw, 924px" /><figcaption> A burned shop on Jules Street is one of the many shops that were looted. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="922" height="616" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest1-1.png" alt="" data-id="42002" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42002" class="wp-image-42002" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest1-1.png 922w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest1-1-300x200.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest1-1-600x401.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest1-1-768x513.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 922px) 100vw, 922px" /><figcaption> A cashier’s window smashed during a looting spree in Katlehong. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



The lootings extended to the CBD and other parts of
Johannesburg.



To capture this embarrassing moment in South African
history, I visited Katlehong, a township 35 kilometers east of Johannesburg,
where the residents blocked roads leading to Sontonga Mall on a mission to loot
the mall and the foreign-owned shops therein overnight. 



Shop-owners and workers were shocked to wake up to no
business.



Mfundo Maljingolo, a worker at Fish And Chips, was among the
distressed.



“This thing started last night, people started looting and
broke into the mall and did what they wanted to do. I couldn’t go to work today
because there’s nothing to do; now, we are not going to get paid. The shop will
be losing close to R10,000 ($677) today. It’s messed up,” said Maljingolo.



But South African businesses were affected too.



Among the shops at the mall is Webbers, a clothing and
footwear store. Looters could not enter the shop and it was one of the few that
escaped the vandalism.



Dineo Nyembe, the store’s manager, said she was in disbelief
when she saw people could not enter the mall. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="926" height="614" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest5-2.png" alt="" data-id="42004" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42004" class="wp-image-42004" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest5-2.png 926w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest5-2-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest5-2-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest5-2-768x509.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 926px) 100vw, 926px" /><figcaption> A worker cleans up after a liqour store was looted by Katlehong residents overnight. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="921" height="611" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/protest6.png" alt="" data-id="42005" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42005" class="wp-image-42005" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/protest6.png 921w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/protest6-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/protest6-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/protest6-768x509.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 921px) 100vw, 921px" /><figcaption> Car dealerships were among the businesses set alight on Jules Street. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



“We got here this morning and the ceiling was wrecked but
there was no sign that the shop was entered, everything was just as we left it.
Now, we are packing stock back to the warehouse, because we don’t know if they
are coming back tonight,” lamented Nyembe, unsure if they would make their
daily target or if they would be trading again.



 Across the now-wrecked mall are small businesses that were not as fortunate as Webbers, and it was not only the shop-owners that were affected.  



Emmanuel Nhlane’s home was robbed even as attackers were
looting the shop outside.



“They broke into my house, I was threatened with a petrol
bomb and I had to stand outside to give them a chance; they took my fridge,
bed, cash and my VHS,” said Nhlane.



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="929" height="614" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest11-1.png" alt="" data-id="42007" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42007" class="wp-image-42007" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest11-1.png 929w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest11-1-300x198.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest11-1-600x397.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest11-1-768x508.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 929px) 100vw, 929px" /><figcaption> Rubble and dust on the streets of Katlehong after a night of looting at a local mall and its foreign-owned shops. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



Nhlane had rented out his yard to foreign nationals to
operate a shop. He does not comprehend why his belongings were taken because he
doesn’t own a shop. Now, it means that the unemployed Nhlane will not be
getting his monthly rental fee of R3,700 ($250).



Far away, the coastal KwaZulu-Natal province of South
Africa, was also affected as trucks burned and a driver was killed because of
his nationality. This was part of a logistics and transport industry national
strike.



Back in Johannesburg, I visited the car dealerships that were
a part of the burning spree on Jules Street. 



The streets were still ashy and the air still smoky, two
days after the unfortunate turn of events.



Muhamed Haffejee, one of the distraught businessmen there,
said: “Currently, we are still not trading.”&nbsp;




Cape Town, in the Western Cape province of South Africa,
which hosted the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa from September 4 to 6,
was also witness to protests by women and girls from all walks of life outside
the Cape Town International Convention Centre, demanding that the leadership
take action to end the spate of gender-based violence (GBV) in the country. 



