IOL Entertainment Magazine - Issue 5

by Mallory Munien

‘Thank you so much for existing’

KEDIBONE MODISE

FAMILY, close friends and colleagues came out in their numbers to honour and celebrate the life of actor, radio and TV personality Lumko “Johnson” Leqela at an emotional memorial service, held at the Market Theatre last month.

Grief-stricken, each speaker at the memorial service shared fond memories of Leqele while also sending their heartfelt messages to the family.

A friend and colleague Keletso Bonolo Modiba, popularly known as Lula Odiba, shared her love letter to Leqele, which she wrote shortly after news of their death broke.

“My love, I’m going to miss you so much. It’s not kike you to leave the party early. I’m so gutted at your departure,” said Modiba.

“We met in 2020 … you walked very fast and you didn’t say much And then we got to connect when I stood in for the show that you produced. You intimidated me a lot. You always intimidated me with your large energy and over the last two years, we moved closer and closer.

“I got to see how huge you are. A lot of people that are here today, I met through Lumko and now we have the most amazing relationship, I want to thank them for that as well.

“I loved how smart, thoughtful,

charismatic, opinionated, and how strong they were.

“My heart aches that I can’t tell you I love you again Lumkeezi. I’m broken at the fact that I will never hear you say ‘good job miss Lula’ to me again, which didn’t happen often because Lumko was very hard on me … always told me, you are the Sh**, don’t doubt yourself.

“I missed Lumko even before you left because they were supposed to continue with ‘The Night Cap’.

“Thank you so much for existing. Johnson. Half of the ‘The Nightcap’ is gone. I hardly know how to move for ward from here,” said the award-winning presenter.

Actor,

Lumko ‘Johnson’

pioneers

Celebs who clocked milestones this year 8-9

Siv Ngesi on playing a character true to him in ‘The Woman King 10-11

Nota’s outrageous comment on Mihlali Ndamase highlights pervading misogyny in local podcasting space 12-13

Prince Kaybee launches own wine brand 14

Gospel star Pulane Maphari stripped off SAMAs award after misleading the organisation 15

The biggest beefs this year 16-17

Anele Mdoda on executive producing the ‘skop, skiet and donder’ series ‘Ludik’ 18-19

Three of the biggest scandals in showbiz 20-21

Why I took umbrage at Kelly Khumalo’s ‘I don’t like journalists’ comment 22-23

FROM THE EDITOR

THERE is never a dull moment in the entertainment industry. There are so many celebs either beefing with someone or grandstanding and grabbing head lines for the wrong reasons (cough Kanye West and Cassper Nyovest). In the last quarterly edition of our IOL Entertainment magazine, for 2022, we celebrate the trailblazers and call out the troublemakers.

Right now, the buzzword on the music scene is amapiano. International stars are collaborating with artists from Africa to produce hits. And that’s not taking into account the local stars who are pioneering the genre with their work.

As such, it was certainly fitting to pay homage to the trendsetters of amapiano.

Meanwhile, the celebrity who suffers the most from foot-in-mouth syndrome - not talking about MacG - has been ruffling so many feathers, he could have created a whole fashion collection with them.

If you said Nota Baloyi, then you were spot on. Damn, if he isn’t shading his ex-wife (or is it soonto-be ex) Berita, he’s going about attacking female celebrities.

Anyone in disagreement with his views, including our writer Shingai Darangwa, is bound to get a rather unpleasant call.

CONTACT

PUBLISHER

Vasantha Angamuthu vasantha@africannewsagency.com

ACTING EXECUTIVE

LIFESTYLE EDITOR/ ENTERTAINMENT

Debashine Thangevelo debashine.thangevelo@inl.co.za

DESIGN

Mallory Munien mallory.munien@inl.co.za

PRODUCTION

Renata Ford renata.ford@inl.co.za

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Keshni Odayan keshni.odayan@inl.co.za

SALES

Charl Reineke

charl.reineke@inl.co.za

ENQUIRIES

hello@africannewsagency.com

Of course, in this day and era, bullying is not tolerated. Nor will controversial celebs hold any sway on our freedom of speech or integrity as journalists. We also address Kelly Khumalo’s comment on her Showmax reality show: “I don’t like journalists.”

The disdain displayed by her left a lot to be desired.

