After acquiring a degree in psychology, Lee-Anne Summers left her home in Cape Town to study acting at the New York Film Academy. While in The Big Apple, she was closer to Hollywood than she ever was, but irony was that it was only after returning to Cape Town she actually got to work with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars.
Summers recently got her first big international assignment, in a supporting role in the film Momentum, shot in The Mother City and starring Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko and James Purefoy.
Summers plays the wife of a bank robber on the run who relies heavily on Kurylenko’s character to stay alive. Her real education was on the sets of the film.
“The biggest lesson I learned from working with such big stars was to trust my instinct as an actor,” she says.
“I think sometimes as South African actors, we [are] so grateful that we got the job, we [are] so scared to hike up and go, ‘hang on a second, this doesn’t work for my character, my character wouldn’t say that specific line’. As an actor, you know that character better than anyone before you step in front of the camera; and before, I would force myself to just make it work, but now, I know I can speak up,” she says.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30862 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2015/10/for-pic-doc-240x300.jpg" alt="" width="240" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/for-pic-doc-240x300.jpg 240w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/for-pic-doc-300x375.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/for-pic-doc-600x750.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/for-pic-doc-768x960.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/for-pic-doc-819x1024.jpg 819w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/for-pic-doc.jpg 818w" sizes="(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" />
While she may be just entering the international film arena, Summers is not a newbie to acting. She has appeared in many much-loved local TV productions such as Binnelanders, Rhythm City and the seven-part mini-series Stellenbosch. She has also made appearances on the stage, and recently styled for and starred in a short film, The Choice, which won the Mercedes-Benz award for Best Fashion Film at the 2015 Bokeh International Fashion Film Festival.
With a decent career in acting behind her, Summers admits the South African film industry is still in its infancy.
“Our industry is not yet at the point where we can demand higher salaries, we are still trying to grow. We are essentially in our infancy when you compare it to Hollywood and Bollywood. There is a big gap between salaries for local hires and salaries for international hires, but that’s understandable, they are more bankable, they put bums on seats. We are still trying to get to that point,” she avers.
Summers currently has three films releasing this year: The Little Kings, Safari and Momentum, which is expected to hit theatres soon.
“I would love my country to look at me and say ‘I’m so proud of her, she went to Hollywood and she made it’.”
And what does she think about her country’s most famous export to Hollywood, Charlize Theron?
“In a perfect world I would love to be the next Charlize Theron, but I don’t think she is giving up her crown soon as she is still doing phenomenal work.”
For now, the Queen Bee reigns.

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Trailing Charlize Theron?

My entire life changed when I got pregnant, and my husband’s hardly changed at all,” says 30-year-old Lilly Jensen (name changed to protect identity).
In a few months, Jensen went from being a successful managing editor at a local magazine on a promising career track to a stay-at-home mom.
Her pregnancy, and the subsequent maternity leave, completely derailed her career. With her baby at home, little support structure, unreliable help and a husband not legally allowed to take paternity leave, she had little choice. After two months back in the office, she quit.
“I wouldn’t have felt so helpless if Jack had been allowed to take leave,” she says. “I might have made a different decision if I’d had the support. I felt I had no other option.”
Maternity leave is often treated as a punishment in the workplace, says Manisha Maganbhai-Mooloo, a partner at Adams &amp; Adams Attorneys, a South African law firm.
With no legal equivalent of maternity leave for new dads in South Africa – fathers may take three days of paid family responsibility leave around the birth of the baby, if it’s not used up on other events the leave was designed for – the bulk of the responsibility and burden of parenthood falls on the mother.
“Pregnancy is treated as a penalty and almost acts as a halt to promotional prospects,” says Maganbhai-Mooloo.
“Projects are halted and a women’s career is sent on a completely different trajectory.”
Anita Bosch, lead researcher at the Women in the Workplace Research Programme at the University of Johannesburg agrees, saying that pregnancy is treated as an anomaly. Keeping in mind that the workplace was developed with men as the model workers, maternity leave negatively impacts a woman’s career, says Bosch.
“You hear comments around the workplace about a ‘staffing problem’ when employees fall pregnant.”
The legal minimum for South African maternity leave is four months unpaid, and it only applies to women. There’s no paternity leave, no leave for adoption, or surrogacy.
“It’s left to companies to offer more generous policies to their employees,” says Maganbhai-Mooloo. And if companies don’t offer paid maternity leave, employees have to turn to the Unemployment Insurance Fund, a government-run organization, to pay them a monthly stipend. A year later, and Jensen is still waiting for her payout.
“I don’t know how single moms do it,” she says.
Maganbhai-Mooloo is frustrated by the inherently unfair maternity law in South Africa. Despite good labor laws, even by international standards, South Africa lags behind with legislature on maternity.
“The law needs to be amended to allow for paid paternity leave and paid maternity leave,” she says. “Not to mention surrogacy and adoption leave.”
However, in her opinion, the ideal should be shared parental leave that can be evenly divided between the two parents, to split the onus of parenthood and equally distribute the effect a baby has on both career paths. After a challenging birth, and a severe bout of post-partum depression, Maganbhai-Mooloo herself would have preferred her husband taking paternity leave soon after birth, with her maternity leave kicking in only after she’d dealt with the baby blues.
South Africa still has a long way to go. With mothers penalised for pregnancy, and fathers unable to step-up, paternity leave would help to equalize the playing ground. Unpaid maternity leave also places new mothers at a huge disadvantage. As a 2013 report by the Human Rights Watch discovered, unpaid maternity leave can lead to serious consequences for health, finances and career paths.
“I felt like a deadweight when I was pregnant,” says Jensen. “And I shouldn’t have to feel like that.”

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Is Becoming A New Mom Career-Limiting?