There were protests also outside Parliament. What set off
the nationwide outcry was the shocking rape and murder of Uyinene Mrwetyana, a
19-year-old film and media student at the University of Cape Town, inside a
post office by a 42-year-old employee at the post office. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-4 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="926" height="610" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest4.png" alt="" data-id="42010" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42010" class="wp-image-42010" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest4.png 926w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest4-300x198.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest4-600x395.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest4-768x506.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 926px) 100vw, 926px" /><figcaption> According to Stats SA, there has been a drastic increase of women-based violence in South Africa. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="929" height="615" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest8.png" alt="" data-id="42011" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42011" class="wp-image-42011" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest8.png 929w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest8-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest8-600x397.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest8-768x508.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 929px) 100vw, 929px" /><figcaption> Leader of the African National Congress Women’s League, Bathabile Dlamini, was also present outside the JSE. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



There was anger against the ghastly crimes and wave of GBV
in the country that continues unabated. According to Stats SA, there has been a
drastic increase of women-based violence in South Africa; sexual offences are
up by 4.6%, from 50,108 in 2018 to 52,420 in 2019. 



A week later, on a Friday, Sandton, Africa’s richest square
mile and one of the biggest economic hubs, was shut down by hundreds of angry
women and members of advocacy groups from across Johannesburg. They congregated
by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), the cynosure of business, singing and
chanting, to demand “a 2% levy on profits of all listed entities to help fund
the fight against GBV and femicide”.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



Among the protesters was Cebi Ngqinanbi, holding a placard
that read: “I’m not your punching bag.” 



“We came here to disrupt Sandton as the heart of
Johannesburg’s economic hub. We want to make everyone aware that women and
children are being killed every day in South Africa and they [Sandton] continue
with business as usual, sitting in their offices with air-conditioners and the
stock exchange whilst people on the ground making them rich are dying. That is
why we are here, to speak to those that have economic power,” said Ngqinanbi.



She added that if women can be given economic power, they
will be able to fend for themselves and won’t fall prey to abusive men, since
most women stay in abusive relationships because men are more financially
stable. 



Amid the chanting and singing of struggle songs, Nobuhle
Ajiti addressed the crowd and shared her own haunting experience as a migrant
in South Africa and survivor of GBV. She spoke in isiZulu, a South African
language.



“I survived a gang rape; I was thrown out of a moving car
and stabbed several times. I survived it, but am I going to survive xenophobia
that is looming around in South Africa? Will I able to share my xenophobia
story like I can share my GBV story?” questioned Ajiti.



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-5 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="928" height="616" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest9.png" alt="" data-id="42013" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42013" class="wp-image-42013" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest9.png 928w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest9-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest9-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest9-768x510.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px" /><figcaption> Addressing the resolute women outside was the JSE CEO Nicky Newton-King who received the memorandum demanding business take their plight seriously. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="922" height="615" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest12.png" alt="" data-id="42014" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42014" class="wp-image-42014" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest12.png 922w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest12-300x200.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest12-600x400.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest12-768x512.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 922px) 100vw, 922px" /><figcaption> Women hold up placards stating their grievences against GBV. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



She said as migrants, they did not wake up in the morning
and decide to come to South Africa, but because of the hardships faced in their
home countries, they were forced to come to what they perceived as the city of
opportunities. And as a foreign national, she had to deal with both xenophobia
and GBV. 



“We experience institutionalized xenophobia in hospitals; we
are forced to pay huge amounts for consultation. I am raped and I need medical
attention and I am told I need to pay R5,000 ($250). 



“As a mere migrant, where am I going to get R5,000? I get
abused at home and the police officer would ask me where I’m from because of my
accent, I sound Zimbabwean. What does my nationality have to do with my husband
beating me at home or with the man that just raped me?” she asked.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="922" height="615" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest10-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-42018" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest10-1.png 922w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest10-1-300x200.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest10-1-600x400.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest10-1-768x512.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 922px) 100vw, 922px" /><figcaption> Women stop traffic while they hold up placards stating their grievences against GBV. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure>



Addressing the resolute women outside was the JSE CEO Nicky Newton-King who received the memorandum demanding business take their plight seriously, from a civil society group representing over 70 civil society organizations and individuals. 



The list of demands include that at all JSE-listed companies contribute to a fund to resource the National Strategy Plan on GBV and femicide, to be launched in November; transport for employees who work night shifts or work after hours; establish workplace mechanisms to provide support to GBV survivors as part of employee wellness, and prevention programs that help make workplaces safe spaces for all women. 



