Legend Manqele: BarLeader TV production company shuttered, Bonang Matheba 'unprofessional' and owed nothing, Mohale Motaung not paid for Showmax wedding special after 'certain things went down at M-Net' - report

by Thinus Ferreira

Legend Manqele has been forced to shut down his production banner BarLeader TV, says he owes Bonang Matheba nothing who is allegedly "unprofessional" and that her reality show Being Bonang was cancelled over her own "bad behaviour", and that Mohale Motaung is also owed no money and couldn't be paid after "certain things went down at M-Net" following a disastrous Showmax wedding special with Somizi Mhlongo.

In an interview with City Press newspaper (paywall), the controversial TV producer Legend Manqele says he was forced to shut down his BarLeader TV production company following reputation damage and that he and his production company was damaged by "badly managed and badly behaved talent".

Legend Manqele claims that Bonang Matheba's reality show Being Bonang for M-Net's canned 1Magic TV channel on DStv was cancelled due to her "bad behaviour", that she's "unprofessional" and that BarLeader TV doesn't owe her any money. 

He says Bonang Matheba "was paid for her show. At times, she was paid late or the following month because she wouldn't arrive to shoots, or we would find ourselves on set and she wasn't there. Or we had to extend our hours into the night because she forgot. She wasn't being managed well and she wasn't necessarily professional".

BarLeader TV took over the production of the reality show Living the Dream with Somizi from its second season for M-Net's Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) TV channel. 

That was followed by the tacky reality TV wedding series, Somizi & Mohale: The Union which was filmed for MultiChoice's Showmax video streamer in 2020. 

After the couple's relationship soured, leaked production recordings shocked the industry and the public in which Mohale Motaung accused Somizi Mhlongo of alleged violent physical abuse and of having threatened to kill him with a kitchen knife.

Instead of paying the couple their R1.5 million for Somizi & Mohale: The Union, Legend Manqele says he paid the South African Revenue Service (SARS) since Somizi Mhlongo owed SARS money. Since BarLeader TV closed down and the payment agreement was with SARS, Legend Manqele says he doesn't owe Somizi Mhlongo money.

Legend Manqele says BarLeader TV was owed money by M-Net for Showmax's Somizi & Mohale: The Union but didn't get it "because certain things went down at M-Net". 

Bonang Matheba bounces back to SABC1 after 13 years with new reality series A Very Bonang Year and documentary film Public Figure Bonang Matheba about the pitfalls, obsession and psychological impact of influencer lives on social media.

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!".

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

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.

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.

Bonang Matheba producing and filming a new TV reality show, Bonang - Coming to America, chronicling her latest adventures in New York.

South Africa's Bonang Matheba is currently producing and filming another TV reality series in New York, entitled Bonang - Coming to America.

It's the second reality series following Being Bonang broadcast on M-Net's 1Magic (DStv 103) channel on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service with later rebroadcasts on VUZU (DStv 116).

The broadcaster and channel for Bonang - Coming to America hasn't yet been announced.

Bonang Matheba who has been to New York several times now is apparently looking for a more permanent place to stay in the Big Apple.

"Bonang is currently in the city shooting a new reality TV series, Bonang – Coming to America, amongst other opportunities," says her PR team in a statement.

Bonang – Coming to America is being produced by Red Button Films, CSA.global, and Bonang Matheba Entertainment.

"I'm excited to explore my personal style and narrative in the United States as well as share projects I'm working on. While the world has become a lot smaller, Africa's place in it has got a lot bigger and it's a massive honour to be part of this growth," says Bonang Matheba.

In Bonang – Coming to America, Bonang Matheba will be seen "attending A list events; holding various new venture meetings; photo shoots with top designers & photographers; attending film festivals on her various projects – while also spending time with other African and diaspora talent who are making a name for themselves globally".

Bonang Matheba's reality show, Being Bonang, back on 1Magic for a third season in 2019.

Bonang Matheba's reality show, Being Bonang, will be back on 1Magic (DStv 103) for a third season in 2019.

Bonang Matheba made the announcement on social media on her Twitter feed on Wednesday evening, simply posting the 3D golden-lettered title card of her show, saying "season 3. 2019".

The much-improved second season of Being Bonang in 2018 found favour with viewers and critics and also improved its performance in the ratings, while it built the public profile of Bonang Matheba's longtime assistant, Pinky Girl, who has also become a star.

