A princess who has graduated to queen
● The black cushions on the velvet couch Yvonne Chaka Chaka and I are sitting on issue an embroidered injunction to “manifest”. If this sort of thing was popular in the 1980s when Yvonne was a young woman intent on doing just that, I would argue that it had clearly worked.
She manifested her destiny and she did it without the cushions. Now she has the demeanour of a woman who has arrived. Confident, stately, wearing a turban and a technicolour dream dress worthy of a stage — or at the very least the elaborate black and gilt selfie installation where the clientele of the popular Perere restaurant in the Acsiopolis district at @Sandton-Hotel can do some manifesting of their own.
Yvonne obliges our photographer with a few practised poses and instantly transforms into a stagier version of her naturally compelling presence. Here she is — the Princess of Africa.
Over many delicious Mediterranean-inflected traditional African dishes — goat stew, mogodu, cow heels and a very moreish samp — Yvonne gives me the rundown.
Last week she released a track she recorded with Oliver Mtukudzi and Hugh Masekela in 2017. The song seems particularly relevant to our moment. It’s like a clarion call to higher values and our better selves — Murume Mukuru (Tapera) .
“It means old man act your age — we are finished with all these shenanigans. We need to go back to the drawing board and do the right things.”
Is anyone going to listen? She laughs warily and rapidly shuts down any suggestion of running for office. “I lead in my own space where I know what I am doing.”
Anyway she is far too busy. The Covid hiatus was a period of intense productivity for her.
“It treated me very well. I was able to sit and think and systematically do everything that I wanted to do. I came up with my hair products for natural hair which are now being distributed at Shoprite Checkers.”
She has ventured into manufacturing. Her first offering is a dinner service line which is being sold at Woolworths. She proudly shows me the designs and the sleek packaging. And she launched a radio station, WOMan Radio, with a full line-up of young women she is mentoring and giving voice to.
“We have 24 presenters. Our youngest is 15. She does a show called #Youth-ish .Iam one of the oldest presenters, on a Thursday. The biggest downfall of online radio is the cost of data. #Datamustfall, the government must pursue that policy. Our radio station talks about everything. We have a transgender presenter, we talk about GBV and we say to men, come to the party.”
Does she feel pressure as a public figure? “Everybody’s here for a reason. And nothing pressurises me. For me, I’m not a public figure. I’m just a mother to my four sons, a wife for my husband. I do what I can to the best of my ability and I make mistakes like everybody. It took me five years of trying and failing to launch my hair product. You remember I had dreads. But I don’t despair. I ask, what makes me happy? When I don’t know, I want to always ask why. I’ve gone back to school because I think there are those who know better than me. And they can impart their knowledge to me.”
She tells me she is studying business management. “I sit on a lot of boards, and I want to understand what my fiduciary duties are. I don’t just want to be a rubber stamp. I am running a business.”
I ask the secret to her successful partnership with her husband of 33 years. “My husband left me to be who I am — he did not want to change me. It’s about tolerance and respect.”
These are the values she taught her sons. She also mentions hand washing, which I agree is very practical. “I am not telling them to rush to get married,” she laughs. “Everyone is on their own path.”
What is she most proud of? “The Backing Vocalists and Session Musician Awards. Please come in February at the Soweto Theatre. From a very young age I realised you cannot make it alone. I came up with these awards to acknowledge peoples’ ability and recognise them. My mother taught me to depend on myself, but for me success is when you take people with you.”
I think the Princess of Africa may have graduated to Queen.