The daughter of liberation fighters, I was born in Russia, raised in Angola as a refugee, and was blessed to witness the independence of my country Namibia. My parents, both of whom are lawyers, taught me determination and the value of service for the greater good. Their passionate belief in a nation’s right to self-determination imprinted upon me from a young age and they instilled in me the significance of harnessing natural resources as a catalyst for unlocking national development. As a young girl, my late father, Handupula Shimutwikeni, taught me my gender is only a barrier if I chose to see it as thus. My mother, Panduleni Shimutwikeni, by her example, taught me that the world is my oyster and that forging ahead against all odds is the only way forward.
My upbringing influenced my education odyssey across three continents. While in high school, I was awarded a scholarship to pursue a Business Management and Computer Information Systems degree in the United States. After obtaining my Bachelor’s, I returned home and worked in the diamond industry in a public-private partnership, under the pioneering Inge Zaamwani-Kwami, the former MD of Namibia Diamond Corporation. This experience sparked my interest in natural resources. Recognizing the need to bolster the national voice in the international world of negotiations, I went on to attain a LLM degree from Leeds University and a LLM in Mineral Law and Policy at Dundee University, making me one of a handful of Namibians with such a qualification.
However, when I returned home, I was in for a surprise as it was difficult to get a job! I was told I was too young, overqualified and a woman! A ‘triple threat’ as some professionals labelled me. It was discouraging and made me question my purpose. I drew on my mother’s strength and decided to forge ahead, rise above the inequalities and in the process empower others with this truth. Thus I embarked on my entrepreneurial adventure and opportunities opened up in support of my vision. I leapt at the opportunity to consolidate my skills through a contract with the International Telecommunication Union and European Commission to co-draft Namibia’s cybercrime bill under the ‘Harmonisation of ICT Policies in Sub-Sahara Africa’ project.
In 2011, with a fellow Dundee alumnus from Angola, I birthed Rich Africa Consultancy. The Consultancy specializes in natural resources law and policy, and facilitates investment linkages in the sector. A key objective of Rich Africa is to be a trusted advisor and catalyst to unlocking our resource potential. Its creation was inspired by the need to invoke a sense of pride in Africa and its vast natural resources.
Rich Africa launched the Namibia International Oil and Gas Conference in 2012; an initiative I conceptualized and led to fruition with the endorsement of the Namibian government. Themed the ‘Road to Discovery &amp; Beyond’, the inaugural conference brought together decision-makers, and international and national thought leaders to share best practices associated with the discovery of oil in Namibia.
This biennial conference was followed in 2014 with ‘Unlocking and Optimising Our Resource Potential’ which focused on the evolution in the industry. It is a humbling honor that these initiatives have received recognition placing Namibia on the international oil and gas platform.
On this journey, I was often confronted by scepticism because Namibia is considered a frontier territory in the oil and gas arena and such an undertaking was too big for “a petite young woman”. This only strengthened my resolve. I also used this platform to inspire women by presenting a new avenue to transformation through natural resources, a sentiment shared by Bridgette Radebe, one of South Africa’s successful black female mining entrepreneurs, and keynote speaker at our 2014 conference.
Not surprisingly, I do face moments of self-doubt but have been fortunate to have an extensive and supportive network of mentors.
A guiding tenet of my life has been, ‘when writing the story of your life, don’t let someone else hold the pen’. I believe I am here to finish the work my parents started.
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– The writer is one of two mineral lawyers in Namibia, is CEO of Rich Africa Consultancy and an oil and gas entrepreneur.

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‘Young,  Over Qualified  And A Woman!’

Nigerian-born model Adeola Ariyo started her career in 2005 in the Nokia Face Of Africa competition and has since graced the runways of some of the world’s most prestigious fashion shows including London Fashion Week. In 2014, she was appointed Elizabeth Arden’s first brand ambassador for the African continent. She currently lives in South Africa but travels between Cape Town, London and Lagos.
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How has the perspective of African beauty changed globally…is it because of icons like Lupita Nyong’o and Alek Wek?
It makes me so happy to see the likes of Lupita, Alek and Liya Kebede take the spotlight and be featured in major fashion and beauty campaigns worldwide. It’s about time that African beauty be recognized and appreciated globally. It’s a trend that I feel started a couple of years ago and it’s evident across industries, not just in beauty but fashion, decor, art and design. It’s great to see. It makes me proud to be African.
I feel African beauty is still not being appreciated in its rawest form. The trend seems to be to “glamorize” it with over-the-top expressions of color, which detract from what it truly is. African beauty also doesn&#8217;t relate solely to skin tone, or hair texture. It&#8217;s about culture, way of life, beliefs&#8230; All of this makes African beauty way more than we see on the surface and in our day-to-day lives. I’d like to see more of that: a complete picture of African women in all their multi-faceted beauty.
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How can a working woman juggle career and life to make time for self?
It is very possible. It’s all about time management and compartmentalization. Women in general are really good at multi- tasking and we also take our appearance seriously. The way I see it, the weekend is family time, friend time and ‘me’ time. I choose a day during the weekend and do nothing but sort out my hair, my nails and book in an appointment at the spa. It is very important do give ourselves a day off. Women are hard workers and hard workers deserve a pamper day a week.
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Any entrepreneurial dreams…?
I started making wigs for myself a few years ago. Being an African model, my hair was constantly under strain and I decided to do this in an effort to look after it and keep it in good condition. I found people constantly asking me where I had gotten my hair done and I would tell them that it&#8217;s a wig and I made it myself. After saying that for several years, I decided to expand and started making wigs.
I am currently working on a business plan to establish this as a business and launching an online website as well as a store. I thought it’d be a great platform to encourage young women who have an interest in hair; teach them how to make wigs and then help them also make money out of it.
Creating jobs for women is something I find important. In this day and age we are independent go-getters and if I can contribute in one way or the other to making a difference in women’s lives, I will.
I am also launching a YouTube Channel (in October) called The A1TV. Media has always interested me and this will be a platform showcasing events and profiling celebrities in South Africa (and later in Africa).
It’s run by females only, which is also another way for me to empower women. Everyone, from the presenters to the crew to the producers, is a woman.
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Your favorite vacation…?
My favorite holiday destination would have to be an island – Mauritius or Seychelles. I fell in love with these places when I visited and would definitely go back without a second thought.
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Where are you headed for the holidays?
Every December, I go home to Lagos and spend time with my family. Family is everything to me and there’s nothing more rewarding and refreshing than ending the year and starting a new one with my family right by my side. Also, my father would have it no other way. Everyone has to be home during the festive season.

Adeola-Areoyo-etch_

Give Yourself A Day Off’

Tina Lobondi’s life and career spans half the globe – well, almost.
Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), she had to leave her troubled African country to be raised in France; she has lived and worked in London, and her fashion career was inspired by India. Her talent has seen her hobnob with A-listers in New York, where she has dressed the likes of Hollywood star Thandie Newton and Grammy winning African Angelique Kidjo.
And now she’s determined to place Africa – her homeland – on the global fashion map.
Lobondi was only eight when the first civil war started in the DRC and her family was forced to leave, in 1997, to Lorraine in France. A home away from home, the country and the French life soon stoked the fashionista in her.
“Inspiration is from everything – movies, places I’ve traveled, shapes from architecture,” says Lobondi.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-30832" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6307-300x187.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="187" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6307-300x187.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6307-600x373.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6307-768x477.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6307-1024x637.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6307.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
For the African designer taking Europe by storm, her biggest inspiration though was – surprisingly – the drama, glamor and women of Bollywood, of which she is a huge fan.
“I’m a big fan of India; I watch all the Bollywood movies –  not the cheesy ones. Bollywood calms me. My final collection when I was studying was based on Rani Mukherjee [famous mainstream Indian actress] – how I picture her, a strong woman who knows what she wants and goes for it. She was my inspiration for my first project in London.”
Lobondi hasn’t been back to the DRC. The ‘Heart of Darkness’ as the region became known during colonialism after Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novel has long held stereotypes of a war-torn region on the brink of destruction. But Lobondi’s memories are a far cry from the words penned by Conrad.
For her, the DRC is a hub of excitement and infinite possibilities.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-30835" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/14_MBFWA_zSDR_0908_TinaLobondi-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/14_MBFWA_zSDR_0908_TinaLobondi-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/14_MBFWA_zSDR_0908_TinaLobondi-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/14_MBFWA_zSDR_0908_TinaLobondi-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/14_MBFWA_zSDR_0908_TinaLobondi-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/14_MBFWA_zSDR_0908_TinaLobondi.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
“I grew up in the Congo until I was eight and had the best childhood. The Congo that I knew was not a poor Congo – we had roads, we had private schools…It can go back to that, we have the resources, we have the mines, we have the forest, we have everything. We just need to structure ourselves to not feel helpless and that we’re in a bubble that relies on the outside. The Congo doesn’t need anything, we have everything, we just need to learn how to use it,” she says.
Her ambition does not stop at dressing the stars – she’s serious about the business of fashion and influencing other artistes in Africa to use it as a lucrative platform. Lobondi is searching for the Coco Chanels and Giorgio Armanis of Africa and growing African fashion weeks on a Parisian scale.
“It’s about showing the rest of the world that African designers have something sustainable here, we have something strong, we have something that will help Africa have a better economy. Fashion and art is not just a joke, it can bring a lot of money to the African continent.”
But Lobondi says that making the DRC the fashion capital of the world needs to begin with teaching designers to transform their ideas into business. The business of fashion might just be the DRC’s most untapped resource.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-30836" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6255-300x159.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="159" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6255-300x159.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6255-600x318.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6255-768x408.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6255-1024x543.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6255.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-30831" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6299-300x160.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="160" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6299-300x160.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6299-600x319.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6299-768x408.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6299-1024x545.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6299.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-30837" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6266-300x162.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="162" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6266-300x162.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6266-600x323.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6266-768x414.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6266-1024x551.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HX1F6266.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
“Designers in the Congo know how to be tellers but they don’t understand the job of a designer is a process of having a collection, marketing it to shops, not just to individuals, and then doing it all over again six months later,” says Lobondi.
“We need a different structure in Africa based on our own seasons. From Cape Town to Kinshasa to Lagos, the seasons are different and the temperatures are different. You can have a lot of talented people but if they don’t have the knowledge about what’s needed, it’s just lost thoughts.”
Lobondi is a long way from turning tailors into tycoons in the DRC’s aspiring style streets, but the one thing she is determined to prove is that she is her country’s finest fashion export.