Season 3. 2019. 🚀💐 pic.twitter.com/79oY65yd5o

— Bonang B* Matheba (@bonang_m) December 19, 2018

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 11 April 2018.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ Trashy TV reporter AJ Bayatpour assaults a competitor at an American football game.
And an unhinged idiot punched a TV reporter in New York


■ Ant dumped: ITV's alcoholic presenter Ant McPartlin who's back in rehab over drugs and drinking problems has been dumped from the latest season of ITV's Britain's Got Talent with Declan Donnelly who will be presenting on his own.
ITV sends Ant "all our love". It comes after the co-presenter of Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV Choice (DStv 123) was arrested last month on drunk driving charges and also vanished from that show.


■ German TV is starting to sanitise its television series by not wanting to portray the true evil of Nazi Germany.

■ Zimbabwe students at the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) are furious after their DStv is cut off, start protest action over their lack of entertainment.


■ In a leaked recording of a tense staff meeting of CNN International (DStv 401) in London, managing director Tony Maddox said he is "surprised by this, shocked and disappointed" by the results of an internal gender pay gap survey as CNN executives were confronted by female employees, including Christiane Amanpour over being paid less than men at CNN.


■ Catt Sadler who left E! for not wanting to pay her as much as much as her male co-anchor Jason Kennedy, says she should have asked E! Entertainment (DStv 124) for more money much earlie from the NBCUniversal Networks channel that's one of the places mired in a gender pay gap controversy.
She's also wrote a must-read essay for Vanity Fair over equal pay E! was asked to comment but refused.


■ FOX Networks Group's offices in West-London raided by European Commission investigators who seized documents and computers and who will remain on the premises on Wednesday and Thursday. The reason for the raid isn't clear. FNG says it iscooperating with the inspection.

■ What viewers would like to see more of in the second season of Being Bonang on 1Magic (DStv 103).

■ Let this sink in: Netflix does a Los Angeles premiere for its new TV show Lost in Space (for a TV show, not a movie) at the Cinerama Dome with the cast and full press in attendance where the show is previewed with reviews from TV critics coming out hours later. Meanwhile e.tv can't get its act together for a proper launch for its new local drama series Imbewu. How very sad.

Bonang Matheba's reality show, Being Bonang, back for a second season from May as M-Net renews it for 1Magic despite the star saying in 2017 that it won't return.

Bonang Matheba's reality show Being Bonang will return for a second season that will start on 1Magic (Dstv 103) on 4 May despite the star who said in October 2017 that there won't be a second season.

Last week Wednesday, 28 March, when TVwithThinus asked M-Net whether there would be a second season of Being Bonang on 1Magic, Nondumiso Mabece, head of publicity at M-Net local entertainment channels, told TVwithThinus that "1Magic is currently in talks with Bonang to produce a second season of Being Bonang in the first half of this year".

"We have initiated these talks with her as we believe audiences enjoyed the first season of the show and getting a glimpse into her life away from the public eye. Season two would allow our viewers to get to know her further and catch-up on where she is now and what projects is she working on," said Nondumiso Mabece.

Sometime in the past 3 working days, M-Net must have signed a contract with Bonang Matheba.

It's not yet clear why M-Net and or Bonang Matheba had a change of heart, or how a first episode can be filmed, edited and be ready in a month's time for broadcast since M-Net was only still in talks about a new season by last week.

Being Bonang will again only be available to DStv Premium subscribers on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

On Wednesday Bonang Matheba at a media event said that her reality show Being Bonang will be "back on 4 May, so may the fourth be with you" and that the second season will focus some more on the breakout star, her cousin Pinky Girl's life.

Although the Bonang Matheba Entertainment (BME) and BarLeader produced Being Bonang wasn't a breakout ratings hit in its 14-episode first season, despite a new co-director who was brought in to help, the show did manage to turn her cousin Tebogo Mekgwe "Pinky Girl"into a star.

M-Net tells TVwithThinus that the second season of Being Bonang will have 13 episodes.

No second season for Being Bonang reality show on VUZU AMP; 'thank you to everyone who watched,' says Bonang Matheba.

There won't be a second season for Bonang Matheba's reality show Being Bonang on VUZU AMP (DStv 103) although the star is thanking everyone who watched.