Thankfully, there is such a thing as cancel culture. Whether it is an idle threat or an effective movement, remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy our aspirational stories as well with Anele Mdoda adding another notch to her belt, as does Prince Kaybee.

Enjoy!

@IOLLIFESTYLE

Meet the pioneers of amapiano

Amapiano has become the youth’s lifeblood, not only in South Africa but across the continent and beyond too. The genre’s rise may appear to have happened overnight, but on closer observation it’s been years in the making. Here we look at some of the major players who have contrib uted to making it one of the fastest growing genres in the world, writes Shingai Darangwa

“IT’S almost like it’s the heartbeat of the youth at the moment,” said Busiswa about amapiano during an interview with Rolling Stone last year. The SA house star hit the nail on the head.

Here we look at some of the major players who have contributed to making it one of the fastest-growing genres in the world:

Mr JazziQ

Mr JazziQ and Josiah De Disciple (formerly collectively known as Jazzi Disciples) were among the first DJs to popularise amapiano back in 2018 with their hit single, “Long Lasting”.

Over the next year, the pair became the genre’s go-to guys for their uniquely soulful and hard-hitting brand of amapi ano. While they, unfortunately, went their separate ways shortly after, Mr JazziQ has continued to be on the up and up by forging a successful solo career of his own

and building one of the most outstanding amapiano labels around, Black is Brown Entertainment.

His latest smash hit single, “Halala” was recently certified platinum and, if his track record is anything to go by, there’s more where that came from.

Scorpion Kings (DJ Maphorisa & Kabza De Small)

Nowadays, you can’t mention Kabza De Small without mentioning DJ Maphorisa and you can’t mention DJ Maphorisa without mentioning Kabza De Small.

While the two artists are undeniably supremely talented in their own right, their work together as Scorpion Kings, dating back to a period in 2019 and 2020when they collectively released an astonishing eight projects over a scorching 12 month run, is the stuff of legends.

And to be clear, they aren’t just churn ing out throwaways. When it comes to quality musical output Scorpion Kings are the standard. Their respective record labels, Piano Hub and New Money Gang, are simultaneously grooming and unleashing the genre's next crop of stars, including the likes of Daliwonga, Young Stunna and Felo Le Tee.

Major League DJz

Major League DJz certainly weren’t the first amapiano DJs on the scene. In fact, if we’re being honest, they did as they usually do: they saw an opportunity to switch sound, which they’ve done severally, and capitalised on a new and

exciting movement.

But what they’ve also impressively done is commercialise amapiano in a way that their predecessors and those who’ve come after them have not been able to do.

They’ve travelled the world more, and they’ve come up with an amapiano NFT (non-fungible tokens), they’ve broken the world record for the longest DJ set by a DJ duo, and pretty much led the way in showcasing the endless possibilities of the genre. If you want to see how far amapiano is really headed, just watch these guys. They’re the benchmark.

DBN Gogo

There was a period last year when DBN Gogo was inescapable. Her music was on every other DJ’s set, her “Dakiwe” dance challenge was the most ubiqui tous challenge on TikTok and she was performing at virtually every big show in SA.

That momentum has continued into 2022 and she continues to be at the fore front of the genre through her entertain ing DJ sets, her unique on-stage presence and her unique sense of style.

Earlier in the year, DBN Gogo spoke on the importance of dance challenges in a new BBC1 Xtra documentary showcas ing the global emergence of Amapiano.

“Dance challenges are like a different life form to amapiano,” she said. "They’re the thing that actually helps songs move before they’ve even dropped.”

Mr JazziQ.

DJ Maphorisa and Kabza De Small.

Gogo.

Instagram

continued from page 4

Focalistic

“Heh bari Foca we wanna party,” has become a rallying cry for pandemonium at the country’s biggest and most hyped up parties.

It’s what the 26-year-old amapiano star yells at the crowd at the start of his sets these days before they yell it right back at him, demanding that he set the party on fire. And boy does he oblige.

Focalistic’s ascension to the biggest and most sought-after vocalist/rapper in amapi ano has been swift and unrivalled.

Since emerging as the third wheel to the Major League DJz wrecking ball back in 2018, Focalistic has followed in the pair’s globetrotting footsteps and also carved his own lane.

He's brought a hip hop swagger to the forefront of the genre and shown through his success that amapiano is not all about the DJs.

