Author: Dumani Moyo

Dismantling the plight of local female artists

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“It is very difficult for female artists to be recognized in our community,” said Rosy Mashale, popularly known as Roxxy. “It has frustrated a lot of talented girls.”

The community does not take female musicians seriously, she added. “I think people still have that mentality of taking men to be superior to women. But I believe we can all make it in the music industry.”

Roxxy is an upcoming RnB and Electro artist based in Cosmo City. The 19- year-old recently partnered with Lesego Mvumba (Troxy), another female artist, to release a single ‘Keep on dreaming’.  The duo explained the challenges they face behind the scenes.

“When you get into a studio,” Roxxy said, “you always find that the producer is male. In most cases female artists do not have enough funds to record. Eventually you find yourself in a tight situation whereby you are being asked to do favors for the producers.”

Dodgy things happening behind the scenes have killed female artists’ passion for their music, Troxy said.

“I think the industry is sometimes against us,” she said. “Female artists are always expected to show off their skin in order to attract followers, and that is not a good thing. We do not want to be used like that in this male dominated industry. Our aim is to give hope to all the ladies out there.”

The duo said they work together with a shared commitment to promote female empowerment through music.  Their song gives hope to discouraged girls in the community and it has been aired on local radio stations.

“The main aim of the song is to show that ladies can also succeed in music, hence ‘keep on dreaming’,” said Troxy.

“We are happy that people are responding very well to our song, and we are looking forward to shooting a music video soon,” Roxxy concluded.

An awareness campaign for scholar transporters

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“It is always dangerous to ferry school children if you are not a registered transporter,” said Bongani Masibi the chairman of Siyabuselela Learner Transport Association. He spoke during the scholar transporters’ awareness campaign held on May 30 at Cosmo Junction.

The campaign encouraged scholar transporters to join transporter associations to work in a good environment to keep school children safe, according to Masibi. He said scholars’ injuries are likely to be more serious if they are in an accident with an overcrowded transporter.

“Most of the unregistered scholar transporters are only after money,” Masibi said. “They have a tendency of overloading, which is not safe for children. They forget the importance of scholars’ lives.”

As an association, Masibi said, they do not condone the overloading of scholars.

 “This usually results to learners being dropped off at school late. However, on this awareness campaign, we encouraged transporters to use proper cars when ferrying learners.”The Department of Transport is now issuing permits for scholar transporters, Masibi added, and individuals who do not operate under a transporter association do not qualify to get permits.

According to the National Land Transport Act Amendment of Section 1 of Act 5 of 2009, “transporter association” means a group of operators formed not for gain, whose object is to promote the interest of its members and whose funds are to be applied in promoting those interests.

It is very important for scholar transporters to be reminded about how they should operate in the community, said Solomon Silomo, the chairperson of Gauteng Northern Cluster Committee.

“This is our first time to have an awareness campaign,” he said, “but we will continue having such campaigns so that we can promote safety. Generally people do not know how to operate as scholar transporters as required by the government.”

Silomo said they want to encourage community members to avoid using unregistered transporters.

People who want to operate as registered transporters can contact Siyabuselela Learner Transport Association on 011 038 1276

Massive crowd at BGYA’s seventh and final Education For All campaign

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Hundreds of people turned out at Cosmo City’s Multipurpose Centre on 7 June 2019 when Boys and Girls Youth Africa (BGYA) hosted its seventh and last annual Education For All event.

Filling Multipurpose hall to its maximum capacity, matric students, teachers, pastors and tertiary graduates attended the event alongside community members.

BGYA is a Non-Profit Organisation which aims to educate young people with skills and knowledge.

Speaking during the occasion, BGYA president Emma Matlhola said the organisation had planned to take the educational campaign to other communities.

“Everyone deserves to be educated,” she said. “We had been focusing on empowering Cosmo City through our education for all campaign for the past seven years. We have impacted a lot of young children, and now we want to focus on other communities. The campaign has already been initiated in North West.”

Through the campaign, Matlhola said, they want to encourage the young people to celebrate the youth month in a proper way.

“The youth of 1976 fought for the education that we enjoy now,” she said. “So it is very important to emphasize more on education to the youth when celebrating the youth month (June). Most young people celebrate the youth month in taverns, which is not a good thing. It is for this reason that we brought some intellectuals from North West University to inspire the young ones especially the matriculants.”

Mathola said despite hosting the last event in Cosmo City, her organisation will still work hard to bring change in the community.

“In Cosmo City, we have seen a lot of lives changing under the influence of BGYA,” Mathola said. “Domestic workers have been changed to graduates, and we want to continue bringing positive change in this community. I would like to thank all the community stakeholders who have been so supportive to us.”

Intellectual graduates said the youth should be more encouraged to focus on education.

“They are our future leaders,” said Dr Garutsa. “It is very important to put their educational needs first. I am very happy to be involved in such educational campaign.”

Education for all initiative plays a crucial role in keeping the youth off the streets, said Doctor Maseng of North West University.

Meet the rising star, Sthembiso Mkhize

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SABC 1’s Uzalo actor Sithembiso Mkhize is one of the rising stars, and he believes acting is his calling as he moves up the ladder in the entertainment Industry.

Sithembiso is currently acting on Uzalo as Mangcobo’s lawyer. He told the Chronicle that he has learnt a lot in the entertainment industry.

Born on 22 February in 1992 at KZN Nqutu, he went to Mgazi Secondary School before studying Electrical Engineering at Mthashana College.   

In an interview, he said that studying engineering was not part of his career plan because he wanted to focus more on acting.

“I could not continue to work as an Electrical Engineer because I realised that acting is my calling,” he said. “I like to experience new things outside entertainment. I started acting in local dramas at a very young age. Being an engineer was one of the challenges I experienced.”

 He has featured in other TV productions including The River, Gold Diggers, Now or Never, Fire and Desire, and Unhappy Birthday. 

 “Having started as a model,” he said, I decided to venture into acting. I am now attending at DNA Academy in Johannesburg Theatre to sharpen my acting skills.”

He said he is currently involved in a local movie shooting. “We are shooting some movies, which I cannot tell you about now,” he said. “Of course there are episode where you will see me again on The River and obviously Uzalo, but I do not want to talk too much about that as of now.”

He added working hard has helped him grow in the media industry. “This industry has taught me a lot,” Sthembiso said, “and I discovered that it is very important to grab whatever opportunity that comes on your way as long as it is in line with your passion. It is also crucial to put a lot of effort in order to make progress, and remember to love yourself before loving something else. ”

In the acting industry, Sthembiso said, some huge challenges include disappointments during auditioning for TV roles. Apart from being an actor, Sthe also runs his own company called Gongo Cleaning Service, Which currently operates in Johannesburg. He said his company was named after his boyhood nick name ‘Gongo’. He is also a music artist specializing on hip-hop and New Age Kwaito.

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