While Being Bonang was watched and avidly followed by TV critics, it wasn't a big enough hit on DStv where M-Net erred by placing Being Bonang on the top-tiered package only where it could just be watched by DStv Premium subscribers on VUZU AMP.

Similar reality shows - both in South Africa and overseas - court lower-tiered but bigger audiences by being available to more viewers, like Somizi Mhlongo's Living the Dream and the polygamy spectacle Uthando neSthembu that M-Net placed on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) where they did rate and pull in large numbers of viewers.

Being Bonang on VUZU AMP that wasn't accessible to the beloved celebrity's target audience at all and was scheduled in an odd and difficult timeslot, failed to reach more than 300 000 viewers for any of the first season's 14 episodes due to its botched channel allocation and weird schedule placement by TV executives.

Although the Bonang Matheba Entertainment (BME) and BarLeader produced Being Bonang wasn't a breakout ratings hit despite a new co-director who was brought in to help, the show did manage to turn her cousin Tebogo Mekgwe "Pinky Girl" - constantly cruising in the beloved celebrity's wake - into a star.

"No season two but a big thank you to everyone who's loved and watched my show. Means the world to me," said Bonang Matheba on Twitter. MultiChoice stacked the entire first season, with episodes that's available on DStv Catch Up.

Besides her reality show, this year Bonang Matheba released her app and customised emoji's as well as her in-demand book, Bonang: From A to B, that is back on sale following a reprint after a highly publicised proofreading gaffe.

Olwethu Mlotshwa roped in as producer and co-director on Bonang Matheba's VUZU AMP reality show, Being Bonang.

Olwethu Mlotshwa has been roped in as a producer and co-director on Bonang Matheba's reality show Being Bonang on VUZU AMP (DStv 123) produced by Bar Leader.

Olwethu Mlotshwa has been working on Somizi Mhlongo's reality show Living the Dream with Somizi on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) that is a sister channel to VUZU AMP from the M-Net channels group.

RATINGS JULY 2017: Bold and Bonang are rating disasters - while David Tlale and Tumi Morake also flop and the SABC continues to shed viewers.

The struggling SABC continues to lose millions of viewers with SABC2 and SABC3 that again saw ratings and audience share losses in July while strikingly all the new celebrity-driven shows on public and pay-TV from David Thlale's The Intern SA, Tumi Morake's #WTFTumi and even Being Bonang are big viewership flops.

July's just-released audience ratings (AR) data shows that the struggling SABC continues to lose millions of viewers.

Only SABC1 managed to keep its audience share stable while the troubled SABC2 and SABC3 continued their tumble and again shed eyeballs in July.

July is also the month that the SABC finally managed to kill The Bold and the Beautiful. After shoddy treatment and ongoing disastrous timeslot changes for the once-popular American soap, the show suffered month-on-month viewership plunges and is now no longer on the already low-rated SABC3's list of its most watched shows.

Viewers are not bothering to watch David Tlale's The Intern SA and Tumi Morake's talk show on SABC3 that both failed to find any significant number of viewers, together with possibly the biggest surprise of all: Bonang Matheba's Being Bonang.

Her reality show isn't managing to pull significant viewers to VUZU AMP possibly because it's placed on the wrong M-Net packaged channel on DStv.

Elsewhere the SABC1 weekday soap Uzalo reached its highest viewership yet, e.tv keeps doing well, and the 13th season of Idols is again a ratings hit showing that the reality singing competition has several more seasons of life left.

SABC1
While SABC1's overall viewership remained stable during July, the KwaMashu-set weekday soap Uzalo on the channel continued its ratings surge, luring its biggest audience yet in July since the start of the soap.

In July Uzalo continued its rise as South Africa's most watched TV show with a series high rating of 8.896 million viewers (26.4 AR) and a whopping 70.6% share for its most watched episode.

It managed to further widen the slow growing gap between Generations - The Legacy in second place with 8.56 million viewers ( 25.4 AR / 68.2 share) that also grew its audience.

Over-achiever Skeem Saam marginally improved its strong performance, growing to 7.29 million viewers for its most watched episode.

Evenly maintaining their viewers were both the Xhosa (4.0 million) and Zulu (4.2 million) TV news bulletins and Now or Never (3.6 million), while Selimathunzi was slightly off with 3.91 million viewers.

Growing for the third consecutive month was Throwback Thursday to 4.03 million viewers. Khumbul' Ekhaya improved back to 3.4  from a low 3 million viewers.