MFR Souls

When amapiano was still bubbling under in 2018, it was Tumelo “Force” Mabe and Tumelo “Maero” Nedondwe, known as MFR Souls, who were the first to really strike gold.

Their hit single “Love You Tonight” fea turing DJ Maphorisa, Sha Sha and Kabza De Small took the country by storm and became the genre’s biggest hit around the same time JazziDisciples were making a name for themselves.

They quickly followed that up with the hit single “Amanikiniki” featuring Kamo Mphela, Major League DJz and Bontle Smith, which is the most viewed amapiano music video ever with 29.5 million views on YouTube.

While they haven’t been able to reach similar heights since their early exploits are the stuff of legends and there’s little doubt they’ll be back, firing on all cylinders soon.

Major League DJz.

Celebs who clocked milestones this year

There have been plenty of noteworthy milestones that are worth celebrating now that the entertainment industry is booming once again. We highlight three of them.

SHINGAI DARANGWA

FOLLOWING the doom and gloom of the coronavirus pandemic, the entertainment industry looks to be booming once more.

While the local music genre amapiano, which actually gained steam throughout the pandemic, continues to be the shining star of the industry, film, television and comedy are also starting to gain a head of steam again thanks to the lifting of extremely limiting restrictions.

From Khanyi Mbau becoming the first African woman to be subjected to a Comedy Central Roast, to Major League DJz setting a world record for the longest DJ set by a duo, there have been plenty of noteworthy milestones that are worth celebrating.

We look at three that caught our eye:

Black Coffee wins a Grammy South African DJ Black Coffee’s sev enth studio record, “Subconsciously”, was designed for international acclaim. Its sound is fresh but formulaic, it carefully curates features from the likes of Pharrell Williams and local stars like Msaki, and it is palatable for global audiences.

Upon its release in 2021, many local fans decried its sound as being made for “white people”, something Black Coffee denied. Whatever it is, it worked.

And politics aside, “Subconsciously” is simply an exemplary piece of music, and it was duly recognised as such with a Grammy award for Best Dance/Electronic Album at this year’s awards.

This milestone was significant for many reasons. Speaking to IOL shortly after Black Coffee’s win, Bandile Mbere, one-half of amapiano duo Major League DJz, summed up one of them.

“I think for the past few years, before amapiano came in, South Africa’s been a country where they base a lot of stuff on artists and not DJs.

“They forgot how much DJs play a role in the music industry. So Black Coffee winning a Grammy in this day and age as a South African helps and shows that DJs play a big role in the music industry.”

Thuso Mbedu secures a lead role in “The Woman King”

Following her breakthrough role in last year’s “Underground Railroad”, Thuso Mbedu’s star has been rising steadily abroad.

The baby-faced South African actress recently took her star power to another level when she was cast for a starring role in “The Woman King”, a film about an all-female army of African warriors loosely based on a true historical episode.

“The Woman King” launched success fully in the US over the weekend as it topped the North American box office with an esti mated take of $19 million (R386m).

Oscar-winner Viola Davis, who stars as the fierce general who leads an army known as the Agojie, spoke fondly of Mbedu last week, stating: “To me, Thuso is a translucent talent.

“Light comes through in every shade and that is how I see her emotional life come through with this character of Nawi.

“It is that immediacy. It’s that accessi bility that only a few have. And I think it’s the building block of a very incredible actor.” K.O’s record-breaking single, “Sete”

K.O’s “Sete” has been a sight to behold.

Featuring superstar newcomers Blxckie and Young Stunna, the new single has come from nowhere to become the surprise hit of the year.

Within a week of release, “Sete” was already the most-played song on local radio, it had gone gold in record time and it had well and truly become a viral sensation on social media off the back of Young Stunna’s performance video-cum TikTok challenge.

The lead single off his new album “Skhanda Republic 3” sees K.O reimagine afrobeats with a hip hop twist to great effect.

The video’s release has only seen it get bigger and bigger. Since its release two weeks ago, the video’s been trending number one on YouTube and has already amassed over four million views.

Now officially certified platinum, “Sete” shows no signs of slowing down.

DJ Black Coffee.

Siv Ngesi is one of two South Africans to land a role in the international film, “The Woman King”.