AFI AFrica Fashion Awards 2014

Big Dreams Through The Eye Of A Needle

Michelle Krastanov, head of the sponsor team at Arbor Capital headquartered in Sunninghill, Johannesburg, greets us with a firm handshake and a warm smile, and we soon get talking about how she got to lead the business responsible for 60% of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s (JSE) AltX listings last year.
Krastanov started her career in 1987 at a time the word ‘businesswoman’ was still gaining currency, as just one of three female article clerks of more than 30 at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
“I was told by a female manager I was lucky to have been employed because I am female. When I went out to meetings, I was often asked by men, ‘what’s a pretty little thing like you doing here?’, so as soon as I said anything intelligent they would be mightily impressed,” says Krastanov.
The firm’s auditing contract with one of its clients was coming to a close. That year, Krastanov’s manager made her assistant manager, leading the client’s audit. She worked hard. PwC eventually tendered for the audit again because the whole dynamic had changed with Krastanov at the helm.
“Over the years, they have changed their hiring to over 50% women, and it’s a job very well-suited to a woman – there’s a lot of attention to detail.”
In 1994, after seven years at PwC, Krastanov became part of a joint venture and following a restructuring, she and another partner decided to take over the business where she acted as a corporate advisor. In 2001, the JSE changed its listing requirements, which the business was not able to meet, and being pregnant with her eldest son at the time, Krastanov chose to hand over her clients.
“I decided to be responsible and get a job. Arcay gave me a call because they were wanting to become sponsors and they needed a documentation specialist. Within three weeks we had our JSE sponsor license… And most of the clients I handed over found me,” she says.
Krastanov’s greatest challenge, like many women, has been finding a balance between her personal and work life. Most difficult for her was when in 2013, shortly after Arcay Capital, now Arbor, was bought out by Krastanov and her partners, her youngest son, Matthew, had a brain haemorrhage – the result of a condition called arteriovenous malformation (AVM). After hours researching AVM, Krastanov found local treatment and an MRI earlier this year revealed Matthew’s condition is improving.
Krastanov is dedicated to her roles, both as a mother and manager, however, she suffered a major setback to her health when she was diagnosed with breast cancer after an abnormal cyst became inflamed.
Earlier this year, she underwent a double mastectomy and reconstruction. The operation was a success.
On her cancer experience, she says: “I didn’t get angry and I didn’t get upset… my interest was in surviving for my kids. When you’ve got kids, you take different decisions and if I compare it to what happened with Matthew, this was easy – this was controllable because it was my decision.”
Krastanov concludes that if being a woman in business has taught her anything, it is that you have to consistently work hard and prove yourself.

IMG_5226

‘I Didn’t Get Angry At Cancer’

Few entrepreneurs work in the realm of fantasy. For Wilja Reitz, it’s the world she inhabits for a living everyday.
Reitz, owner of Ouland Royale, a ‘baroque barn’ in Plettenberg Bay (also known as Plett) in South Africa’s Western Cape province, has acquired quite a reputation for her couture hats, lampshades and restored antique furniture in this little town.
She has also been instrumental in giving the finishing touches to designer outfits sported by VIPs at some of South Africa’s most prestigious annual galas, including the J&amp;B Met, Durban July, and internationally, even the Royal Ascot. Having run her own boutique, Decadence, in Cape Town for many years, Reitz relocated to her family’s Plett farm in 2013 where she built her “fantasy-inspired” baroque barn.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30822 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Wilja3-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Wilja3-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Wilja3-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Wilja3-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Wilja3-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Wilja3.jpg 682w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
It was a dream many years in the making, as she had been stridently collecting curious pieces of baroque furniture, French mirrors, antique porcelain and crystal glasses.
“It was a vision in my head for about 10 years where I wanted to combine a magnificent space and cuisine. The farm belonged to my grandmother, we were very alike and it was the right place for me to create my living fantasy,” says Reitz.
To make this dream a reality, Reitz put in long hours and years of hard work.
“I don’t see work as a hardship; I see it as a blessing. If I can have it my way, I’ll work 10 to 15 hours a day happily,” she says. She has been plagued with setbacks enough times, but says she has always bounced back.
“I’ve dealt with a lot challenges in my life and in business. When you get knocked down, you have to refuse to be a victim of circumstance and get up, brush yourself off and move forward.”
She regards appreciation of life’s many trials and triumphs as key to business – and this she finds in the most mundane of everyday tasks.
“I like to push boundaries and don’t take anything for granted. Sometimes when I’m washing dishes I look at my hands and think how lucky I am to have hands to work and dishes to wash. I think gratitude is the key to success.”
With a sizeable female clientele, women’s empowerment is not too far from Reitz’s radar. She is rather outspoken in her belief that women need to be free of any patriarchal influences in society.
“When I owned my boutique, women would come in and try my hats. During those moments, a woman feels elegant and special; she becomes the person she wants to be. Women can end up living their lives for other people.”
The challenge she says is in balancing your home, career and dreams.
“The women on this continent are extremely powerful and there is a hell of a lot of talent in this country. But a lot of this is suppressed, as women are expected to play a certain role in society. A woman should be allowed to be who she dreams of being. I make sure the women who work for me feel powerful and special and that they can do anything.”
And the belief that anything is possible was intrinsic to Reitz’s childhood, which was filled with stories of fairies and fantasy. She translated this into her designs and to the baroque barn, her own fantastical space she built from scratch and that is now a sought-after venue for weddings and events.
At the barn, gilded furniture pieces create settings in which to relax, antique treasures are artfully placed, while chandeliers add timeless elegance and a myriad mirrors create the illusion of space.
“I spend hours and hours on the detail. I don’t look at magazines or anything like that as I prefer to create my own trends; my inspiration flows from inside. Being creative makes me feel worthwhile and I transform mundane spaces to something beautiful… I thought that if I can build my own fantasy space, I can use all my talents and I’m enjoying experimenting with food as well as flowers.”
Reitz is now adding a new antiques-and-décor boutique to the venue; she also undertakes orders for hats and lampshades.
“As with all artistes, my work is never complete, I will always strive to develop myself more and to use the talents I have been given.”
And the world she has created is a theatre of expression, for herself, and the people who walk into her store.