Down and losing viewers were Mina Nawe (3.82 million), Live Amp (3.6 million), Ithuba Lokugcina (3.7 million) and Stumbo Stomp (3.64 million) while Friends Like These plunged from its 3.6 million viewers just a few months ago to 3.17 million at most in July.

SABC2
SABC2 continues its journey on the ratings train to trouble.

While nowhere near the ratings disaster of SABC3, SABC2's slow but ongoing viewership erosion should be extremely worrisome for SABC TV executives who haven't been able to stem the bleeding.

Also problematic is that, similar to SABC3, a lot of the newly commissioned local shows on SABC2 turned out to be rating flops, failing to find traction with viewers.

In July Muvhango remained the most watched show on SABC2 with 5.48 million viewers (16.3 AR / 51.6 share) and although up from June, it's far off from earlier months this year when it lured 6.4 million.

Since April Muvhango has lost almost a million viewers - and that's for SABC2's top show.

In July Vodacom Siyakha fell from 3.9 to 3.52 million viewers while the Live Lotto Draw lost over a million viewers from 4.5 to 3.3 million viewers.

Also down was Speak Out (2.12 to 2.07 million) and Wipeout USA (1.37 to 1.31 million). (Interestingly Wipeout USA is also on e.tv where it lured 2.11 million viewers - almost double - that indicates what is actually possible ratings wise.)

Thola remained flat at 1.64 million from 1.65 in June.

Meanwhile Thursdays continue to kill the once-popular Noot vir Noot. The Afrikaans music competition literally has lost half its total audience and SABC2 share.

In July it scraped out 1.25 million viewers (10.6% share) compared to the 2.12 million viewers and 20.7% share it brought to SABC2 in January when the show was still in its Friday night timeslot before the bad move.

The Afrikaans soap 7de Laan has recovered somewhat from its disastrous ratings levels and at 2.63 million viewers and a 26.5% is almost back at its 2.78 million of January after its ratings took a shocking months' long plunge.

Marginally up on SABC2 was telenovela Keeping Score (1.74 to 2.04 million), Ga Re Dumele (1.22 to 1.54 million) and rebroadcast Vetkoekpaleis (1.28 to 1.4 million).

The Afrikaans TV news bulletin bounced back a bit to 1.48 million from 1.34 in June and the Sotho/Tswana TV news at 1.31 million in July seems to be recovering although its far off from its 1.8 million viewers it had when 2017 began.

SABC3
With ongoing anemic ratings, July will go down as the historic month the SABC finally killed off the American soap The Bold and the Beautiful while more viewers chose to watch a repeat of the old Vetkoekpaleis than a lot of the channel's costly new local shows.

While Bold was a top performer on SABC3 for several years since its move from SABC1, July is the month the public broadcaster finally killed it through multiple and steadily worsening timeslots until its audience finally abandoned the Forresters.

On SABC3 Bold's ratings dramatically plunged from 1.05 million in January 2017 to 890 100 (February), 665 445 (March), 469 814 (April), 585 828 (May) and 465 067 (June) to entirely dropping off SABC3's list of 20 most watched shows in July.

Nothing else signifies more SABC3's ongoing ratings and programming woes than what happened with Bold and American sister soap Days of Our Lives now jumping to e.tv.

Before the disastrous tampering, both consistently delivered top-rated and strong viewership to SABC3 in their stable timeslots and with audiences that advertisers knew and could count on.

The big problem is that no new shows that are trusted and consistent performers on every weekday replaced them after the SABC decided that it wanted to kill off Days and Bold and with advertisers who are reluctant to spend money on inconsistent audiences.

With barely there viewership its no longer possible to call anything on SABC3 a "hit", although weekday local soap Isidingo is the channel's most watched show, slightly increasing its viewership from 1.45 to 1.6 million in July.

Every local new show on SABC3 is a costly ratings disaster, with David Tlale's flopped design competition The Intern SA, Khanyi Mbau's The Scoop, China Diaries, #WTFTumi! and It's OK, We're Family that all started in July and failed to attract any significant audiences.

These local show flops are all similar to the trend of SABC3's last few months that saw its first, second and third batches of local programming that got rolled out and getting shunned by viewers.

Literally not one of SABC3's crop of new shows manages to lure enough viewers except for local talk show Real Talk with Anele managing 479 698 viewers for its most watched episode in July and Dinner Date with 466 271 viewers.