Siv Ngesi on playing a character true to him in ‘The Woman King’

In all his glee and cheer ahead of the premiere, Ngesi couldn’t help but get emotional as he came to grips with the fact his mother won’t be present for his big moment

of my life. I’m honoured to call myself the son of Zanele Jaqueline Ngesi. Every time I watch the film, it’s going to remind me of my mother.

ally toward women and people in the com munity. In this particular film, I am an ally so I feel this role was made for me,” he said.

VENECIA VALENTINE

HE was also among the cast who graced the red carpet at the film’s world premiere at the 47th Toronto International Film Festival on September 8.

IOL Entertainment got to talk to the star ahead of the South African premiere on September 30.

Ngesi plays The Migan, the leader of the male army.

Ngesi, who recently lost his mother Zanele Jaqueline Ngesi, said the film depicts the life of his mom, in a way.

“This film came out around about the same time I lost my mother in August. The incredible link of it is that my mother has always been the strongest woman I have ever known, an incredible beast.

“I honour my mother in this film, the quintessential woman king and the queen

“I have done other international films but nothing was as big as this one. It’s the first time I actually did a film and (did) not care how well I did but more about watching the ladies and being in awe of Viola Davis and watching what she is doing.

“It’s a dream come true to be a part of one of its firsts in the world, having four dark-skinned women as leads – two of African descent, one from the Caribbean and one of American descent.

“I have the honour of playing The Migan. He is the leader of the man army and Viola Davis is the leader of the woman army and we work together, we fight. It’s an incredible part and The Migan is an ally, like I play in my life, an ally to the women.

“But he knows his place, like allies need to know their place. An ally can’t be louder than the people he’s allying for but he needs to be able to support and back the people he is allying for.”

Ngesi said he knew first-hand about being an ally since growing up surrounded by females in his home.

“I spent so many years trying to be an

“It resonates with me because I was raised in a household of just women and you need to know your place in a household of just women so you grow up knowing that men are not superior to women.”

In all his glee and cheer ahead of the premiere, Ngesi couldn’t help but get emo tional as he came to grips with the fact his mother won’t be present for his big moment.

“My mom was excited for the upcoming premiere, she was preparing to wear African gear, like ‘Black Panther’ themed.

“It’s the biggest film I’ve done so this was huge for her and now not having her around is quite difficult to imagine.

“It’s hard to explain being in a world which she is not in.

“It’s been difficult to celebrate this film without her. I’m man enough to say I am broken, to say I’m walking around like the walking dead, directionless. I’m angry.

“I wouldn’t be what I am without her. I feel like a sailboat in the middle of the ocean without the winds to push it. Day by day I will learn to cope with the pain.

“My ‘Woman King’ is not here.”

Siv Ngesi as The Migan in ‘The Woman King’.

Siv Ngesi and Viola Davis.

Siv Ngesi and John Boyega, who plays King Ghezo.

Siv and mom Zanele Jaqueline Ngesi

Nota’s outrageous comment highlights pervading misogyny

Nota Baloyi has become somewhat of a comedian, not by choice or profession, but because his antics on social media are often comical.

SHINGAI DARANGWA

ALMOST every year we have the same conversation around comedy. “Sometimes good art should make us uncomfortable”.

“Sometimes bad people can make good art”. Late last year, many cited these or similar quotes in defence of Dave Chap pelle when he stirred controversy with his transphobic and sexist jokes during the last comedy special of his long-running Netflix deal.

Nota Baloyi has become somewhat of a comedian – not by choice or profession but because of his antics on social media.

His latest act of comedy was far from humorous though. In May, Nota joined the Nkululeko n Cultr podcast, using this as an opportunity to slut-shame blogger and content creator Mihlali Ndamase.

“The women celebrities in this country, most of them are sex workers,” he started.

“If they have to sleep with produc ers… if you see someone that’s ahead and they’re getting whatever, who are they sleeping with at Multichoice?”

In a clip that went viral, Nota added later on in the interview: “Imagine there are some guys who think Mihlali is attractive,

and all I think is that ngiyamtenga (I can buy her).

“And they don’t understand that if Mihlali is for sale that means she’s an object. Which means you can kill her if you want to. It’s like buying a dog, you can put it down.”

This was such an egregious statement that the notoriously private Berita, who at that point we understood to be his wife, took to Twitter to call him out. She also dropped the bombshell that they had split.

She said she had been quiet because her safety had been a “huge concern” for her, before going on to describe him as “irresponsible, reckless and unruly”.

