My crème de la crème
● Take South Africa’s most successful beauty queen, the nation’s No 1 patriot and an artist whose unique portraits hang in the homes of luminaries including Giorgio Armani and Annie Lennox.
Add a glamorous model, a disc-spinning It girl and a comedian on the rise. Then there’s the songstress who started a girl movement long before #MeToo, the country’s top couturier and one of the land’s most stylish businesswomen — these, dear readers, are my pick for 2018’s ultimate A-Listers.
I am often perplexed at the choices made by organisers when inviting celebs to their events (please, can we leave Instagram posers with no real jobs and pantyless redcarpet hoggers in 2017), but this is a roll call of that rare social breed: individuals who have not only carved out career success but are charming (never smug) and stylish without looking like a fashion plate.
I invited this select group of bold-typeface names to Orient, that swish Melrose Arch Johannesburg eatery, on Thursday afternoon to pick up chopsticks and chat over a languid and entertaining lunch.
Straight off a plane from Cape Town, the first to arrive was that designer whose dresses cost more than RDP houses, Gavin Rajah. Glamour came in the svelte shape of Nerina Labuschagne, the blonde model who has appeared in countless local and international campaigns.
Nerina points out to Gav that her dress matches the shade of his scarf — and she also has something in common with my next guest, comedian Loyiso Madinga, who has just landed a coveted spot on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
“We worked together at the same ad agency a few years ago,” she explains, hugging the diminutive funnyman.
As we make our way downstairs to sip champers, we are joined by that artist with an impressive client list, Nelson Makamo, who tells me he’s eating and sleeping his art these days as he prepares for his biggest overseas exhibition to date, at New York’s Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts.
Last of the A-List guys to turn up is Nerina’s other half: the man I call South Africa’s top patriot, Colin Coleman, the MD of Goldman Sachs South Africa and a board member of Business Leadership South Africa, who is a big drum-beater in international investment circles.
But what of the rest of the gals?
Chic in a monotone ensemble is A-List fixture Basetsana Kumalo while her older sister, Johanna Mukoki, is that business force to be reckoned with — last year she picked up two impressive awards. And Lerato Kganyago, the Metro FM DJ who also co-hosts SABC1’s Live Amp when she is not gigging across the country, is my pick for 2018’s No 1 It girl.
To round off this coveted list, someone to woo us in dulcet tones — LeAnne Dlamini, who not only sings like an angel but happens to be one of the sweetest people in the industry, and whose End Girl Hate campaign has become a global movement.
Thank you, Orient, for pulling out all the stops with a four-course tasting menu inspired by the elements. Think melt-inthe-mouth salmon and tuna tartare cigars, ginger prawns and lamb gyoza (a spicy Japanese dim sum), char-grilled skewers, sweet potato croquettes, piquant baked aubergines and a decadent trio of desserts.
Yummy food and equally yummy company!
Here’s my A-List for 2018: The coveted artist
— Cited as one of the world’s top 100 contemporary artists, Limpopo-born Nelson Makamo is known for candidly capturing the innocence of children in fresh and vibrant brushstrokes.
Singing activist — LeAnne Dlamini is not only a serial winner at the South African Music Awards, long before #MeToo, she started #EndGirlHate.
Comedy upstart — Loyiso Madinga is the name set to be on everyone’s lips this year, after he landed a coveted spot on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
The perfumed poweress — South Africa’s most successful beauty queen, Basetsana Kumalo is not just a pretty face — she is the brains behind 10 TV productions, sits on various boards and does charity work.
Our No 1 patriot — Colin Coleman, who famously helped persuade the ANC and President Jacob Zuma to reappoint Pravin Gordhan after Nenegate. He’s the man hyping Brand South Africa internationally.
The glamour gal — Nerina Labuschagne, famed for her similarity to Charlize Theron, has worked on hundreds of local and international campaigns and is Coleman’s better half — the couple have a four-year-old son, Kyle.
The IT girl — Lerato Kganyago has smoothly slipped into Bonang Matheba’s shoes at SABC 1’s Live Amp and Metro FM while carving out a career as the most-booked female DJ in the country. No small feat for the former airline stewardess.
The enfant terrible couturier — Unicef ambassador Gavin Rajah is known in equal parts for his ultra-glamourous dresses and for his outspokenness. He also sits on the Harvard University advisory board for Africa.
Business jet-setter — Johanna Mukoki might be better known as Bassie’s elder sister but she has proved to be a business force, scooping two coveted awards last year thanks to the success of the travel management company she co-founded in 1997. Today it employs more than 800 people worldwide.