Newton-King assured the protestors she would address their demands in seven days. But a lot can happen in seven days. Will there be more crimes in the meantime? How many more will be raped and killed in South Africa by then?



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-6 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="928" height="614" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest13.png" alt="" data-id="42016" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42016" class="wp-image-42016" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest13.png 928w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest13-300x198.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest13-600x397.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest13-768x508.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px" /><figcaption> Nationwide outcry was setoff by shocking rape and murder of Uyinene Mrwetyana. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="928" height="612" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest14-1.png" alt="" data-id="42017" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=42017" class="wp-image-42017" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest14-1.png 928w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest14-1-300x198.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest14-1-600x396.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Protest14-1-768x506.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px" /><figcaption> What set off the nationwide outcry was the shocking rape and murder of Uyinene Mrwetyana, a 19-year-old film and media student at the University of Cape Town Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li></ul>

Protest5

The Rage And Tears That Tore A Nation

The 37-year-old South African soccer midfielder says he
could move to the English city for its sense of serenity and calm.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



South Africa’s former national football player Reneilwe
‘Yeye’ Letsholonyane started playing in the streets of Soweto but his fame has
often taken him beyond the soccer pitches of South Africa.



Also a fashion entrepreneur and co-founder of the
newly-established ShaYe lounge, the veteran midfielder recounts the indelible
memories of his most recent holiday to Manchester with his wife, sports
presenter Mpho Letsholonyane.



“In the off season of 2018, I had just gotten married. I personally love Jay-Z and my wife loves Beyoncé; and they were having their On The Run 2 tour in Manchester; a major city in the northwest of England.”



READ MORE | <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Executive Travel: Mpho Popps’ Ghana (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/travel/2019/07/25/executive-travel-mpho-popps-ghana/" target="_blank">Executive Travel: Mpho Popps’ Ghana</a>



Letsholonyane had also always wanted to go to Paris, a major
European city and global center for art, fashion, food and culture, so flew to
Manchester via the French capital. 



The newly-weds spent a few days in Paris and thereon
proceeded to Manchester for the concert, flying Air France on both sectors. 



“Funnily enough, the economy class on Air France is not as
squashed as the economy class on South African Airlines. You’d expect an
uncomfortable flight, but that wasn’t the case. There was enough room to
stretch your legs and recline your seat,” says the footballer. 



Upon landing and clearing customs, a shuttle was waiting for the two to be chauffeured through the city to their hotel. The 40-minute drive was what the 37-year-old says he enjoyed the most. It made him reflect and draw comparisons between his home country and Europe.



At the age of 23, Letsholonyane’s professional career had
kicked-started, but it was in 2008 that he joined one of South Africa’s biggest
teams, the Kaizer Chiefs Football Club, for an eight-year stint. 



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Receiving the call to represent Bafana Bafana for the 2010
World Cup was a moment he recalls vividly.



“We were at camp, and told to check out from the hotel and go home. We were to find out from the media, like other citizens, if we had been selected to play. I remember I was in the streets and didn’t want to focus on the media because I was nervous, panicking and excited. 



 “My parents broke the news to me, but there was more cheering in my hometown and outside my parent’s home. A soccer pitch and jersey with my number and surname were painted in the streets.”



It was a moment that led to fame and more travels. He flips back to Manchester, gushing about the city’s architecture as he was equally captivated by the serenity of the city and its mild-mannered people.



“The standalone houses are the kind you see on television,
with no walls. People that side don’t seem to be worried about burglaries. It
seems like the crime rate is low. It’s quiet and it’s the quiet that I like. I
remember saying to my wife, ‘I could stay here’.”&nbsp; 



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Letsholonyane admits to seeking alone time to think and
ruminate. 



Ironically, for the footballer, the Beyoncé and Jay-Z
concert was in the home of a football club. 



Like all tourists, the couple traveled to Etihad Stadium,
the home of Manchester City Football Club, where the musical extravaganza was
to take place. 



“We were told to use the train; luckily, it was a
five-minute walk to the station. We got there but the people around us showed
us what to do and where to go. We got off at a station, only to find out we had
to wait for another train and it was packed. Then I started thinking about the
hassle of getting into the stadium,” he says.



