Category: Entertainment

Our team had an interview with one of the successful authors based in Cosmo City, Rudolf Isaac Monyela.

Monyela is an award winning poet, author and publisher. He is from Santeng Village (Ga Sekororo) Tzaneen, Limpopo Province, the Province Peace (Eden of Africa). He is a holder of many academic certificates including Entrepreneurship & New Venture Creation NQF L 7(Degree) from University of Witwatersrand.  He also founded MANYATJIE.I.ACADEMY (MIA), which publishes books and offers creative writing. He has mentored a lot of people in the arts industry including poets Xolani Ntuli and Lutendo Mugagadeli “Venda Boy Poet.”

Enjoy the transcript of the interview below:

As an author how do you inspire children to be creative writers?

Isaac Monyela-Through the seminars, I encourage people to discover and identify talents and skills in children and nurture them to the right direction. I will also want to encourage the youth not to ignore the talents especially in creative writing

How important is creative writing in the community?

Isaac Monyela-  it’s very paramount in order to change previous thinking system to forge ahead in business and entrepreneurial philosophy. Most musical artists including Mzwakhe Mbuli and Rebecca Malope achieved their success using talents which fall under creative writing and entertainment industry. Learners need to be capacitated in creative writing and study journalism, literature, radio and TV presenting, PR, communications, script writing, books writing, music writing.

What sort of challenges you were faced with as an author?

Isaac Monyela- Marketing is one of the biggest challenges that self-publishing authors face, as in most cases we don’t have adequate resources like the traditional publishers to market, promote, launch, distribute them to book stores, that value chain is tough. Sometimes close friends do not support your work and efforts due to jealousy.

Tell us about career sessions you hosted in various schools

Isaac Monyela- I did public speaking, poetry sessions and career expo in various schools in Joburg North including Blue Eagle High, Cosmo City Secondary 1, Cosmo Primary and Sgodiphola High to name a few since 2007 to date. I also give the distinction of academic learners and non -academic learners as the education system is designed for learners who are capable in school curriculum not in other areas like skills and talents.  The learners who are not good in curriculum must be channelled in skills and talents areas, talents identification is need in our schools to forge even entrepreneurial skills to create jobs not to be dependent society. I produced more than 106 learners who graduated in various institutions like Wits, UJ, UP,UL, Univen, Unisa, Wescol etc, some are directors, managers, PR specialists, Social Workers, Admins , Nutrition’s etc.

 What do you do to change the community?

Isaac Monyela- We run various projects that help to upskills and invest in the communities but we need support in this regard. The projects like: Life/ Relationship Coaching, Career Advisory Session, Book Publishing, Events Planning, Personal Branding/ Development, leadership & Management Consulting. The community must support their own community members and businesses that will later support and invest in the same communities when their projects succeed.

“Love is a wonderful, beautiful thing, and is not as complex as we view it,” said Ayanda Khumalo, talking about her new single hit titled ‘Easy.’

Khumalo wants to convey a message of hope and love through her song, she said.

“It's a song about love that does not try hard--a relationship that doesn't feel forced, with that person who has captured your heart and accepts you as you are,” she said. “Hence I decided to name the song Easy.”

The upbeat pop single, written by Londi Gin and produced by VeeBeats Exclusive under Mino More Entertainment, evokes a bright, summery feel with vibrant soft synths.

“My source of inspiration is love and life,” she said.” I also want to give a shout out to Mino More Entertainment for producing what really suits me. I never expected such quality in a township community.”

 Khumalo was born and raised in Johannesburg to a musical and theatrical dynasty. Her grandfather, Prof Khabi Mngoma, gave her her first music lessons, teaching her music theory, violin and voice. Her parents, Sibongile and Siphiwe Khumalo are well known music and theatre practitioners.

“I grew up in the theatre space, and that has shown me a great appreciation for life. It has taught me to be creative. I am also aiming higher in the industry. Unfortunately, we cannot predict what we will be in the next five years. Look at the COVID-19 pandemic. No one saw it coming. However,  hope I impact a lot of people through music.”

“Music is powerful and it can help people relieve stress and anxiety,” said Team Hosi founder Thomas Mdunwazi Chauke popularly known as Hosi Yamina.   

Hosi Ya Mina is a passionate Tsonga traditional musician based in Itsoseng Informal Settlement (Eskom). He is known for his diverse Tsonga lyrical tunes, ranging from traditional music to the modern Amapiano genre.

“The aim is to keep my culture alive,” he told the Chronicle. “I mainly focus on creating music that has a positive impact on people. I believe that music is a powerful tool to tackle cultural issues in the communities.”

Hosi Ya Mina ventured into music industry at a young age, and started recording in2010. Out of his love for cultural music, he founded Team Hosi music group in October 2020. The group consists of Hosi Yamina Chauke, Given Patrick Mathwasa, Enoch Khosa, Puleng Funeka and Lesego Funeka.

“I like it when we work as a team,” he said. “We really appreciate the love and support that we get from the people. We will continue doing our best to entertain people while we grow our fan base.”

Team Hosi is currently working with DM Creationz on a music video for their single titled Tshwapu. The music video, which is likely to be released on month end of May, is being shot in different areas including Cosmo City and Northgate.

“We are working on the last scenes of the music Video,” said Hosi Ya Mina. “We are also busy working on producing other songs of Amapiano and Traditional music genres. We will release something interesting in September during the heritage month.”