Wilja4

Selling Fantasy And Fine Art

A white sheet and a wooden mat hung tastefully from a truss divide Keneilwe Mampuru’s double garage workshop. In this space is a rack filled with colorful African fabrics, a cluttered desk, a sewing machine and an ironing board also laden with cloth.
This is Mampuru’s modest design studio, in the upscale suburb of Silver Lake, east of South Africa’s capital Pretoria, where she brings her ideas to life, under her eponymous label, Kente by Keneilwe, creating African fashion for Africa.
“African fashion is heading for bigger things now. A lot of Europeans and Americans are fast becoming aware of African fashion and are wearing our garments. For example, Louis Vuitton recently launched a bag made out of sacks we, as Africans, used as shopping bags in the eighties already,” says Mampuru.
Mampuru emphasizes how global fashion shows are highlighting African creativity, consistently looking to the continent for trends.
The 34-year-old designer is quite the role model for African fashion herself. Sporting a curly afro, Mampuru is in a denim shirt with rolled-up sleeves. Her tie is made of red-beaded string. Her skirt is in African print, knee-length, but oval and full-length at the back, revealing black wedge heels.
“I usually wear clothes I have designed myself,” she says.
Born and raised in a four-room house in Atteridgeville, a township west of Pretoria, Mampuru always had a yen for designing. Her mother was a radiographer and her late father, a clerk at a local hospital.
After sending her to a local primary school, her parents managed to get her to the Pretoria High School For Girls, despite the fact that money was always an issue.
“My parents always did their best to take us to good schools, and off the streets,” says Mampuru.
“Lack of good education is a major factor for our youth going off the rails because they feel unworthy if they’re not good in maths or science. They don’t know if they’re gifted in other things like art, dancing or even entrepreneurship.”
Growing up, Mampuru was always inspired by American soul singer Erykah Badu’s dress sense and her trademark head wrap. It was at this stage she fell in love with fashion, designing her school mates’ matric dance outfits.
“I couldn’t sew at that time but I really enjoyed designing,” she says.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30818 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Photoshoot-2015-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Photoshoot-2015-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Photoshoot-2015-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Photoshoot-2015-600x901.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Photoshoot-2015.jpg 639w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
After matric, Mampuru did short courses with UNISA in Pretoria and later did a two-year fashion design course at Tshwane University of Technology. In 2003, she saw an advertisement for call center agents and applied. This soon found her working for banking giant ABSA, where she stayed for six years, but her heart was not in her job.
“I remember every morning going to work and I knew I didn’t belong there. I’d get a headache every time I’d go into work, which was weird, but when I got home, I’d be fine,” she recalls.
In her off-duty hours, Mampuru would design outfits for clients – it was a stress-buster.
Mampuru’s career took off at ABSA and in 2009, she was a quality assurer at the Small Business Department. That’s where she was inspired to start her own business.
“I saw people opening up their own business accounts and how they ran them which really inspired me. After weighing out my options, I decided that if I could take fashion seriously, I could make a success out of it.”
Mampuru resigned her bank job to pursue her passion. With the help of her father, she bought sewing equipment and officially launched her brand.
Things weren’t about to get better though. Not having a regular salary was one of the harsh realities.
“After I quit, reality hit me. The clients I did outfits for [previously] weren’t there. I missed my salary so much and I had to sell my car for survival,” says Mampuru.
Fast forward to now and her label Kente by Keneilwe is worn by African diplomats.
Some of her clients include Senegalese-based Asanda Mashele and Cote d’Ivoire physiotherapist Marie Tshibangu, who have written rave reviews about Mampuru’s outfits on her website.
Mampuru fuses traditional with contemporary design. For a traditional bridal gown, you would pay about $746 while a dance or cocktail dress starts at about $552. She receives more than two dozen orders a month.
“The Kente cloth is from Ghana and originally worn by kings on special occasions. That’s how we basically want our clients to feel when they’re wearing my designs. To feel ‘I’m the queen’ and feel all superior,” says Mampuru.
Mampuru is inspired by South African businesswoman Phuti Mahanyele, who, she says, epitomizes strength, beauty, brains and humility.
In the future, Mampuru is hoping to dress ministers across Africa and also influential women. She mentions a few, including South African author Kagiso Msimango, AIDS activist Criselda Kananda, Hollywood actor Charlize Theron, Erykah Badu and South African band Freshly Ground.
“I would like to dress successful women, who are making a significant change in other women’s lives, through self-love, spirituality, or encouraging them to invest in themselves,” says Mampuru.
She has proven that a sewing machine, a few colorful threads and big dreams can take African creativity far.

Mampuru-012

Clothes For Diplomats From A Garage

There is a new avant-garde edifice in the heart of Lagos’ swanky Victoria Island. It is no mere edifice. Typically, it is where you would find Nigeria’s art, design and fashion fraternity converge under one roof.
You could call this edifice, a multi-level design gallery and retail haven named the ALARA concept store, a library of pan-African luxury.
Its founder Reni Folawiyo’s ambitions can be likened to the monumental edifice she has built. An art and design aficionado who worked as a lawyer for a decade, Folawiyo describes her store as a celebration of who we are as Africans today, a sign of our cultural awakening and a statement of where we are going as a continent.
It is clear Africa is developing a noteworthy appetite for luxury design.
When we meet at the store, we sit on contemporary carved wooden stools, with subtle Angolan Kizomba and Pasada music playing in the background. Folawiyo exudes a simple sophistication just like the surroundings we are in.
“I believe we need iconic platforms to project Africa and celebrate the different Africans doing great things all over the world,” she begins.
For this, she started from the bottom.
“I started to grow my passion by seeking to understand the creativity of the artists and designers on the ground. My association with them was important just for my own interest but it also began to grow into a curiosity for their functionality, growth and how they earned a living.”
Folawiyo left her career in law to chase her interests, one that saw her collaborating with young artistes in the design schools and the College of Arts and Technology in Lagos. She held weekend brainstorming sessions to help them monetize their creations.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30812 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Mrs-F11-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mrs-F11-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mrs-F11-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mrs-F11-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mrs-F11-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mrs-F11.jpg 682w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
“We had fashion designers, painters, sculptors and I thought to connect them to our world would be to create contemporary objects that would be useful to people in their everyday lives. That way, they were utilizing their creativity and for me as an entrepreneur, it was viable,” says Folawiyo.
From organic wooden seats to hand-embroidered cushions created by fashion designers, the functional items were presented at exhibitions for sale. A variety of materials were also showcased, including leather and indigenous raffia fiber.
With demand for more pieces, Folawiyo soon decided to set up her own studio.
“I looked at the numbers and gaps in the market and realized there is nobody doing contemporary doors and joinery… I wanted to keep it local and tool it to perfection so that, if anyone looked at the piece, would recognize that it is African but also very contemporary.”
This led to the launch of Folawiyo’s joinery and doors company, a one-stop shop for all interior design requirements. As she began to travel more on the continent, she began to have a better appreciation for traditional artisans and designers.
“I realized there were many people like me who were trying to use old skills to do contemporary pieces. I became curious and started to inform myself about them, to see how they got to where they were and what they were doing to operate.”
Folawiyo speaks about a lack of exposure and appreciation for Nigeria’s artistes and designers.
“It is difficult for the artistes to break through as there is an aesthetic that people relate to which is different from what contemporary artistes are doing and if with this space [ALARA], we can encourage people and support artistes to produce collections that can be put in stores, then that will be a great feat.”
She highlights the need for design schools, technological support and encouragement in preserving artisanship.
“It’s important to find a way to preserve what we are doing locally and elevate it. This brought me to a point where I felt I needed to celebrate what I had found. Africa has not been seen as sophisticated and I wanted to show people that this is not the case.”
At ALARA, Folawiyo currently stocks names such as Loza Maleombho, Jewel by Lisa, Tiffany Amber, Maki Oh and a host of others.
“I also decided that in fashion especially, it was important to put both African and international designers in the same space because I feel that in order for our designers to grow and be respected, we need to place them side by side with the best of the world,” she says.
And to Folawiyo, every creation she lays her hands on has a touching story.
“A woman weaving a basket tells a story of her life. Her final product may be aesthetically pleasing but it is stronger for me because of the story behind it.”
Art. Design. Fashion. Folawiyo is on to the next chapter of her African success story.