Nota later Tweeted, “They say a man will embarrass you, a woman will humiliate you… No matter what happens between you, keep it tidy!”

It was an unsurprisingly tone-deaf statement from a man who’s quickly establishing a reputation as an out-of-touch social media commentator.

A day before Berita’s statement, Nota had been a speaker in one of Musa Khawu la’s Twitter Spaces when someone allied to SA Polling gave him a bit of his own medi cine. “These people are past you, they’re better than you,” SA Polling said, referring to Mihlali and the other celebrities Nota had insulted in the past. “Whether they sleep with whoever — they can even sleep with your dad – but they’ve surpassed you.”

When Nota tried to speak over him, SA Polling responded, “I don’t know who

you think you’re going to talk over, I’m not your wife, you better wait until I’m done speaking.”

Even YouTube troll Slik Talk upbraided him, stating, “You can’t talk about people’s wives and people’s girlfriends and then when they talk about your wife you get upset. It doesn’t work like that. See me, people can talk about my mother, my father, my brothers and sisters, my kids, I don’t care because I know I deserve it.”

While Slik Talk has a point, that doesn’t excuse his own misogynistic remarks. Much like MacG, for whom he has expressed admiration, he often uses vile language when discussing women.

“Uncle Waffles, you are Drake’s African fantasy, that’s what you are,” he said a few months ago. “This man is only looking for one thing and one thing only. Drake is trying to smash, that’s it…..”

It’s a page straight out of the MacG playbook. For much of the past year, Nota has delivered countless moments of inco herent and mind-numbing commentary on a host of entertainment and lifestyle topics as he seemingly shifts into a role as a pop culture commentator.

For a man of his intelligence and cal ibre in the entertainment industry (Nota’s work managing Kwesta and helping him become one of the country’s biggest art ists is beyond reproach), I’ve not spot ted much nuance in his commentary. If there’s brilliance in Nota, Slik Talk and MacG’s work, I must be missing it.

Nota Baloyi. Pictures: Instagram

Prince Kaybee launches own wine brand

Prince Kaybee’s wine brand Milani is available on the award-winning artist’s online store.

SHINGAI DARANGWA

DANCE music DJ and producer Prince Kay bee has announced the launch of his very own wine, which he’s dubbed “Milani”.

The wine is available on the multiplatinum and award-winning artist’s online store. Currently, there is no indi cation if and when it’ll be made available in stores.

“So excited we are finally here,” he posted on Twitter. “Thank you to all the men and women back at the farm who have made this possible. Today I’m announcing that Milani wine is now available on our very own online store. Purchase here: bluecrane.co.za.”

Since he broke the news, “Prince Kaybee” has been trending on Twitter, with tweeps congratulating the 33-yearold for the latest accomplishment in his storied career.

Social media blogger Chris Excel shared a video of him meeting workers at his farm.

“Historic day when Prince Kaybee met the workers that harvest and package his wine for the first time. Black Boy fly …”

Kaybee announced last month that the wine was finally designed to pre mium standards and almost ready to be launched.

“‘MILANI’ wine of South Africa. We launching in a few weeks. Finally, the

product is perfectly designed to premium standards. I present to you MILANI wine of South Africa by yours truly.”

Kaybee released his latest single, “Three In The Morning” featuring Ben September, in late August. This comes just three after the release of his seventh studio album, “Gemini”.

While the album is doing relatively well, it’s Kaybee’s earlier success with hit singles like “Fetch Your Life” featuring Msaki, “Charlotte” featuring Lady Zamar and “Uwrongo” featuring Shimza and Black Motion, which remain his most prominent records.

Prince Kaybee launches Milani.

Picture: Instagram

Gospel star Pulane Maphari stripped of her Samas win

Despite winning the award in August for Sacrificial Worship (Live), Maphari has been stripped of the win after she allegedly repackaged, renamed and paraded a previously released album.

office that Maphari repackaged, renamed and paraded an album she released in 2020 as a new body of work and submitted it for 2021 consideration with the same track-listing,” read a statement from the organisation’s PR company.

Furthermore, RiSA CEO Nhlanhla Sibisi has suspended the Sama project team and instituted internal disciplinary processes for the oversight.

SHINGAI DARANGWA

THE Recording Industry of South Africa (RiSA), which is the organisation behind the South African Music Awards (Samas), has announced the withdrawal of the Best Con temporary Faith Album award presented to Pulane Maphari.