In July SABC3 viewers continued to watch Top Billing (422 400), the English TV news bulletin (608 162), the end of Survivor San Juan Del Sur (561 416) and the start of Survivor: Worlds Apart (514 452), and The Big Bang Theory (448 329).

e.tv
The red letter channel keeps growing - very likely because of the SABC's woes as more viewers are switching over to the commercial free-to-air channel.

Weekday soap Scandal! grew to its second highest viewership this year (since March) with 4.65 million viewers in July with sister soap Rhythm City stable at 3.13 million viewers, while local telenovelas Broken Vows and Harvest remain ratings disappointments and continue to be no-shows on e.tv's top 20 most watched list.

e.tv decided to end it but WWE Raw pulled 2.71 million in its swansong with WWE SmackDown going out with 1.9 million viewers.

e.tv continues to do incredibly well with a spread of quality movies and local and international series.

The channel cornered over 2.1 million and more viewers each for the three Hangover movies on three July Sundays, 2.24 million viewers for The Incredibles, 2 million viewers each for Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc and a massive 2.9 million for Cars.

Another 2.1 million watched the reality show Mahadi-Lobola with Lip Sync Battle Africa (1.91 million), Z'Bondiwe (1.9 million) and American comedy Modern Family (1.72 million) all firm rating hits.


DStv
On pay-TV Idols roared back as a TV hit, with the start of the 13th season on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) hitting 1.57 million viewers on MultiChoice's DStv.

With that Idols gaining a second place behind perennial top-achiever Our Perfect Wedding (also on Mzansi Magic) further growing its audience from 1.49 to 1.84 million viewers.

New Sunday night grit-drama iNumber Number (also on Mzansi Magic) drew 1.36 million viewers to secure the top 3rd place on DStv's most watched list, followed by Igazi that dropped slightly from 1.44 to 1.42 million viewers.

Mzansi Magic royalty keeps rounding out the top shows on MultiChoice's platform with The Queen (1.13 million), Isibaya (1.01 million), Date My Family (1.04 million), Isikizi (793 700), Isithunzi (767 490), and Isithembiso (729 626) that round out the top 11 most watched shows on DStv.

M-Net likely made a mistake by placing Bonang Matheba's new reality show Being Bonang on VUZU AMP (DStv 103) instead of on Mzansi Magic.

Being Bonang on VUZU AMP failed to lure significant viewers following its debut in mid-July, while reality show Living the Dream with Somizi on Mzansi Magic managed 559 373 viewers and a 15th place on DStv's most watched list for July.

INTERVIEW. Bonang Matheba on her first real reality show, Being Bonang, on Mzansi Magic: 'I'm ready to share my life'.

South African television's IT-girl, Bonang Matheba, is throwing open the doors to her life in the year’s most anticipated reality show, Being Bonang, with the Queen B that tells TVwithThinus "I'm ready to share my life".

In the 11-episode Being Bonang starting tonight on VUZU AMP (DStv 103) at 19:30, viewers will get to see a side of Bonang Matheba, who is actually a very private and guarded person, that she has never revealed before.

Get ready for dramatic moments ranging from arguments, disagreements and (spoiler alert!) people getting fired – but also intimate moments with best friends, family and her romantic relationship.

Why did you decide to do Being Bonang and how is it different from the other TV shows and projects viewers have seen you in until now?
Four and a half years ago I did an online reality show, Bedazzled. And TV channels since then came to me and said can you please do a reality show, and I said I wasn't ready.

And I think now in terms of my career, my life, my space, my head - I've been through so many things. My life has been quite closed up; very private.

I've been engaging with people through my talks all over the country and what they said was "B, we just want a glimpse of how everything is done" and I thought, well, I am a bit confident in terms of the woman that I am, I'm ready to share my life. I think there's lots of very interesting things that are happening.

The timing is really good right now, and everything's been wonderful.


What kind of things will viewers see?
Viewers will see a different side of Bonang - a side you've never read about in the magazines, or in the TV shows. It's real, just me at home, you'll see my family, you'll see my relationship, you'll see my best friends.

The most important thing though is how the business behind brand Bonang is run and how things are ultimately done to get to a point where people at home see them.


