Mati making aspirational television
SININI Mati picked up the baton from producer Archie Tigere when the
Housewives of Joburg franchise flopped and the licence expired.
As the executive producer and MD of Bravoplex Media she brings a wealth of experience in television. She holds a masters degree in filmmaking from London Film School. She started her career in 2004 when she returned from England and worked on Muvhango as a production assistant.
She held various positions such as production manager, line manager, line producer, producer, as well as mass cast manager in projects such as Mponeng, Skwizas, Spirit of Togetherness: The making of Lion King and the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 World Cup.
Her show, Life With Thami, earned her an SA Film and TV Awards trophy for best talk show. She is currently shooting
Ke Ba Boleletse and The Honchos for SABC3. For Divas of Joburg, she has kept the cast of the Housewives franchise – Puleng Mash-Spies, Sorisha Naidoo, Christie Swanepoel, Nazley Delport and Aimee Sadie – and added Stevie French.
The 13-episode reality show debuts on SABC3 on Monday at 9pm, and they are still shooting new episodes. “So far we haven’t had fist fights,” she laughs. “But I’m happy and proud of the cast. These are strong women, confident in who they are and there is that inevitable clash of ideas.
“This is not a show about women with no jobs or careers. They have the money, they work hard and they are glamorous and definitely not blessees,” Mati says.
“You will see Sorisha driven in a Rolls Royce, then a Bentley, then a G-Wagon
… They live this life, the one we aspire to live… Mati’s plan is to develop the show and take it to cities like Durban and Cape Town.
“Our main theme is empowerment. I wish that more women would be encouraged to work hard and blaze a trail in their own right, inspired by these hard working women,” she says. –