Mrs-F14

‘We Need Iconic Platforms To Project Africa’

Rirhandzu Letty Ngobeni was born poor, but even as a young child, she was determined to not let that define her life.
Ngobeni, born in Nkuri, a village in South Africa’s Limpopo province, had to sleep on maize meal bags most of her childhood. Today, the entrepreneur is responsible for catering companies and the nationwide maintenance of South African behemoths like MTN.
When we meet the 43-year-old at her offices near Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg, there are no signs of the pain or penury she experienced. Until she opens up about her past, and you see how much she was affected by it.
“I grew up in extreme poverty, extreme to such an extent that sometimes we wouldn’t even have food to eat. At school I had no uniform and I couldn’t afford school fees which were R15 [around $1],” says Ngobeni.
She was the fourth of seven siblings raised by a hard-working, determined mother. Her father worked at the then state-owned rail company, Spoornet, and lived in Johannesburg. He hardly supported the family.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30807 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Letty-102-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Letty-102-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Letty-102-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Letty-102-600x903.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Letty-102-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Letty-102.jpg 680w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
“As much as I love him, the truth is he never supported us. My father would only send an 80 kilogram bag of maize meal after some time,” she says with some bitterness.
Ngobeni started school at the age of four, matriculating when she was only 15. She was allowed to enter school at the time despite her young age because she was tall and able to pass the rudimental criteria of being able to reach over her head with her left hand and touch her right ear.
Life was tough. Having no shoes meant she had to walk barefoot on the scorching roads of Limpopo, to and from school.
“The tar road was always very hot and on the side of the road there were thorns all over. That left me with two options, I had to run or get burnt,” says Ngobeni.
She gets overtly emotional when dwelling on another childhood memory.
“A neighbor had brought over pap for our family to eat for supper. My mother told us to eat but I refused. When she asked why, I told her ‘we’ll eat today but what about tomorrow’?” The young Ngobeni went to bed on an empty stomach.
“Now that I have children of my own, I can imagine the pain I must have caused my mother that night,” says Ngobeni.
Luckily for her, her entrepreneurial streak was evident from her high school  days when she worked as a domestic worker for R10 ($0.70) a week. She used that money to buy chicken feet, which she then sold at school.
But Ngobeni almost didn’t finish school because she couldn’t afford the R75 ($5.50) exam fee. On the day of her first exam, she informed her teachers she was dropping out.
“When I got to school, I cried hard. One of my teachers asked what was wrong and I told him I was dropping out because I didn’t have money for the exam fee. He paid my fee and I passed with a matric exemption,” says Ngobeni.
At the age of 16, after convincing the local primary school principal she needed a job, she became an unqualified teacher, earning R450 ($33) per month. The following year she enrolled at Tivumbeni College where she studied to become a teacher, majoring in accounting and business economics.
By the age of 20, Ngobeni was teaching at a high school in Limpopo. The following year, she married and relocated to Pretoria where her husband was employed.
She taught at a private school in Pretoria, where she soon progressed as deputy principal, but she wanted to move to a government school.
“I wanted to have the government benefits teachers have, which is why I went back to a government school,” chuckles Ngobeni.
After three years, Ngobeni quit teaching to try her hand at entrepreneurship.
“I was talking to my husband and he told me that we can’t both be public servants. He encouraged me to open up a business, so we bought a Barcelos Restaurant in Alberton Mall,” she says.
This venture unfortunately wasn’t successful. Ngobeni tried various ways to keep it going, including burning onions so passers-by would be lured by the scent.
That didn’t help. In 2010, she had no option but to relinquish the business.
During this difficult time, her husband kept her going.
“My husband is my pillar of strength. He’s my worst critic and my strongest supporter. They say that behind every successful man there’s a woman, with us it’s the other way around.”
Ngobeni kept an eye on tenders and attended a grass-cutting briefing, where she approached a woman who had experience in the business.
“I asked her to teach me about the business because I knew nothing about grass-cutting and she was very helpful. She had government contracts and offered me a sub-contractor job.”
That was the birth of her maintenance company, Integrico. The company’s first major contract was the Ekurhuleni Metro Municipality.
She has come a long way since. Ngobeni says Integrico’s clients now include City Power, the South African Broadcasting Corporation and MTN.
With a noteworthy passion for cooking, Ngobeni did a course at the HTA School of Culinary Art, a chef school in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs, in 2011. She then applied for a tender to run a canteen at MTN.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30808 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Letty-074-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Letty-074-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Letty-074-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Letty-074-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Letty-074.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
“My teaching skills came in handy at the presentation and they said they’d get back to me. A few days later, I got a letter saying they wanted to do a site inspection of my place, which was a problem because there was no site to inspect!”
“I spoke to a friend I studied with at HTA who had a professional kitchen and asked her if I could do the inspection at her place. We did it there and I got the contract,” says Ngobeni.
Today, her company, Mndhavazi Caterers, supplies food for the Road Accident Fund, Munaca Holdings and MTN among others.
Ngobeni’s businesses have broadened into butcheries, which supply her catering company and 20 other restaurants. She decided it would be more cost-effective to own her own butchery after bagging a tender for meat.
“I approached a butchery owner not far from my office, gave him an offer, the rest is history, the butchery is mine now,” says Ngobeni, grinning.
“I’m currently renovating the third butchery… ultimately I want to franchise them.”
The one regret Ngobeni has however is that her parents didn’t live long enough to see her success. She says they would be treated like royalty had they been alive.
“I don’t know how many helpers my mother would have. Groceries would fill the house and she would be spoilt, even my father. Yes I was bitter towards him for a long time until my brother spoke to me and taught me the power of forgiveness.”
And Ngobeni’s message for aspiring entrepreneurs who dont have it all?
“Go after what you want, poverty can never stand in your way!”