Letsholonyane and his wife dribbled their way through busy subways in Manchester to watch their favorite musicians on stage.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Getting to Etihad Stadium was a pain-free experience. We got there early and people were idling outside. We went straight in and got seats in the front. There was no opening act, just the artists’ music playing. </blockquote>



Then the lights went dimmer and dimmer. 



“It was time, we were about 10 meters away, and we saw them
closely. Then it started raining. You’d think people would run for cover but
no, people were just enjoying themselves. It was two and half hours of Beyoncé
and Jay-Z and an experience never to be forgotten,” he says.



It was well after 1AM when the couple reached their hotel.
“There was nothing that made us uncomfortable about walking the streets of
Manchester at night. It felt like day.” 



The night ended with rain, rounding off a day so different
from playing under the hot African sun in the soccer fields of South Africa.

gettyimages-461023224-594×594

Executive Travel: Reneilwe Letsholonyane’s Manchester

The Enos Mafokate Equestrian Club is a riding stable in the sprawling township of Soweto in South Africa, founded in 2007 by Enos Mafokate, the country’s first black showjumper and Olympic athlete in Barcelona. 



The equestrian facility is currently undergoing an upgrade,
for which Milmac Produce Supply, an animal feed company, has partnered with
it.&nbsp; 



“We do fund-raising together; it’s not only about donating money. We do shows here and help promote the club and get our clients involved,” says Kirsten Bowyer, the marketing coordinator of Milmac, referring to the donations and volunteer work the facility is encouraging from the public. 



July is celebrated every year as ‘Mandela Month’ in South Africa, dedicated to the late former South African president, Nelson Mandela, who was born on July 18. At the Enos Mafokate Equestrian Club in July, to honor Mandela, volunteers gave 67 minutes of their time to help with the cleaning and overhauling of the stable and yards.  



&nbsp;In this image, at the
facility, a young man is washing a horse at dusk, before the sun rays make way
for a starry night. 



Among other things, he works hard during the day cleaning
the barns and ensuring the horses are safely ensconced in their stables.

Stable

Big Shots: Stable Support For Mandela

The 32-year-old South African comedian traveled to the West
African country for some eye-opening experiences.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



South African comedian, actor and entrepreneur, Mpho ‘Popps’
Modikoane, is a frequent traveler but ask him about his happy place and he says
it’s a little corner of Africa named Ghana. 



He has traveled overseas before, but it was his travels
within Africa that opened his eyes to the magic of the continent, and made him
realize that all Africans have the same stories and are essentially the same. 



“It’s just these borders we were brought up [in that] we
don’t take the time to learn about each other’s cultures and share each other’s
stories,” says Modikoane.



“I’ve traveled to a lot of countries over the years and
early on in my career, I was in the US. A few years ago, I went to Canada for
the annual Just For Laughs international comedy festival and these places are
amazing, but traveling in Africa has been the most eye-opening for me.” 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="461" height="618" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Mpho4.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41440" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Mpho4.png 461w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Mpho4-300x402.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Mpho4-224x300.png 224w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px" /><figcaption> Mpho ‘Popps’ Modikoane in Ghana. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure></div>



&nbsp;Modikoane’s career kick-started in 2009 on the reality TV show, So You Think You’re Funny? His growing audiences haven’t stopped laughing since. 



With fame, came the chances to travel. His very first trip
to West Africa was to Nigeria on Arik Air two years ago, when he flew business
class.



“I don’t know what it is about us [black people], but when
we don’t have things, we don’t see why it’s necessary – we don’t understand why
we have to pay R30,000 ($2,000) for a seat, a leather seat,” he says,
chuckling.



He goes on to elaborate with his trademark wit: “The seat is
reclined all the way, we are drinking champagne in glasses; I didn’t even know
there were glasses on planes…. Even forks and knives. And in business class,
you don’t get shouted at by the attendants for reclining your seat four
centimeters back, never! Even the magazines are not the same – we get business
magazines and informative magazines. We even have a food menu with pages.”



That was his trip to Nigeria when on the ground, he was
impressed by the hard work of the locals, the hustle and bustle of the streets
and everything from bikes and Maybachs driving past him. 



However, Ghana was his most memorable destination where he stayed five days.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Ghana just looks beautiful and is next to Nigeria and they have this feud going on about who makes the best jollof rice and after tasting both, I have to give it up to Ghana,” says the comedian.&nbsp; </blockquote>



What he also loved about Ghana was its orderliness, and the
warmth of the people. 



