Siphokazi now has own TV show
JUST two years ago Siphokazi Mdlankomo was a humble domestic worker for a Cape Town family and now she is poised for television stardom.
Mdlankomo’s fortunes have taken a turn for the better since she came second in the cooking reality show MasterChef SA in a fairy tale that made international headlines.
From next month the 41-yearold hosts her own talk show, Let’s
Eat With Siphokazi, on Mzansi Magic.
She finally hung up her domestic worker’s overall last month to pursue a career in food and television. She has already been an ambassador for Pick ’n Pay and Royco. Plus she published her cook book, My Little Black Book of Recipes, last December.
“I get emotional looking back from where I come. It’s all been amazing. I never dreamt of having my own television show.
“When you’re a domestic worker you have no hope and people look at you like you don’t know anything. But I told myself that I won’t be a domestic worker for the rest of my life, that something would come up and now it feels good. I have no words. I cry all the time because I’m happy.
“I was just a domestic worker. I didn’t study to do anything and look at me now… there are people with degrees and they are struggling to get to where they want to be. How do I explain that?” Mdlankomo’s Let’s Eat With
Siphokazi takes her across the country as she does two of her favourite things, talking and cooking.
She meets inspirational women, cooks with them and talks about what makes them tick and how they conquered the odds, much like her own Cinderella story.
She said the show would focus on ordinary women and a few
“I cry all the time because I’m happy.
celebrities as guests.
They have already shot three of the 13 episodes of the maiden season.
“It’s been hectic, it’s one hell of a thing, but I’m loving it. It’s what I want to do for the rest of my life, but it’s not easy and it takes long hours and I guess if you want a great product you will have to work hard. They let me be me, there is no one writing a script for me.”
Mdlankomo said she quit her domestic job to pursue her dream, but insisted that she would always be part of the family.
“I held on for so long. You need to be careful of what you do and not rush. I couldn’t leave my job after MasterChef and then have nothing to do, but now I’m stepping out on my own.”
Mdlankomo, who spoke from Johannesburg, said she was in the city for the show otherwise she would never live here.
“I don’t like Joburg, everything is fast here and I’m not a fast person, not slow either. I’m inbetween.”
Mdlankomo said she hoped to open her own cooking school to teach basic skills.
“There are people out there with no clue when it comes to cooking because I know I have been there, I have an idea of how it feels and it would be great to share some knowledge with them.