Letty-087

Hunger And Sore Feet On The Thorny Road To Success

A woman in a boardroom often needs to work twice as hard as a man; and it also means conveying the right intent and tone, and paying attention to the finer details, body language being one of them.
“Within our very patriarchal history, the boardroom is still very much a man-cave, where the few women who have dared to ‘trespass’ constantly navigate both the written and unwritten man-cave code,” says Khosi Jiyane, a clinical psychologist and corporate training facilitator in Johannesburg.
In order to survive, some women have felt the need to man-up, as currency for being seen and treated as one of the boys, which she says has resulted in some men feeling threatened, while some fellow women see it as a “betrayal of femininity”.
Thrown into this mix are gender and cultural pitfalls that can be effectively countered if the female executive is aware of her body language.
Being attentive is a key aspect according to Durban psychologist Claire Newton who says: “Be sure to sit right up at the table and lean in over the edge slightly. Put your hands and arms on the table. Have a notebook and pen to take notes, but never fiddle with your pen. Don’t take notes on your lap if there’s a table in front of you, this forces you to move away from the action. Women tend to do this a lot. Men don’t.”
“Also ensure you have an open posture, meaning you don’t block the front of your body in any way. Blocking off the front of your body makes you feel safer (which is why you do it), but other people get the message you are insecure and unapproachable,” says industrial psychologist Brian Jude who has been in the communication training industry for 35 years. He says it’s important to stay true to your own personality in the boardroom.
“More aggressive people tend to take up space, with quieter people taking up less space. With any kind of boardroom activity, stay in your comfort zone,” says Jude, adding that women generally feel more comfortable crossing their legs or ankles, but that the ‘figure four cross’ or loose leg cross should be avoided as it is perceived to be aggressive.
“Keep your hands and arms parallel to the body as much as possible. You can use your hands in natural gestures, such as open palms, but avoid any form of finger pointing, which is seen as aggressive.”
He adds that the ‘match and mirror’ technique in body language must be subtle.
“As the other person changes body position, count to four and then change your own position to match. If there is gentle eye contact, maintain the same behavior. This can create an enormous connection, but not if it’s overdone. If you do it too quickly, it is interpreted as mocking behavior,” says Jude.
And while it may be daunting to enter the man cave, never use flirtatious techniques.
“Women are used to flirting and may tend to try and use this in what is still a predominantly male environment. Clothes must be conservative and neutral, with no overt jewelry. Maintaining a professional demeanour says ‘take me seriously’,” says Jude.
Carry handbags, tablets, or files at your side and not in front of your body;
Be aware of nervous habits – don’t fiddle with hands or hair;
Good eye contact shows you are listening, but do not hold eye contact to the point of being either uncomfortable or threatening;
Avoid sitting in the chair next to the door – if you are speaking when someone enters, you lose your message;
Pushing your sleeves up slightly and putting your arms on the table shows you are serious about what is happening in a meeting;
Be aware of your facial expression at all times.

Khosi-Jiyane

Body Of Work

August 16 2012. Thirty-four miners, mostly employed by Lonmin, on strike for a wage hike, were shot and killed by South African police in Marikana in Rustenburg, South Africa.
The men who died left behind wives and children who have suffered both pain and poverty in their loss.
FORBES WOMAN AFRICA visited six young widows who have now relocated to Marikana to work and be their families’ sole bread-winners. Most of them are cleaners earning a little more than their husbands did, living in a hostel at the Vulindlela Training Institute (that trains miners). They all share the same anger at the cops who shot down their men and changed their lives forever.
Walking around Vulindlela, you soon realize most of those affected by the Marikana massacre are resident in this area. It is now a community of the inconsolable, as they go about their lives at work or at school, returning to neighbourly chats, and time alone reflecting their fate.
They speak in chaste isiXhosa and seSotho, languages tough for an average Johannesburg-born city dweller like me to comprehend. But their emotions convey more than any language can ever do, as these pictures that follow show.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30795 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Nombulelo-099-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Nombulelo-099-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Nombulelo-099-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Nombulelo-099-600x903.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Nombulelo-099-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Nombulelo-099.jpg 680w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
Double tragedy
When Lesotho-born Mathabile Monesa, 25, lost her husband Khanane Elias Monesa that fateful day in Marikana, she was pregnant. At the time, she was living with her in-laws in Lesotho and her husband was the sole provider to a family of nine.
There was more tragedy in store.
Weeks after his death, she was admitted to hospital and lost their unborn child, a son. Doctors put it down to stress and depression.
“It was painful knowing that our provider was killed, knowing that I now have to put food on the table for the family with the money I made from sewing,” says Monesa.
Monesa hopes the R12,500 ($900) the miners were fighting for will also be given to the widows in the future.
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Loved dearly, missed sorely
Just two rooms from Monesa’s, 35-year-old Nombulelo Ntongo from the Eastern Cape is on the phone with her seven-year-old daughter, who suffers epilepsy, and who she only sees during the Easter break and the December holidays.
Before losing her husband Bongani Nqongophele, she lived with her mother-in-law, daughter and five other family members in the Eastern Cape.
“After the death of Bongani, it was hard, our child was sick and I couldn’t take her to the doctor; she was small and epileptic and I couldn’t even buy food and clothes, nobody could take Bongani’s place because he was the only one who could take care of us,” she says.
Today, Ntongo sends money home to her mother-in-law for food and doctor fees, as well as for her daughter’s school uniform. Lonmin pays the school fees.
“If I had an alternative, I would leave this job and go back home. I’m not here because I want to, I’m here because I don’t have a choice; it is not nice living here and the child living back home.”
Nqongophele’s memory lives on. In Ntongo’s little bedroom are pictures and messages from her daughter pasted on the door. Nqongophele was loved dearly by his family.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30793 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Masebolai-116-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Masebolai-116-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Masebolai-116-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Masebolai-116-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Masebolai-116.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
‘He was left to die’
Rebuselelitsoe Lefulebe, 26, from Lesotho and speaking Xhosa, can’t supress her incessant tears, even now, three years after her husband Bongani Mdze’s death in the Marikana massacre. She remembers the day like it was yesterday, when she was visiting him.
“He died upon arrival at hospital, he was left for more than an hour at the scene after he was shot; he was left to die; if he had received help, he would still be alive,” says Lefulebe.
Lefulebe recalls how Mdze had looked after his sister’s three children and his own child with his meager pay.
“Today, the children aren’t happy living with relatives back home; they tell me everything and mention things are not the same since daddy has gone.”
Mdze had applied and passed the test for a supervisor position. Had he been alive, Mdze would have earned more than Lefulebe does now.
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The mother far away
A few blocks away, we visit a mother of five, Nosakhe Nokamba. Today, she is her family’s only bread-winner. Currently living with two of her children, she sends money home to the care-taker to feed the three others who she also sends to school.
When her husband Ntandazo died, he was 36, leaving young children.
“It’s been hard around here, when I sit alone and think you know you are not at home and the only reason I’m here is because my husband left us, and now I’m separated from our children,” says Nokamba.
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‘Where is daddy?’
Twenty nine-year-old Nosihle Ngweyi is miner Michael Ngweyi’s widow. Before his death, Ngweyi lived with their two children in the Eastern Cape.
“The challenges I’m facing are the children. They ask questions I sometimes may not be able to answer. They would ask, ‘where is daddy? When is he coming home?’ I would respond by telling them not to ask that question again because daddy is not coming home,” says Ngweyi painfully.
She says after her husband’s death, she was left with a lot of responsibility and an incomplete house with only a fence. With the compensation she received after the tragedy, she built a two-room house and lived there.
Ngweyi’s therapy is school. She says after work she would rather go to school and learn and be busy, rather than dwell on the past.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30794 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Mathabisile-042-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mathabisile-042-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mathabisile-042-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mathabisile-042-600x903.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mathabisile-042-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mathabisile-042.jpg 680w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
‘I have to sustain them’
Masebolai Liau was married to Janfeke Liau and they were both from Lesotho. Today, she lives far away from her village, her home and the cows and sheep she has left with care-takers she remunerates every month.
She knows not in what state her livestock is.
“I try but it’s hard. I do this because I have to sustain the people and the belongings my husband left. His family, our family, our farmers and the farm, he could do this all by himself,” she says.
Liau wishes for a support group so people can express their feelings and find comfort in each other’s pain.

