African polo day a hot dollop of chukka lekker
● With SA now ranked eighth on the world polo ladder, it looks like the sport is gaining more local interest. With that in mind I made my way to the Inanda Club in Sandton last Sunday to check out this year’s Cell C Inanda Africa Cup polo tournament.
The day was the culmination of three days of chukkas, but I must admit that I spent more time socialising in the stands and drinking prosecco than paying attention to the action on the field.
Someone else showing little interest in the activities on the grass is entertainer Refilwe Modiselle, dressed in line with the day’s “Africa Beats” theme.
“I’m more interested in the owners of the horses, not the players who ride them,” is her cheeky explanation.
Meanwhile, media personality Kojo Baffoe takes the opportunity to school us on the draw of rolled bundles of tobacco leaves at a stand promoting cigar & champagne lounge Pedro Portia.
In walks the day’s host, Lalla Hirayama, who has turned up in a striking African wax print dress and brought along her own “stallion”, boyfriend Kent Henderson.
Next I congratulate IT mogul Vivien Natasen and his wife, Carly, who, eight years into their marriage, are having a baby. “It’s a boy,” announces sevenmonths-pregnant Carly.
Up comes entertainment blogger Phil Mphela to say hello, but with it being two days before he is embroiled in a twar (that’s a Twitter war of words, in case you were wondering) with Bonang Matheba, I don’t have the foresight to ask him what happened in Sun City in 2012.
What were we served for lunch? An African-style buffet featuring peri-peri chicken livers with mealie bread, Ghanaian chicken stew, jollof rice, bobotie and hot smoked salmon, which pleases my tablemate, Nozuko Mbalula, who jokes she might get audited for appearing in this column too often.
And the match?
Congrats to the South African side, Verdant Capital, which defeated Titan Law from Zimbabwe. The STL Nigeria team came third.