And how did you decide what would be off limits? How did you decide where the boundaries would be or not?
[She laughs.] Well, ja. I'm a very private person and I was very nervous about showing my family, and of showing the inner workings of me and my life.

When you do a book or start a reality show, there's some things - whether you like it or not - that you just have to be open about with people. At the end of the day a TV show has to be entertaining, it has to be gripping, it has to be full of drama.

So there are all those elements in Being Bonang - there's drama, there's arguments, there's disagreements, there's people being fired, there's fights with my friends, with my management. There's a bit of everything for everyone.

In the promo we saw tears. And in the SABC1 documentary a month or so back you were very also very honest that you don't let people see when you get affected by something, but that sometimes it does get to you. Being in the public eye, how do you stay strong and smile when you feel like it?
I come from a very, very tight-knit family. My family really does huddle around me and I'm also really very spiritual - I go to church a lot, and I really do pray a lot and that's where I get my strength.

And also my personality and the things I've been taught growing up - not being combative, not attending every argument you're being inviting to. I'm just a thick-skinned person.

The 13 years that I've been in this industry, you kind of teach yourself certain things as well - how to deal with media, how to deal with colleagues, how to deal with work, how to deal with a busy schedule - all sorts of things.

I unpack it very well in my book, Bonang: From A to B, but also in Being Bonang we show you how I go about in terms of dealing with maybe not so nice situations - whether it's family, friends, or even work.


With all of your projects and things you're simultaneously busy with, how do you maintain your diary and how when do you decide when to rest and what to say yes and no to?
I'm very strategic. I have a team of 4 people who work on brand Bonang, everyone split into different things, whether its Courvoisier, or Revlon or my emojis and my app, or my TV show.

I have five people at the office who are concentrated on one thing - sort of like an account executive. And what happens is that my time is managed very, very well and everything is planned and timed and scheduled very well.

So everything that's happening now, is a strategic plan that's been in effect since the middle of 2016. So what people are seeing now, isn't necessarily things that just came up out of the blue. The book has been written for over 18 months, the app has been planned for four and a half months, the emojis have been designed for 6 and a half months.

So the fact that it's all coming out in July was the plan for July and August of 2017, but it's been years and years in the making and I'm really grateful for my team.

Yes, I relax. I take lots of holidays, because I understand that if my heart and my head and my soul and my spirit isn't happy, then I'm not able to do my job.

I'm an artist at the end of the day; I rely solely on how I feel about myself. So when I do feel a bit tired, like I did just after the KFC Taste Kitchen production on Mzansi Magic, I hopped on a plane, went away for 2 nights and came back refreshed.

People see you on television, and then - I think it's a natural thing - now they also aspire to be like you, then also want to be on television. Is it about being on TV, what advice do you have for people, what should they aspire to?
You know, getting on television has changed.

When I say changed, I mean the process. Usually you get an agent, get an audition, land a show. What''s happened now is we live in a digital era.

So whether you want to start a music career - start a YouTube channel and put your music on there. You're a TV presenter - start your own online visual blog. Modeling agencies - they're now looking for people on the internet. So that has absolutely changed.

So what I want to say to people, is you make your own decisions. You need to start your career on your own - your success is your own responsibility. And luckily nowadays there are so many avenues to go about it, but the essence hasn't changed.

Give yourself time, work really, really hard, and work on your ultimate goal, and the rest will be easy to figure out. Work hard, stay focused and give yourself time. It takes about four or five years to create an "overnight success".


You just had a big birthday, what are you aspiring to for yourself for the next 3 decades ahead?
Haaaa. Three decades. I'm definitely going to write a second book, I want my book tour to do well.

I want my app and my emojis to explode and become an amazing thing on their own. In September I have a makeup range coming out, Bonang Favourites together with Revlon. They've put together, all my favourites like nail enamel and lip colours that's my own collection.

The next three decades I'm going to really, really put my heart and soul into Bonang Matheba Entertainment which is my production company, and lean more into production, and not so much to being on TV.

I want to start telling other people's stories. After I've told my own, I want to see how people react to it and hopefully those people will give me a bit of confidence in telling their stories on television.

The first episode of the 11 episode Being Bonang is scene setting for the rest of the series. It's really, really very funny. People are going to see I'm actually quite laid-back, I'm quite hilarious. I'm just the girl next door who happens to have a really awesome job.


Being Bonang starts on Friday 14 July on VUZU AMP (DStv 103) at 19:30