Hill-054-bw

Wives.Widows. Survivors.

Out of high school and straight to flying school, Nicole Swart seems to have figured out her aspirations at Concorde speed. She acquired her pilot’s license at the age of 19, when most girls are only just beginning to dream of high-flying careers.
Starting out as a receptionist in a cleaning company to save enough for her instructors’ course and clock up enough flying hours, Swart is today officially the first person on the continent to be awarded a license to fly drones – and she is only 23.
To the uninitiated, a drone is an aircraft without a pilot onboard. Its flight is controlled either autonomously by inbuilt computers or by remote control. Two weeks after remotely-piloted aircraft systems were integrated into the South African civil aviation airspace, Swart was handed the license.
Any comparisons with Star Wars and military drone strikes are quickly dispelled by her; it’s a world away from being mere instruments of war.
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“Drones used to be for the military and transporting things, now they’re for crop-spraying. The more advanced the equipment, the more weight it can carry. I don’t foresee drones carrying passengers soon but maybe in about 50 years,” says Swart.
She holds the ‘highest’ pilot’s license – the airline transport pilot’s license. When she’s not flying planes or remotely-piloted aircraft, she is working as a testing standards officer, aviation personnel standards, at SACAA (South African Civil Aviation Authority).
“With flying, it is all about hours. I built up 1,500 hours which is enough for an airline transfer pilot license after I reached the threshold of instruction. I began with the Civil Aviation Authority and was placed in the Unmanned Aircraft department where we had to do research and help develop regulations,” she says.
Working with unmanned aircraft ignited a new passion; Swart went into training and saw an opportunity to learn about drones.
“I didn’t know about it before. They took off in 2007 – the military used it and now unmanned aircraft are in South Africa. It’s crazy,” she says.
A lot of the theoretical components were similar to manned aviation but from a technical point of view, it was an entirely different world.
“The flying side is very different from manned aviation. With an aircraft, you are physically inside it. If you turn right, it turns right. With drones, you have to imagine yourself in the aircraft. It isn’t as easy,” she says.
“This is where aviation is heading to – the future is in unmanned aircraft. You get different types, from 50 grams to seven tons – the range of drones is crazy. I flew a two kilogram remote controlled drone. Basically training is to understand the concept but my interest is in the complex ones where one uses data links and satellites and GPS points,” she says.
South Africa is one of a handful of countries around the world to have introduced comprehensive regulations to guide remote pilot operations.
“Being a third world country, no one expected us or anyone in Africa to be developing regulations. It is a huge deal – we are getting feedback from other countries. They want our advice on how to regulate their countries.”
For Swart, getting her drone license is just the beginning for breaking gender boundaries. She’s setting out to challenge the jokes about female pilots by flying right through the glass ceiling.
“People joke about gender but in the flying world you have to work harder and prove yourself. Once you enter the world you will do anything to be a part of it and work your way up. When I was a student there were 10 girls out of 300. When I left the school, there were 100 females,” she says.
Swart is only just embarking on her journey. She holds the first drone license on the continent and is on her way to becoming a commercial flight pilot, a flight instructor and examiner, but her first few flights have stuck with her.
“I didn’t think I would be ready for my first solo flight – I didn’t even know it was happening. They call the route a circuit. The instructor told me to stop – I thought I had done something wrong but he said ‘now you are flying by yourself’. It was the best feeling of my life. Every time you take off you get a rush and no two landings are the same. I have never experienced anything greater,” she says.
“Once I had a gear emergency, my gear wouldn’t come down which is quite a big deal as you need your wheels. I followed steps and all my training paid off and I had to handle the emergency and land safely.”
Needless to say, she made a safe landing – following protocol to a tee without breaking a sweat. The sky certainly isn’t the limit for this pilot.

Nicole-033

Something To Drone About

It should have been a peaceful conference in Harare, Zimbabwe; it wasn’t. It turned to chaos, seething anger, peppered by almost comical misunderstanding.
In 1997, the historic first African American conference on the continent, in the plush Sheraton, should have been remembered for its high discourse; it had all the makings: Coretta Scott King – the widow of Martin Luther King – headed a powerful bunch of speakers. The restaurants were full of well-heeled African Americans raising their glasses to their “first night in mother Africa” before complaining about the traffic, the accommodation and the smells.
We journalists, who had spent years flogging our guts out reporting the progress of the continent, shook our heads at a lot of this faux sentimentalism that pervaded like cheap perfume. Our view was that people should bring skills and raise money, rather than glasses, for mother Africa. You couldn’t help but err on the side of scepticism in the face of the often Disney-style perceptions about the continent and its problems.
The chasm between the comfortable dream and uncomfortable reality was epitomized by the horde of angry former guerrilla fighters who had been hurling insults at police and fighting for days to break through the gates of the Sheraton. These were battle-hardened soldiers, formerly of the guerrilla Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), many of them in their 50s, who had spent their youth in the bush fighting the landmines, napalm and heavy guns of the Rhodesian forces. They wanted compensation from a cash-strapped government and were angry as hell. They wanted to disrupt this well-meaning conference to make their point.
I will never forget the moment the mob broke through the gates. A thin green line of uniforms retreated with their hands up as if they feared death – I think one or two did – as the war veterans screamed victory and hurled themselves across the manicured lawn in an angry wave, throwing combat shapes. We filmed it from the top floor of the hotel where we had been interviewing Zambian president Frederick Chiluba. It made stunning footage.
We ran downstairs to see a mass of angry veterans, all regimented high steps and clenched fists, bounding and chanting in an aggressive dance outside the now locked doors of the hotel. One or two delegates, misreading the brimming anger on the faces, tried to dance and chant back from inside the hotel, which made matters worse. I was thinking there was going to be blood when a question from another planet chimed in.
“Say, where did they get these dancers from?” says an old man who looked like he had marched with Dr King in the 60s. I explained that these weren’t dancers, but survivors from the bush war.
“Which war was that?”
I explained the one to create Zimbabwe and told of the compensation.
“Can’t they give them farms, or shops maybe?”
A young lady with dreadlocks sat studiously making notes. She told me she was a teacher in West Africa and also asked about what war the people had fought.
“In chiShona they called it the Chimurenga – meaning uprising,” says I.
“Oh really.”
Sorry readers, I am a journalist who can’t resist a dash of mischief in a ludicrous exchange.
“They got it from a Bob Marley album.”
“Uprising, oh really,” says the teacher earnestly writing another note.
The war veterans didn’t get their compensation on that day, but prevailed months later. I don’t think the conference delegates got anything at all.