&nbsp; What impressed
Modikoane was that the people did not wait for the government to give them
handouts and opportunities; the locals were willing to work hard to find them. 



“The people there work outside of their work, have a
business outside of their job and that’s the one thing I’ve come to realize
about traveling in Africa. We [South Africans] are sitting in the land of
opportunity but we are not working as hard as those from other parts of Africa.
That is the magic of going to these places and spending time with other artists
or musicians who also may have [on the side] their own clothing store, a
restaurant, a barber shop…” 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="824" height="616" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Mpho3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41441" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Mpho3.png 824w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Mpho3-300x224.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Mpho3-600x449.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Mpho3-768x574.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 824px) 100vw, 824px" /><figcaption> Mpho ‘Popps’ Modikoane in an interview in Ghana. Picture: Supplied </figcaption></figure></div>



Modikoane juxtaposes his experiences in Ghana and South
Africa, making various comparisons in the ways people conduct their lives.
“When you go outside of South Africa, you see the Africanness of our continent.
We South Africans have the modern, western element and live with white people
in our communities and our country is not fully ours, but there, it’s theirs.
Their heritage is rich, their culture is rich.”



And the most important part about visiting the rest of
Africa for Modikoane? 



“They make you feel like a celebrity,” he chuckles again.&nbsp; 



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



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Mpho

Executive Travel: Mpho Popps’ Ghana

Songs of the struggle and music steeped in South Africa’s
apartheid past. The story of how the Soweto Gospel Choir&nbsp; captivated the world



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Three Grammys in 12 years. And more global awards in their
17 years of existence.



In February this year, at the 61st annual Grammy awards in
Los Angeles, South Africa’s child and Africa’s pride, the Soweto Gospel Choir
(SGC) walked up to the stage to a rousing ovation.&nbsp;&nbsp; 



They had won the Best World Music Album for Freedom. More than an album dedicated to Nelson Mandela, that word stood for triumph, it stood for the freedom where it all started – Soweto.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-7 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="691" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg-1024x691.jpg" alt="" data-id="40965" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40965" class="wp-image-40965" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg-1024x691.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg-300x202.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg-600x405.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg-768x518.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Soweto Gospel Choir through the years. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="702" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg-1024x702.jpg" alt="" data-id="40966" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40966" class="wp-image-40966" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg-1024x702.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg-300x206.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg-600x411.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg-768x526.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption> Soweto Gospel Choir with Nelson Mandela. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure></li></ul>



Since its inception, the gospel choir, hailing from South
Africa’s biggest township, Soweto (short for South West Townships), has been on
more international stages than they can keep count of.&nbsp; 



Its founders, Australian promoter Beverly Bryer and the late
David Mulovhedzi, created something so monumental that the world had to sit up
and listen. Bryer was born in South Africa, and lived and worked in the
Australian music scene for a few years before moving back to South Africa in
1995. 



During her stint in Australia, she connected with a number
of music promoters who took talent from all over the world to Down Under. 



Her love was always music but pop and rock rather than
African gospel.



In 2001, Bryer received a call from one of the promoters she had met in Australia asking if there were any interesting South African artists he could showcase in Australia. She suggested Umoja, a South African theater production. Bryer knew the producer and the production was a huge global success.



After watching the cast on stage, the promoter was blown
away and backed the production all the way to Australia. 



In 2002, Bryer received another call saying the gospel aspect of Umoja was extremely popular and everyone loved it. 



“I was asked to form a choir with Mulovhedzi and we had
about three months to form&nbsp; one because
they didn’t want an existing choir but a new one. I asked Mulovhedzi to bring
his choir director expertise and I learned very quickly about gospel music,”
she recalls.



That was the birth of the Soweto Gospel Choir.



“The name was a very important decision and it came quite
naturally because most of the members were from Soweto, so that was giving the
artists their location. 



“We thought a lot of the languages the choir is going to be
singing in, people around the world were not going to know or understand, but
the only thing they knew was Soweto, Nelson Mandela and the struggle. So, we
marked it with something that people knew, the name,” Bryer says. 