Despite winning the award last month for Sacrificial Worship (Live), Maphari has been stripped of the win after she allegedly repackaged, renamed and paraded a previ ously released album.

“It has come to the attention of the

“This is in clear violation of the rules of the Samas and equals an automatic disqual ification. Under General Rules: Eligibility for Entry clause 5.1 states that an album must contain not less than four (4) tracks of pre viously unreleased recorded performances (Remixes are excluded).”

Clause 5.2 goes on to add that 50% of the album must feature different and previously unreleased sound recordings by the artist or group entered.

In light of this, the new Best Contem porary Faith Album winner is Kingdmusic for ‘Denga’

According to RiSA, Kingdmusic received the second-highest score in the category, as confirmed by the auditors, PwC.

Maphari has also been disqualified, and investigations are said to be underway to determine whether further action will be taken.

“The integrity of the Samas is of the utmost importance,” Sibisi said.

“We take seriously any complaint we receive regarding how the winners are cho sen and the conduct of our office and the panel of judges. We are looking at a total overhaul of the Sama structure, systems and processes. The Samas must be artist-driven and focused.”

This comes just a few weeks after the controversy around Nhlanhla Nivo Ndi mande's involvement as creative director for the Samas despite being the manager for Musa Keys, who won the award for Record of the Year.

Pulane Maphari. Picture: Instagram

Listing just three of the best was no mean task, but somebody’s gotta do it, right?

SHINGAI DARANGWA

2022 has been a year filled with celebrity feuds. The music industry in particular has sprung up beefs left and right and centre.

With the likes of Slik Talk, Ntsiki Mazwai and MacG always eager to stoke the fire, we’ve been witness to some pretty nasty stuff as well as some petty quarrels online.

Listing just three of the best was no mean task, but somebody’s gotta do it, right?

DJ Maphorisa vs Davido

Amapiano pioneer DJ Maphorisa is never too far from the eye of the storm.

Despite a hugely successful career, he seems drawn to controversy and can never seem to contain himself when the itch to stir some s*** starts gnawing at him.

Early in the year, it was Mlindo The Vocalist who bore the brunt of his “Twitter fingers” when Maphorisa called out his former protégé for being disloyal.

Then, a few months after, it was all the major record labels who were under attack from the veteran producer

and DJ for, as he put it, slowing down amapiano. Most recently, Maphorisa and Nigerian Afrobeats star Davido had a tiff on Twitter after Maphorisa refuted a post that said Davido had popularised amapi ano on the continent and beyond.

Davido didn’t take kindly to this, accusing Maphorisa of never liking him and having a personal gripe with him.

For once though Maphorisa was not the aggressor and, to his credit, he did later try and mediate the situation online.

Cassper Nyovest vs Priddy Ugly

After several torturous years in the shadows of amapiano, South African hip hop appears to be in the midst of a renais sance of sorts.

The two biggest songs in the country right now on YouTube and various other digital platforms are “Sete” and “Lemons (Lemonade)”, by two local hip hop icons K.O and AKA, respectively.

In the midst of this, there’s been the spectacle of the Cassper Nyovest versus Priddy Ugly celebrity exhibition boxing match that took place on October 1 at Pretoria’s Sun Arena.

For the past few months, the two rappers traded blows on social ahead of the big fight.

Against the backdrop of this hype, several diss tracks were released by the

likes of K.O, Nyovest, Big Zulu and Dun can, which has only added fuel to the fire.

Next up, Nyovest says he’ll try and take on Big Zulu.

And after knocking out Priddy Ugly in the first round of their clash, he appears to have the necessary confi dence.

Ntsiki Mazwai vs everyone

Ntsiki Mazwai doesn’t like peace. The self-proclaimed poet and activist has proven this once again as she continues her 2020 roll, weighing in and taking shots at whoever she fancies.

So where do we start? Perhaps a good place would be with Mazwai taking a dig at Kelly Rowland during her visit to the country earlier in the year.

In defending Anele, who was being dragged for previously insulting Rowland, Mazwai said, “Anele is the highest-paid radio presenter in the country, Kelly was basically Beyoncé’s back-up singer. Azilin gani. But because you grovel to Americans you will get angry.”

Then she beefed with MacGs entire fanbase, the Chillers, after she called them “bimbos”.

On this occasion though, the backlash was so extreme that she apologised. What a rare sight that was.

There’s more, of course, but we’ll just leave it there.

Mzansi was there for the drama with these 3 celebrity beefs

Priddy Ugly and Cassper Nyovest. Picture: Instagram DJ Maphorisa and Davido. Picture: Instagram

Ntsiki Mazwai. Picture: Instagram

Anele Mdoda on executive producing the ‘skop, skiet and donder’ series ‘Ludik’

The radio and TV personality, who is now working her magic behind the camera, was joined by the female cast during our chat.

DEBASHINE THANGEVELO

Mdoda has a larger-than-life per sonality. She’s been dominating the air waves for the longest time before proving she has a big enough presence for TV, too, when she agreed to host ‘Real Talk with on SABC3 (now S3).

At the time, the channel needed a replacement for 3Talk, hosted by Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu, and who better than Mdoda and her infectious personality?

When that journey ended, she went Celebrity Game Night SA, which bagged a Golden Horn for Best Interna tional Format Show at the South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) in 2020 and was nominated again this year.

Right now, Mdoda is making waves with her production company Rose and Oaks, which she started with her then fel low 947 breakfast team members Frankie

du Toit and Paul Buys in 2018. In fact, it was recently confirmed that her company, in partnership with Primedia, has secured the SA rights for ‘The Masked Singer’.

In a recent interview with Mdoda, who was joined by several actresses from ‘Ludik’ – Tina Redman, Inge Beckham and Diaan Lawrenson – she touched on the decision to spread her wings and expand her portfolio on this Netflix project.

She acknowledged: “It is a talking point because I believe the industry, we love a Seabiscuit story. Something that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen and then when it does happen it is such a triumphant moment for everyone involved.

“(At) our wrap party when we were done shooting ’Ludik’, just the spirit and the euphoria were amazing.”

The script was penned by Buys and Annemarie van Basten. Mdoda said:

“To watch ‘Ludik’ come true through Paul’s eyes is the most amazing thing because we refused to compromise.

“There were many times where the characters dangled in front of you and it's a bigger character and it looks easier and it looks like it is going to have more commercial juice and you stop and you

realise what you said you would never compromise on.”

The radio personality, who recently

Anele Mdoda makes her debut as an executive producer with ‘

Diaan Lawrenson as Anet ‘Ludik’ in the series. Picture: Courtesy of Netflix

Inge Beckham as Rina Goosen. Picture: Courtesy of Netflix

Arnold Vosloo as Daan Ludik in ‘Ludik’. Picture: Courtesy of Netflix

Behaviour that got tongues wagging

With online bloggers incentivised to unearth and expose any potential celebrity controversy, we’re privy to tons of rumours, half-truths and scan dalous exposés on a weekly basis.

past year or so have seen him earn the title of social media troll.

Nota’s latest scandal involves his wife (or ex-wife depending on who you ask), afro soul singer Berita.

to express her shock and claim in other interviews that it was an honest mistake owing to her inexperience, the damage has been done.

SHINGAI DARANGWA

SCANDALS are never too far away when it comes to the local entertainment industry.

With online bloggers incentivised to unearth and expose any potential celebrity controversy, we’re privy to tons of rumours, half-truths and scandalous exposés on a weekly basis.

We singled out three nasty scandals that shook the country this year.

Nota and Berita go their separate ways

Nota called me a few weeks ago to rebuke and threaten me for consistently referring to him as a “social media troll”. Frantically, he explained that he took umbrage to the title because he’s accom plished too much to be labelled as such.

But, in my view, for the most part, the former music executive’s antics over the

Following Nota’s distasteful and contro versial comments that Mihlali was for sale and, as such, was an object which could be put down like a dog, Berita broke her silence and put out a statement claiming they were no longer married and she’d had left their marital home due to his being “extremely irresponsible, reckless and unruly”.

Nota didn’t take kindly to this. Since then, he’s been on the offensive, ques tioning her character at every opportunity and consistently criticising black women on social media.

Samas fiasco

“The Recording Industry of South Africa (RiSA) has withdrawn the Sama Best Con temporary Faith Album award presented to Pulane Maphari for Sacrificial Worship (Live) at last month’s Sama28,” read a shocking press release from the South African Music Awards (Samas) a few weeks ago.