A Day Of Seething Anger

Samuel Kuffour beat the ground in despair and wept in anguish. He had just lost the most important match of his career and couldn’t understand how, in the space of a couple of minutes, the biggest trophy in European club football had been snatched out of his hands.
It was the 1999 Champions League final between German giants Bayern Munich and the most successful football club in English history, Manchester United. Two goals in injury time gave United a dramatic 2-1 win. Kuffour would rise from that pain and go on to atone for his team’s loss.
Born in Kumasi, Ghana, Kuffour was the only son among four children, in an environment of extreme hardship. His mother raised the family on a shoestring but, like all African mothers, carried her load without complaint or hint of bitterness. It was the desire to give her a better life that drove Kuffour and that would later make him one of Africa’s most successful players on an international stage.
He had his first taste of organized football playing in the township teams that are a feature of African life. He and his teammates put together the few coins they had to play against each other to win the meagre pool of money.
“When we won the money, I would go and give it to my mum because we had no money at home and it was a difficult childhood,” says Kuffour.
<div id="attachment_4133" style="width: 231px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4133" class="size-medium wp-image-4133" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/GettyImages-541821539-221x300.jpg" alt="" width="221" height="300" />(GERMANY OUT) 03.09.1976Sportler, Fussball Ghana (Bayern München)Champions League, Finale in Barcelona:Manchester United &#8211; Bayern München 2:1- geht nach der Siegerehrung am Pokalvorbei und hält sich das Trikot vor dasGesicht- 26.06.1999 (Photo by contrast/Behrendt/ullstein bild via Getty Images)</div>
His start in club football didn’t end well. He wasn’t selected for one of the youth teams in his neighborhood and, dejected, promised he would never return. He instead chose to focus on the skill that was prevalent in his community, that of a shoemaker, and got down to business repairing the shoes of his clients who constantly needed to extend the lifespan of the single pair they owned.
After three days, his friend Akwesi, now deceased, persuaded him to try again and this time Kuffour grabbed the opportunity with both hands. From that day, he featured regularly in the team, growing in stature with each performance.
In 1991, he was drafted into the Ghanaian team that won the Under-17 World Cup in Italy. Ghanaian players caught the attention of the football world and Kuffour was signed by Italian club Torino, alongside his teammates, Emmanuel Duah and Mohammed Gargo. The teenagers were taken under the wing of the great Belgian player, Enzo Scifo, who treated them like younger brothers, helping them settle.
The transition from Africa to Europe was difficult. The different culture, language and food were unnerving. Still, Kuffour was determined to succeed.
“We had to adjust to the situation because we knew where we were coming from and I didn’t want to go back to Ghana because it was a chance to make an impact in my life.”
His time in Torino was formative; it enabled him to progress from a player with raw skills to a more refined product. After Ghana’s success at the Under-17 World Cup, Kuffour was drafted into Ghana’s Olympic team for the 1992 Games in Barcelona and it was here that he attracted the attention of Bayern Munich. The German club showed interest but didn’t finalize the deal. It was only after Kuffour again shone at the U-20 World Cup in Australia a year later that they made their move.
Under the guidance of World Cup-winning coach Franz Beckenbauer, Kuffour got his first taste of top-flight football after being elevated from the youth team to the senior ranks. He was an uncharacteristic central defender. Most of the players in Europe in this role were over six foot but he was noticeably shorter. He attributes his success in this role to sheer willpower.
“I was really determined and was willing to die for every minute that came my way. I’m not the tallest but I was always winning the aerial balls. Why? Because I know where I come from. I didn’t want to go back to Ghana and then see my mother suffering again. I really wanted to put a smile on her face by doing something extraordinary for myself and that success will transform into her life and so many other people’s lives.”
During his time at Bayern, domestic success was expected but the real test came when they faced Manchester United in the Champions League final. Bayern led by a single goal until injury time. Kuffour believes that they lost it when Lothar Matthäus was substituted.
“Matthäus was getting older and anytime we got to 75 minutes we would change him for Thorsten Fink. If I were Matthäus I would have played to the last drop of my blood, but that was his decision. That time he was 38 or 39. I wouldn’t put the blame on anyone.”
Two years later, Bayern got the chance to make amends at the 2001 Champions League final against Valencia.
“I went to the game with only one thing on my mind; to win the trophy. For me to do this it depended on hard work, dedication, concentration and determination. I was in my room when Oliver Kahn, Stefan Effenberg and the coach Ottmar Hitzfeld came to see me and said ‘Sammy we can win this match only if you hold John Carew. If you can do it we can win this game.’ When they left, I thought to myself, am I that important to the team that the coach, captain and vice-captain come to my room? I used every means I had to keep him quiet in that match.
After 120 minutes, the score was 1-1 and in the penalty shootout, goalkeeper Kahn was the difference as Bayern won 5-4. Finally, Kuffour had his hands on the Champions League trophy.
While Kuffour was making waves in Europe, his career with Ghana’s national team, the Black Stars, was more turbulent. His progression to the senior team was relatively smooth but once he got into the senior team, the poor levels of management caused friction between the overseas players and the football association’s officials. Kuffour remembers how conditions for the national team players were far from ideal.
“The hotel facilities were not the best – as it is today. The traveling wasn’t the best because we used an air force plane, which was a risk, and some players decided not to play for the team because of that. We saw what happened to the Zambian team in 1993. It was frustrating. I remember the 2002 Africa Cup in Mali, the whole team didn’t even have one t-shirt. We went to the dining hall in our individual clothes. I had a contract with Adidas and I called them and got some kit for the team to wear to make it uniform. After the game we went to make phone calls, it wasn’t just me, it was about six players, and I got called to the coach’s room and was told that I had to obey team rules and was given a ticket to leave!”
Ghana’s president, Jerry Rawlings, had to intervene to get Kuffour to return to the national team after six government ministers visited him at his house to convince him. He called time on his international career after leading Ghana at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
After 11 seasons at Bayern, Kuffour moved to Roma in Italy and had short spells with Livorno and Ajax Amsterdam. Shortly after, he decided it was time to hang up his boots.
“My body started reacting because, for a period of six to seven years, I never got the chance to sit down with the Champions League, the Cup, the Bundesliga, traveling to play for the national team and after that there is a private jet waiting for me to fly me back to Europe because there is a Champions League match and league match on the weekend. Every time I played 90 minutes, I started to feel more tired than before. I was aging. I took a great and wonderful decision because I was done.”
His investments in real estate and other businesses while at the peak of his earnings ensure that he is able to live comfortably. He is also a respected football pundit on TV.
For all the wealth and fame he achieved in his career, his greatest satisfaction came from giving his mum and family a better life than they could ever have hoped for.

Tag: October 2015

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