FOOTBALLER Mthokozisi Mdu Yende (32) may be a better looker than he is a football player and he may just get paid for his good looks.
He is one of five local male celebrities who are in the running to be ambassadors 2016.
Yende is up against other stud muffins including actors Izak Davel, Vuyo Dabula, and presenters Cyprian Ndlovu and Jonathan Boynton Lee.
One of these men will be crowned the ultimate Mzansi s sexiest man next month.
Previous winners are model and actor Maps Maponyane who was crowned in 2014 and actor Lehasa Moloi who took it last year.
The prize includes a luxury Jeep car and cash.
Yende heard of the campaign through his good friend and publicist Simphiwe Majola.
The footie knows he is a good looking man. He tells me he aspires to be a model if all else fails. He has a strict diet but admits he can never stay away from his meats.
You need to keep fit as a soccer player. I intend on playing longer than most of my peers because your retirement age in football is determined by how fit you are and how much you have invested in your body,” he says.
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His father owned a football team in his township of birth Tembisa, where he grew up. He says this meant his future was always going to be in the world of soccer.
I am the first born of my late parents, and, as such, I always looked up to my dad and aspired to play for his football club Leeds United,” he says.
The midfielder was set to make his parents smile with pride but his mother died a year before he could sign his first professional contract in 2006, and his father died the following year.
Yende is a Sports Science graduate from the University of Johannesburg where he played for their team.
His football career started at Benoni Premier United which prepared him for the Premier Soccer League teams such as Kaizer Chiefs, Maritzburg United, Free State Stars and recently Moroka Swallows.
He is currently not tied to any team, but he says he is in talks with a big PSL team.
He maintains he is not ready for marriage. Fellow contestant Cyprian Ndlovu has been campaigning hard and giving away dates to lucky ladies who vote for him.
I have been campaigning a lot and trying to get the word out. On Valentine s Day I took a special girl out who has been sending me screen grabs and voting for me,” Cyprian said. DREAMS are big and the hustle is on in the ghetto for rising South African producer and DJ Mizz.
Hailing from Khayelitsha, Cape Town, the beat maker behind some popular Mzansi hit singles is stamping his brand all over our townships. Having coproduced by DJ Merlon, feat Mondli Ngcobo, the collaborative house music effort received a Metro FM Music Award nomination for Best Hit Single last year.
DJ Mizz, real name Sanele Wili, also managed to concoct another chart topper with Rabs Vhafuwi called
was inspired by my old instrumental called that I did in 2011. Merlon and Mondli were freestyling on it for some time and they approached me to record vocals on top of that instrumental and that s how was born,” says the 24-year-old.
With a background in Afro, tribal, funk & house music, DJ Mizz communicates through his DJ sets mixing original productions with deep and Afro beats with a strong soulful vocal feel.
He opened the first ever Black Coffee Block party in Newtown in December, one of his highlights as Black Coffee is one of his biggest mentors. Wili believes the community is his driving force. It s the heart of the township that resonates within him and he takes pride in making music that brings joy and happiness not only to him but people as well.
I started music at the age of 14 being strongly influenced by the community where I live.
I feed off the vibes in the township as I m always surrounded by music.
I had a friend who was a DJ and we would mess around in production. As soon as I matriculated, I took it seriously as a career.”
Fast forward to 2016 and he s ready to drop his debut album
next month. The recently released single
features the sultry vocals of Bonj from the Cape Town Afro band, The City.
has already been climbing up the charts along with the music video currently play listed on Channel O, MTV Base and Trace.