Through word-of-mouth, within the three months given to them, they had auditions, and went into studio and recorded their first album, Voices From Heaven, which shot up to number one on the Billboards World Music Chart within three weeks of release in 2002. Three months after that, the choir went on to tour Australia.



The six-week tour sold out and the milestones have not
stopped since. 



Bryer recalls promoters coming out for a show and one saying to the choir that they had something special.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“We said to her that ‘we don’t know how it’s going to go, so if you want to take a chance with us, sure. If it doesn’t work, everyone goes home’.”&nbsp; </blockquote>



Bryer was advised the Edinburgh International Festival was
where musicians cut their teeth and that was where promoters from around the
world looked for talent.&nbsp; 



There were thousands of acts and the SGC were ultimately
among the most popular at the festival, and that’s when other international promoters
wanted to work with them. 



Edinburgh got the ball rolling. 



At the end of 2003, the choir was presented with a big local
event in the form of the first 46664 concert; an AIDS benefit concert in honor
of the late South Africa president Nelson Mandela. 



That concert still gives Mandlenkosi Modawu the jitters when
he thinks of its scale and magnitude. One of the older members in the choir,
Modawu is the bass singer and drummer from Witbank, Mpumalanga, but moved to
Mofolo, Soweto, shortly after joining the choir. He has been with the choir for
over 15 years now. 



“The drummer prior to me was troublesome, so it was easier
for me to get into the choir after my auditions; fortunately, I am also a
singer and that was a bonus for me,” he says. 



He speaks of the Edinburgh International Festival as though the performance was yesterday and keeps reiterating that among the 2,000 acts, they were the best. 



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In the ocean of experiences, Modawu has moments he will
always treasure.



“I think our break came after Scotland (Edinburgh
International Festival), and when I think about the 46664 concert in 2003, I
get shivers even today, mainly because we were considered one of the smallest
acts in that concert but we ended up backing a whole lot of artists like Aretha
Franklin, Stevie Wonder, U2 and other big names,” he says. 



In 2007, SGC won their first Grammy. 



South African gospel was recognized globally and their
mantel was filling up. 



“The second Grammy came as a surprise, I think it’s because
of the collaborations we did with big name artists around the world. They got
us recognized in the global music fraternity.



“While working on the album that got us our third Grammy, we
drew from the experiences we had from the struggle, stories told by our parents
during apartheid and those songs really touched the world because of the
emotions, and it moved people,” Modawu says. 



Sadly, Mulovhedzi could not share the excitement of their
third Grammy. 



“His passing was devastating because he was our founding
father. It shocked us, but we had to accept and keep the legacy. One of his
sons is the choir manager now,” says Modawu. 



“The first Grammy just came out of nowhere. It started with
someone contacting us and asking what we think of this idea, we carried the
idea and, sadly, in 2009, he (Mulovhedzi) passed.”



&nbsp;And now 17 years
later, they are the most successful choir in the world.



“I have watched my children grow up for 17 years, from the
start, especially those coming from disadvantaged communities, very few had
ever been on a plane. 



“We had tried getting people who had never sung professionally before and we never thought they would be on stage with Celine Dion, Stevie Wonder or John Legend and through the years, artists wanted to collaborate with the choir. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-8 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="698" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003-1024x698.jpg" alt="" data-id="40968" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40968" class="wp-image-40968" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003-1024x698.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003-300x204.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003-600x409.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003-768x523.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption> Soweto Gospel Choir win their first Grammy. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="928" height="620" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Celine.png.png" alt="" data-id="40974" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40974" class="wp-image-40974" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Celine.png.png 928w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Celine.png-300x200.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Celine.png-600x401.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Celine.png-768x513.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px" /><figcaption> Celine Dion and Beverly Bryer from the Soweto Gospel Choir. Picture: Supplied </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



“So, for them, it would be coming from Soweto and now on the
stage in New York City with Aretha Franklin or recording with Peter Gabriel or
doing shows with Johnny Clegg. To this day, it is an unreality for all of us.”



Bryers still remembers Mulovhedzi as the most important man
she had ever met in her dealings. 



“He was absolutely super-special,” she says, and that he was
the kindest gentleman with an absolute love for music and a great knowledge of
gospel. 



