Celebs outfingered in beading by nifty gogos

SOUTH African celebrities were outclassed by the nimble fingers of local gogos yesterday at the second annual Relate Bracelets Bead-Off, ahead of Mandela Day this weekend.

The 67-minute bead-off at the V&AWaterfront, in Cape Town, aims to raise awareness and honour South Africa’s senior citizens.

Relate Bracelets supports organisations such as Ikamva Labantu, Reach for a Dream, Grassroots Soccer, The Amy Biehl Foundation, Operation Smile, the Endangered Wildlife Trust and Goodbye Malaria.

On the celeb team which faced off with a group of gogos were former Miss South Africa Nicole Flint, soccer star Matthew Booth, radio presenters Bailey Schneider and Socrates Georgiades or DJ Sox, local hip hop artist Jitsvinger, Freshlyground violinist Kyla Rose Smith and motivational speaker Mpumi Nobiva.

Not long after the event began, the gogos broke into song and pulled away from the struggling celebs.

They eventually managed a thread length of 7.4m, beating the celebs by more than a metre.

Booth said: “A lot of them (gogos) are having to play parents for the second time.

“So this is an initiative which supplements their pension. These (bracelets) are all for non-profit, they go straight to the gogos and various causes.

“I believe the elderly are not revered enough, and certainly this has got to change.”

Flint, who is an ambassador for Goodbye Malaria, admitted that although the celebs had practised their beading skills, they were no match for the experienced gogos.

“What is 67 minutes in a year? He (Mandela) did something good every day of his life, so I think 67 minutes, to ask someone to take that out of their busy schedules, is nothing compared to what he has taught us as a nation. We can come together doing things like this,” she said.

Relate chief executive Neil Robinson said 350 elderly people from areas such as Khayelitsha, Gugulethu and Kuils River were part of the initiative, and had beaded just under 2million bracelets and raised almost R30 million.

“We’re here today to honour Madiba’s legacy. He believed the elderly play a large and productive role in society,” he said.

“Our gogos are a massive part of what Relate does.”

Phumla Ndaba, co-ordinator of the gogos, said the initiative made a difference.