by Thinus Ferreira
Bonang Matheba is back with South Africa's public broadcaster, ready to roll out a new semi-scripted reality show about her life on the SABC and South Africa's most-watched TV channel - including a 2-part documentary film about the pitfalls, dangers and fame that come with social media using her own life as the subject matter.
It will mark Queen B's return to SABC1 13 years after she became a presenter on Live AMP in 2007 that ended in 2012.
On Tuesday evening SABC1 is set to officially announce Bonang Matheba's official return to the channel and free-to-air television in South Africa with a new reality and a documentary.
This follows after three seasons of her Being Bonang reality show that was on MultiChoice and M-Net's 1Magic (Dstv 103) and Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) channels on DStv.
In the latter part of 2019 Bonang Matheba said that filming the third season of Being Bonang produced by Barleader "was one of the worst working experiences of my life! Glad it’s ending. Remind me to tell ya’ll why one day".
Last year Bonang Matheba, in an interview on SABC1's RGB show, teased that she is returning to SABC1 in 2020 for a new TV project.
As part of SABC1's latest slate of new local 202 winter programming, headlined by the multi-hyphenate star's new content, Bonang Matheba will dazzle viewers from Saturday 1 August at 18:00 with her new reality series, A Very Bonang Year.
The partly-scripted reality series A Very Bonang Year will kick off as cameras follow her on a trip to the United States as she "begins a new chapter in her career".
The series will offer viewers a fascinating look behind-the-scenes of Bonang's extremely busy life and how she hops from events to meetings to fitting in snaps for Instagram, while she's figuring out her next moves for 2020 in America.
A Very Bonang Year will show how she attends red carpet events, as well as interviews with movers and shakers in the entertainment industry, while she's exploring fascinating sites in both New York and Los Angeles - including "some shopping dahling!".
In a second project, also for SABC1, Bonang Matheba is using her own life as source material for a 2-part documentary film, Public Figure: Bonang Matheba, that will be broadcast on Mondays 24 and 31 August at 21:00.SIZZLE REEL. @Official_SABC1 shares this new sizzle reel about its upcoming programming on the channel coming to viewers in July and August 2020:#SABC1WeMove pic.twitter.com/FJSBQmi1RY— TVwithThinus (@TVwithThinus) July 14, 2020
Public Figure: Bonang Matheba investigates the psychological effects of social media, while exploring how big and successful social media influencers like Bonang herself deal with the fame, hate, money and obsession that comes with it.
UPDATE Tuesday 14 July 2020 - 17:27: SABC1 reissued its publicity material, changing the name of the show from A Year of Bonang, to A Very Bonang Year. The first version of this article originally carried the name of A Very Bonang Year, until SABC1 suddenly issued the name-change notification late on Tuesday.
