‘Boity’ speaks out on how she almost fell for human traffickers...

The 8^th of March marks the International Women’s day and in the light of the celebration of phenomenal women I could not help but blog about one of my favourite celebrities and how she almost fell for human traffickers and what i particularly learnt from her experience is that whether you are a celebrity or not, whether you are rich or poor, whether you are big or small we all can be victims of human trafficking.

Speaking in an interview on Motswako (SABC2), on Monday, Boitumelo Boity Thulo revealed to women rights activist, Penny Lebyane how she was conned into believing that she had landed a modelling gig but it was her worst nightmare when she found out that she had easily fallen for human traffickers.

Boity related her story that it all started when she was approached by a friend of hers and that friend told her that he had managed to land her a gig with Neutrogena Cosmetics. Boity exclaimed that she was very ecstatic at the news as Neutrogena is a big international brand and her being part of it was going to mean tremendous things for her career. She went on to reveal that these traffickers had really planned their moves and it was very difficult to tell that it was all a bluff. She said that this friend of hers gave her contact details of “Clarrisa”, a lady that was supposedly working for Neutrogena and she sounded convincing and “Clarrisa” made arrangements that Boity was to fly down to Capetown where she was going to finalise the paperwork for the gig.

She took the flight to Capetown and to her surprise a man came to pick her up and that man told her that he had paid lots of money for Boity to be his escort. It is at this point in time that Boity realised that something was awfully wrong and asked this man to drop her off and luckily the man was a good person and dropped her off. A part of her still wanted to believe that this was all a misunderstanding as she had her eye on Neutrogena. Luckily she had a friend living nearby and that friend came to pick her up where the man had dropped her off and that is how she narrowly escaped to be trafficked.

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery where people profit from the control and exploitation of others. Victims of human trafficking include children involved in the sex trade, adults age 18 or over who are coerced or deceived into commercial sex acts and anyone forced into different forms of labour or services. Individuals may be forced to work in highly exploitative conditions with little or no pay.

My message therefore to all of you this Women’s day, especially to women as they appear to be the prime targets of human trafficking is let us all be on guard and be alert of these traffickers, let us unite and fight human trafficking and gender based violence among other problems and remember WATHINTA ABAFAZI, WATHINTA IMBOKODO- YOU STRIKE A WOMAN, YOU STRIKE A ROCK!!!!!!!!

                                                ...HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY...   

Donna flies the journalism flag up high...

I remember very well everyone being on her case trying to persuade her to take part in the pageant but she was reluctant, reluctant for a good reason, the reason that it takes time to prepare for something like that and time was just not on her side, i mean she had organise outfits, shoes, make up and the works and not to forget that the lecturers were also expecting their assignments to be handed in on time. With so many stumbling blocks it all seemed impossible.

Somehow we managed to get through to her and here i am writing as a happy and proud Journalism student, proud of Donna Ncube as she conquered against all odds.

Miss Nust 2013 was held on the 2^nd of March 2013 and for the first time the beauty pageant was held at the ceremonial hall. Friday the 1^st of March i remember we were all excited because Donna had decided to take part in the event and also because entrance to the event had been made free. Initially it had been said that we had to pay $3 to be part of the event and then i thought that was highly unfair since we are students of the institution and there was no reason for us to pay to be part of our school’s event.

We all rallied behind Donna and we called ourselves TEAM DONNA, Saturday afternoon we met in town and we made our way to school to support our girl and to our surprise there was no electricity and we did not let this dampen our spirits, thanks to the generators the event still went on as scheduled.

Hosted by Sarah Mpofu who is a guru in her right, the event started later into the evening. I remember when the models took to the stage there was loud cheering and the girls looked ravishing in their white vests and jeans and i remember we practically screamed our lungs out when our model took to the stage; she was looking beautiful as always. The girls then changed to their casual wear and Donna spotted a green and black dress that made her stand out from the rest and the house just went ecstatic for her.

What particularly caught my eye was the sportswear category, whilst everyone opted for the tennis and swimming look, Donna went all out and modelled the soccer kit of Barcelona and she even had soccer boots and a soccer ball to go with it.

                                                      (A proud moment with Donna)

Nightwear then followed and she changed into a body hugging purple ensemble that looked like it had been made just for her and all i could think about at that time was Stevie Wonder’s song “isn’t she lovely” because indeed she was lovely.

The time came for the results to be announced and she made it to the top 7 and eventually she made it to top 3 as she was crowned the 2^nd princess of the night and at this instance TEAM DONNA just went wild, we were so happy and proud and we just took the stage and we could not help but lift her up....

THANK YOU SO MUCH DONNA FOR FLYING OUR  FLAG UP HIGH, WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU and WE LOVE YOU....

Miss Nust 2013

To all the journos lets go out and support our girl, Miss Donna as she will be taking part  in this years peagant this saturday.

go Donna go!!!!!!! TEAM DONNA ALL THE WAY...

South African 12th annual Metro FM Awards

23^rd of February all roads were leading to the International Conference Centre in Durban where the prestigious 12^th Annual Metro FM Awards were to be held

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The clock struck 1800hrs and the red carpet was rolled out for the musicians and public figures or “osaziwayo” as they are affectionately known in isiXhosa for what i would describe as a one on one session with the camera people to see who is wearing what by which designer. Needless to say, there were those who were dressed to kill and those who looked like they suffered from a fabric malfunction if i may say. Minenhle Dlamini, Donald Moatshe, who is better known for his hit single, “i deserve”, Dj Sbue and Khaya Mthethwa made it to the best dressed list as usual. However, there were some like Camagwini that left everyone in shock as she had a gothic dress theme going on but to her followers it was nothing out of the ordinary as she is known for her rather different and unusual look and thus she has been termed the Lady Gaga of South Africa.

                                                       (Minenhle Dlamini was one of the best dressed)

Hosted by Azania Ndoro and Robert Marawa, the event was broadcast live for the first time ever and this was a great achievement for the Metro FM team. The audiences were kept on their feet throughout the show by performances that ranged from the afro centric sounds of The Soil and Mafikizolo to the groovy sounds of Oskido and Dr Malinga, the very guy who kept everyone dancing to his ‘via orlando’ song over the festive season.

Among the biggest winners of the night was Donald who walked home with two awards for the best produced album and best styled artist respectively. Some of the winners also included Zonke Dikana who bagged the best female artist award, Sello Chicco Twala who won the life time achievement award and Proffesor who took with him the best male artist award.

Speaking about Proffesor, those who caught a glimpse of the awards ceremony will know that he was wearing a police uniform and apparently he is in trouble for that as it appears he did not make the correct arrangements for him to wear the uniform since it is illegal to do so. Oscar Mdlongwa, who is affectionately known as Oskido yesterday twitted that he was on his way to one of the police stations in Durban to sort out this uniform issue.

Overally, the awards were on point and with the metros out of the way, one can only wait and anticipate what the South African Music Awards (SAMAs) have in store for us in March or April. Hopefully those who did not manage to win anything will manage to grab one or two awards at that event.