TokisoM Writes

Beauty pageants remain a stepping stone for many young women. Rethabile Kolobe, from the Vaal, has ambition to make the most of this platform and she is on a roll starting with her current crown as Miss Vaal 2013. Rethabile is a second year Law student at North West University (Vaal Campus). She is an example to her peers that hard work and dedication help make your dreams come true. From a young age, Rethabile has always been interested in pageants. "It has always been a dream for me do take part in such a pageant and even bigger," said Rethabile. The courage to enter pageants comes with preparation and Rethabile groomed herself until she felt she was ready to enter this very competitive environment. "The journey to Miss Vaal was also accompanied by much preparation in the sense that my mind and my body had to be in the right place. I try to be well rounded; read and keep up with current affair." Winning Miss Vaal is not the end but the ...

“It takes one worm to destroy an apple” – Johnny [Tony Kgoroge] the travelling sales man. The Cast Nongogo, written by Athol Fugard, directed by James Ngcobo – is on at the Market Theatre for a limited season. Set in the 1950s in Queenie’s Shebeen – it is a remarkable tale of love that almost was. Queenie [Masasa Mbangeni] accepted Johnny with his not so pleasant history and a wallet full of dreams – nice way of saying he didn't have money. She opened her home (Shebeen at night), heart and supported his dreams. But when he finds out what she is a reformed hooker – he is disgusted.  What matters most; your mistakes or the person you are trying to be? We all have followed different paths to get to our current positions – some paths were not paved in good decisions – but we live. Why would someone then treat you like a leper because of your history? It’s weird this relationship thing – as in Queenie’s case. It is evident that Blackie [Desmond Dube] loves her ...

We get so caught in pleasing people we deny ourselves the pleasure of pleasing ourselves first! Yes! The pleasure!  I've recently rediscovered myself after spending too much time walking on egg-shells making sure everybody else is happy around me. It is so exhausting!  I was always tired. But now, it's all me! Maybe it's growing up but I'm loving this phase. I feel no need to walk on egg shells for the others. Those that love me - will love me, flaws and all.  I'm learning and unlearning so many things right now. I'm changing my mind and rethinking old teachings. I feel like I'm meeting myself all over again.  I've taken up yoga, pilates and started road running again. My career is going through changes. I'm listening to new music and playing old favourites. I'm reconnecting with friends and making new friends. And all this at a pace I'm loving. No rush. No competition.  I got nothing to prove. I have nothing to explain. ...

It’s been 27-years since one of the giants of South African theatre, Mbongeni Ngema, got on stage –as an actor. For an intense one-hour thirty minutes Ngema uses the beauty and power of story-telling to take us back in time when Zulu warriors, Impi, were a force to be reckoned with. He tells the audience about the legendary Shaka Zulu – from when he was a little boy, until he was a grown man to be assassinated; betrayed by his brothers and bodyguard. It is a well recorded history that Shaka Zulu built a powerful empire and this great African nation has tried to keep afloat within the melting pot of globalisation. The most intriguing part of the story is the main attraction; The Great Battle of Isandlwana (1879) – the greatest victory over the Colonial forces on African Soil. The strategy behind this great battle is intriguing and Ngema really gets the imagination rolling as he describes in great detail how it all happened.   But to bring it closer to home – I was ...

How much time do you spend knocking another person’s hustle? And I use the term hustle as meaning their drive and push to reach their desired goal.  Many of us, I’d hope, wake up with a goal in mind – we work towards something bigger than the daily grind. Some of us do it the conventional way of a regular nine to five, others have more than one job and others are pushing their God given talents to do what makes them happy.  We don’t have the same method, we don’t share the same goals and chances are what is “right” and “proper” to you won’t be the same for the next person. How much time do you spend knocking another person’s hustle?  Is your constant banter pointing out that someone is fake, unrealistic, “they’ll fall soon” or whatever it is you think proves your argument – making a difference in the world?  Unless you are whistle-blowing illegal activities or saving someone you love from a con-artist; what purpose does you negativity se...

Powerful Woman “Why is it that the men are always forgiven and the women aren't” – asked a disheartened Toni Braxton in her song, Talking in His Sleep . That’s the question I asked myself when I finished reading Winnie Mandela A Life by Anné Mariè du Preez Bezdrob . Winnie Mandela’s life story is the perfect example that you can swallow barb wire for your man but as soon as he feels you don’t fit in the greater scheme of things – you are out. You are lucky if you get a thank you. Winnie Mandela gave up so much for this nation and for her husband but when he got out of prison – what did he do… If she could endure all the police brutality, being banished to an out of reach town in the Free State, prison and raising their children on a shoe-string budget – he could have made it work. Winnie and Nelson Mandela would've been the greatest love story ever – just imagine if they were still together. “I had so little time to love him, and that love has survived al...

Great Book Che Guevara was powerful, charming, knowledgeable and a fighter, mentally and physically. TheStory of Che Guevara is a well written book about one of history’s greatest game-changers. The author, Lucia Alvarez De Toledo , researched Guevara’s life for fifteen years – before she wrote this biography. Her writing credentials include her translated and edited work of Guevara’s father’s memoir of his son, The Young Che , as well as Che’s own Bolivian Diary , and she translated Travelling with Che Guevara by AlbertoGranado .  Toledo paints Guevara as charming, smart and charismatic. It’s hard not to fall in love with Che once you reach the end of his thrilling life. Che’s story is told from when he was born on 14 June 1928 until his death on 9 October 1967. Famous for his role in the Cuban Revolution it is fascinating to learn that Che was not Cuban. Another interesting fact is that Che, as he is famously known, is a nick name he got from his comrades while ...