He helped her with the knowledge of gospel and working with
him was the most enriching experience, she adds. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-9 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="960" height="600" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/latest-granny.jpeg" alt="" data-id="40969" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40969" class="wp-image-40969" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/latest-granny.jpeg 960w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/latest-granny-300x188.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/latest-granny-600x375.jpeg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/latest-granny-768x480.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" /><figcaption>Soweto Gospel Choir win a third Grammy, the album called Freedom. It was recorded for that tour, which was called Songs of the Free to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s centenary. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure></li></ul>



“Regarding our latest Grammy, the album called Freedom was recorded in 2018. One group toured Europe and the other one did America. It was recorded for that tour, which was called Songs of the Free to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s centenary. So, it was concentrating on freedom songs, and songs that come from the struggle, with a little bit of gospel in between… 



“It was special because it’s an album that included their
(choir members’) history; it was an extra special feel for them.”&nbsp; 



Bryer recalls previous accolades with fondness.&nbsp; 



“The first Grammy had more attention because it came out of
nowhere. I remember in 2007 looking at my email that we were nominated for a
Grammy. It was special and we were there with David [Mulovhedzi]. 



“The second one was like, ‘been there, done that’.&nbsp; The third one is as important as the first
because of the history, it’s more personal and dedicated to Madiba, and it also
shows that even after 17 years, the Soweto Gospel Choir is on top of the music
game.”



At the beginning of their journey in 2002, the choir started
with 24 members, but because of&nbsp;
international travel, they had to form a second choir about 18 months
later to stay and perform locally.



Last year, the choir formed a third group because both groups were traveling; now the choir has grown to 50 members.&nbsp; 



Alto singer Cecelia Manyama from Diepkloof, Soweto, joined
the group in 2016. She was spotted by Bryer at a charity event playing the
violin for a classical group. She is one of the newer members.



“I met Beverly in the line to the loo. She had just heard me singing on stage and she called me aside and introduced herself and invited me for auditions that took place two weeks later. I was excited and couldn’t sleep, the two weeks felt like two years,” Manyama remembers.



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A week after the auditions, she received a message with
details of where the next rehearsals would be. She was in disbelief and told
everyone.



This was a choir that she admired and a choir she used to
watch on television. 



“I was told to lead a song I did at the charity event; I was
terrified. I remember the late Portia Skosana when I froze, and she came next
to me and sung the lead and let me continue. 



“When I started singing, I immediately felt the connection
and we were in sync and it didn’t feel new. With just that rehearsal, I was
blown away,” she recalls. 



Three months later, it was her first concert and performance
in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg, for the Clap N Tap concert with the
choir.&nbsp; 



“I will never forget that experience, I led with Avulekile
Amasango (The Gates Have Opened). That was the first song I was given. I then
felt there is no stranger there in the choir,” she says, taking a deep breath. 



“Being with a Grammy award-winning choir and performing with
them for the first time, you have fear and excitement at the same time. We are
in sync and I realized I was not alone. 



“The backing behind me was speaking in volumes, it drove me,
it pushed me and from that day onwards, I never looked back and wanted to learn
more. It was an amazing experience.” 



&nbsp;For each new member
who joins the group, the awards reawaken something within. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-10 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703-1024x683.jpg" alt="" data-id="40973" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40973" class="wp-image-40973" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption> Soweto Gospel Choir practice session. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="926" height="615" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC3.png.png" alt="" data-id="40975" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40975" class="wp-image-40975" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC3.png.png 926w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC3.png-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC3.png-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC3.png-768x510.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 926px) 100vw, 926px" /><figcaption> Soweto Gospel Choir practice session. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



“I remember with my first Grammy with the group, we went to
the airport to get it. I had never held a Grammy in my hand, but with Soweto
Gospel Choir, I held it,” laughs Manyama. 



“It was amazing. At first, I didn’t understand the kind of
impact it has on the nation but now I realize this is huge; being called
everywhere to perform, and being in the same room with the president holding
the Grammy. That Grammy is heavy and after taking a picture with it, you just
want to pass it on or put it down.” 



Although many have come and gone over the years, the choir
have prioritized succession, as they make it a point to gradually hand over
management to the younger generation, who no doubt have big shoes to fill – and
the legacy of three very heavy gramophone trophies to uphold.&nbsp;

Author: Motlabana Monnakgotla

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA