Does Bonang have divatude?

Bonang Matheba

I was quite disappointed in yesterday’s tabs – just not enough juice! Only one story got my attention – only because it aroused my finely-tuned bullshit detector.

Sunday World claims that Bonang – Live (SABC1) co-presenter and Legit brand ambassador – pulled major divatude by refusing to visit Vosloorus as part of her job as an ambassador for the Gauteng Youth Commission’s Back-To-School campaign.

All the so-called dirt was provided by a ‘reliable [obviously anonymous] source’.

The source says Matheba’s manager told GYC that she had to be picked up as she wasn’t going to drive to “some township” all by herself.
The source says she was given an alternative – to meet another group in downtown Jozi.
‘She refused and demanded to be picked up at her residence in Auckland Park. She was immediately dropped as an ambassador,’ says our source.
The source reveals that Matheba’s boyfriend Slikour has been begging the organisers to take her back.
Our source says Matheba has lost loads of money.

Bonang’s side of the story?

‘How can I be scared of going to the township?’ she asks. ‘I was called on Wednesday night and in the morning, but I could not get directions. There was a misunderstanding in this whole thing. It has nothing to do with attitude. You can ask my management.’

Lebo Mothibe (aka Shugasmakx) of Buttabing Entertainment, defended Bonang:

‘We cannot let our client drive in the early hours of the morning alone. She is young and a well-known woman. Something could have happened to her. Bonang goes anywhere in South Africa. She was eager to be a part of the GYC campaign.’

I don’t personally know Bonang, but her version -as opposed to the ‘reliable source’ – is helluva more plausable. She’s recently admitted in True Love (March 2009, p 22) that she went through the ‘oh so cool’ phase and she’s over it:

It is difficult to remain the same person. I battled with this for months, as people would say: “Shuwii, Bonang o chenchitse” (Bonang, you have changed). I did go through a stage thinking that because I presented the show I was oh so cool, but I realised that people were detaching themselves from me. I went to my mom and she said: “Bonang, rechannel; go back to the people who love you; fix your relationships and people will be willing to forgive you because you have made your mistakes”

This story really stinks. Do better, Sunday World.

Pic via.

Yoh yoh yoh

At Clive Davis' party, hours before the 'incident'

If you didn’t know, now you know:
RnB singer – and former Generations Exasperations cameo actor – Chris Brown was arrested yesterday (Sunday) on domestic violence charges. Damn. And the victim is rumoured to be none other than Miss Rihanna. I don’t have the strength to type all this craziness and speculation, you can read about it here and here.

Shame.

Surprising? No, not really.

The Game: crushing a child's dream.

When American rapper The Game decided to head over to ‘The Motherland’ last year and bless us with his banal inspirational brand of hip hop, he almost, almost made a little boy’s dream come true.

10-year-old Mbekezeli Ndlovu was called up on stage with The Game during his concert at the Standard Bank Arena and completely stole the show – he grabbed the mike and schooled his idol. The Game was clearly impressed and handed the boy his diamond-encrusted chain (apparently worth $2.5 million) and gave him the name Game Boy. He then offered to take GB over to the US to tour and record with him.

But. GB and his family are still waiting by the phone. Music Industry Online report that Game Boy is ‘upset and sad’ (you think?), but his father is staying positive, saying: ‘It is still quiet but it is promising.’ (really?).

Call me a cynic (because that’s what I am), but I honestly saw this coming. The Game is beholden to whoever the hell he’s beholden to. He’s not really checking to play mentor. It’s a damn shame, though, because he’s doing his brand some serious damage. I mean, not even a courtesy call to check how he’s doing? Tsk tsk tsk. Not a good look.

the return of the real wabora…

That’s right. Mzansi Fo Sho brought The Real Goboza back to our screens for season 2. There have been some changes to the format – new set, new presenters (Kuli and Siya have replaced Dineo and Trevor), it’s been shrunk by 30 minutes and the first episode was pre-recorded and not live.

Last season was a mixed bag for me – the concept is great, but the format was questionable. Not a week went by without some sort of glitch. Trevor outshone Dineo. The gossip was re-hashed Sunday paper garbage. They seemed to be Khanyi Mbau’s personal PR vehicle. Ja, you get the gist of it.

So, I was kind of sceptical about season 2. But given all the changes that had been implemented, I thought, let me give it a lookey-see. Hayi, why do I enjoy wasting my time? Surely there are better ways to entertain myself? The content was completely stale … Jozi’s a big place, surely some gossip happens between Sunday and Wednesday? The only new thing was the extremely funny/ frustrated/ foul-mouthed Somizi Mhlongo proclaiming that he was done providing the tabs with fodder (sure, Madam Gigi. I’ll have to see it to believe it).

Siya imported some of his Street Journal content (Smirnoff competition with Akhona) and interviewed Duran Duran (good looking out, but does it really gel with the RGB audience?).

And then there was Khanyi. And her newest aspiration to be a designer … I remember when I was a kid and had a new ‘profession’ every day of the year: ‘I want to be a nurse!’ ‘I want to be a spy!’ ‘I want to be a teacher!’. Hayi, Khanyi, you need a mentor and some introspection – away from your inflated, er, ego. Take some time and figure yourself out. You have a long life and you need to slow down. I don’t want to have you on my talk show 10 years from now during a ‘What ever happened to …?’ segment.

Because I’m a forgiving person, I’ve decided to give this show 3 chances. This was strike 1 for sho.