Bonang Matheba’s amazing year
It’s all systems go in 2017 for Bonang Matheba: turning 30, a new reality TV show and a blossoming love-life!
HEARTBROKEN. That’s how Bonang Matheba described herself last month after news broke that she’d quit her popular show on Metro FM following disagreements with station bosses. But nothing keeps the showbiz queen down for too long. She still has so much going for her: there’s a new book in the pipeline, a reality TV show and, despite rumours to the contrary, her relationship with rapper AKA is still going strong.
“Things are amazing, so amazing with us,” she gushes. “It gets better and better.”
Dressed in a crisp white vest, tight blue skinny jeans, a gilet and a pair of towering Balenciaga heels, Bonang (29) looks utterly sensational as she meets us at her management team’s office in Fourways, Johannesburg.
She can’t hide her excitement about her new reality show, Being Bonang, which starts in July. People are in for a big surprise, she tells us – because she’s so active on Twitter fans assume she’s an open book, but there’s a side to her she never shares with the world.
“I’m a very private person. I keep pretty much to myself and there’s very little that people know about my personal life,” she says. “I think what people will be most shocked about is the fact that I’m so chilled and really, really funny.”
Bonang says TV producers have been knocking on her door for years begging her to shoot a reality show. Although she was keen she was determined to do it on her own terms. That’s why the series is being made by her own production com-
pany, Bonang Matheba Entertainment.
“I was strict about that. It had to happen that way because I wanted full control over what people are going to see.”
And in between planning the show and her travels as a Top Billing presenter she’s also managed to find time to write a book, From A To B: Invest In Your Sparkle.
“It really is a book about my career,” she explains. “It’s about the things that have taken me to Queen B and brand Bonang and Being Bonang. That’s what the book is about, lessons, hardships – it’s the complete opposite of a tell-all. I’m at a point in my life where I want to inspire and share the secrets of my success.”
AS A young girl growing up in Hillbrow, Johannesburg she dreamt of making it big as a TV presenter. And she’s done all that and more, from walking Tinseltown’s red carpets to presenting for the likes of Top Billing and E! Entertainment and being the face of brands such as Woolworths, Revlon, Ipanema and Courvoisier – there’s no stopping Bonang.
Yet although this year is her 13th in the entertainment industry, her success hardly came easy. She says it demanded a lot of hard work and sacrifice and she couldn’t have done it without the support of her mother, Charlotte Mokoena, stepdad, Joe, and father, Andrew Matheba.
She says her book is a tribute to her mother, who’s an astute businesswoman.
“I think my parents have played such a big role in helping me understand how to invest, save money, buy property, travel the world,” she says. “I come from a family of academics.”
But it’s not just her family – there’s a whole supporting cast behind brand Bonang, and fans will see them in action in her new reality show.
“You’re going to get to meet my team, my brand manager, my booking agents, my glam team, my lawyer, my party planner, my co-author, my parents, my best friend, my family. So it’s wonderful.”
Still, it can’t be easy being watched all the time and having people criticising her every move. Bonang says she’s learnt to accept it as just one of those things that goes with the territory.
“I’ve been doing this for 13 years. If those things still got to me I wouldn’t be Bonang; I wouldn’t be number one.
“You have to have a tough skin and if you don’t, then you aren’t meant for entertainment. It’s ruthless, it’s reckless, it’s filled with jealousy, hatred, bad blood, gossip, lies and all sorts of things. It wouldn’t be called entertainment, it wouldn’t be called the business of show if it didn’t have all of those elements and that’s what differentiates it from everything else.”
This was a lesson that was reinforced for her last month in the aftermath of her resignation from Metro FM’s popular The Front Row. Her abrupt departure after three years came as a big shock to fans.
“What happened at Metro FM is unfortunate and it’s something that was really painful for me. I went to work on Monday thinking I’ll be going to work on Tuesday and unfortunately it didn’t work out like that.”
But she doesn’t harbour any resentment. While she’s done with Metro FM, she’s confident that she’ll be back on radio at some point in the future.
“There’s no bad blood between me and the SABC. I’m still at Top Billing, things are still wonderful, so I’m in a happy place,” she says.
“What’s most important is how you come back from letting go of something that was so important to you. And it’s okay. I’ve got three incredible offers now; I just have to decide where I go. I’m lucky enough and privileged enough to have those kinds of advantages.” Little wonder she’s dubbed 2017 “the year of the Queen” – not only is it presenting her with all kinds of new career opportunities, she’ll also hit the big 3-0 in June. And of course she plans to celebrate in style.
“I’m spending quite a lot of money, almost R400 000, on my 30th birthday. It’s going to be a treat – you only turn 30 once. I’m not married, I don’t have children, all my dreams have come true. You know, I’ve amassed all this money, I might as well spend it on something. So I’m very excited about that,” she says.
And you can bet that Bonang will share a few morsels about the lavish celebrations on Twitter. She and her boyfriend know how to use social media to their advantage – like they did back in February when AKA tweeted that he and Bonang had broken up. It later turned out to be a ploy to promote his new album.
“I was in on all of it,” she says with a laugh. “It got us trending for days. What people didn’t understand is that knowing what you have at your disposal, but using it in such a way that it tricks people who think they’re destroying you, is the ultimate power.”
Spoken like a true queen.