This comes after the awards were shrouded in controversy on several fronts following, among other things, the drama around how Nhlanhla Nivo Ndimande came to be involved as the creative director for the Samas despite being the manager for Musa Keys, who won the award for Record of the Year.

The release further added, “It has come to the attention of the office that Maphari repackaged, renamed and paraded an album she released in 2020 as a new body of work and submitted it for 2021 consideration with the same tracklisting.

“This is in clear violation of the rules of the Sama and equals an automatic dis qualification.”

While Maphari took to social media

With the investigation ongoing, it’ll be interesting to see how the Samas address this and other institutional issues that abound.

Mihlali Ndamase’s controversial relation ship with Leeroy Sidambe

South African YouTuber and media personality Mihlali Ndamase has been the brunt of a lot of social media criticism after it emerged earlier in the year that she was dating local businessman Leeroy Sidambe, the estranged husband of Mary-Jane Sid ambe.

At one point the cyberbullying and crit icism became so hectic that Sidambe had to put out a statement to clarify his position and call for the bullying to stop.

“In March of this year after many months of trying to make things work, I took steps towards separation from my marriage and the marital home,” said Sidambe.

“The constant defaming of those who work in the public space has to stop. In my view, cyber-bullies are spineless and hateful people, who hide behind the keyboard to strip others of their success with untruths coated as facts.”

Despite Sidambe’s plea, the reputa tional damage of Ndamase dating a legally married man has been substantial.

Nota and Berita.

Pulane Maphari.

SCANDAL

The disdain that she displayed towards the media in episode two, was disturbing, writes Debashine Thangevelo

though she inadvertently does so.

Now, as a woman, I respect her stand point. That she is unapologetic about all she does is no secret.

age for an artist.

I DIDN’T plan on writing anything beyond what has already been written about the third season of Kelly Khumalo’s reality show on Showmax. I think the timing of it – with the interest around the Senzo Meyiwa trial – heightened its appeal.

But the boredom of load-shedding saw me stream the first two episodes of Life with Kelly Khumalo.

I find the Safta award-winning reality show entertaining.

After all, being a fly on the wall in the life of a celebrity can be therapeutic.

So what changed my mind? Well, I took umbrage at her comment about journalists, to be honest.

The disdain that she displayed towards the media in episode two was disturbing.

Having followed several of her reality shows, I understand that Life with Kelly Khumalo is about her revealing who she is as a person.

As she’s pointed out in several inter views we’ve done so far that she’s not looking to set any record straight – even

In my last interview with her, for season 2, she said: “I’m not here to please anyone. It is my life and my journey. If you don’t like it, look away.”

Back to the new show. In the second episode, Khumalo attended an exclusive French affair at a private residence.

Throughout the commentary for the show, she made it clear that air kisses and fake conversations are not for her. Nor is posing for the camera.

She clearly didn’t get the brief about what being a public figure entails.

Of course, with the media at the event, she was grabbed for a quick comment. And the young host made the cardinal mistake of asking her how she is dealing with the drama.

Kudos to her for not rolling her eyes. Her response was something we’ve come to expect.

She fobbed it off as it was not hers to deal with. It’s theirs. End of story.

Towards the end of the episode, there was a luncheon and Khumalo found herself seated at a table of journalists.

Now such a set-up is not uncommon when a PR wants to get maximum cover

However, Khumalo perhaps wasn’t briefed on what this would entail as you could see her struggle to contain her fury when she was bombarded with questions.

But isn’t that why she was there? To promote her work, to get coverage for it. And awkward questions are bound to come up.

In her feedback commentary on the reality show, she said: “I am not a fan of journalists.”

Again, that is okay. When you live under public scrutiny, you will have a jaded view of anyone who calls you out.

That said, she had no qualms when the media wrote about her launching Con troversy Gin or releasing her eighth studio album, Voice of Africa, or its success.

The next time she decides to shade the media, she needs to remember that they were the ones that helped her with publicity after she won a gospel talent show and was finding her foot in this cutthroat industry.

She also needs to acknowledge that as a celebrity, what you say and do matters.

So the next time she has something to say, she might want to choose her words more wisely.

“Life with Kelly Khumalo 3” is stream ing on Showmax.

Kelly Khumalo. | Supplied

Why I took umbrage at Kelly Khumalo’s ‘I don’t like journalists’ comment

Kelly Khumalo is back with season 3 of Life with Kelly Khumalo. Picture: Supplied