South African Celebrity Sighting

This occured last week on a lunchtime trip from my office to The Centre (aka the mall). I was walking with Heather and my two co-workers Lungile and Phumelele, who recognized her first. I looked up to see a familiar face approaching on the sidewalk and thought, “I know her, who is that?” just as Lu and Phu breathed an awe-inspired, “Buuuuuuusi.”

Leleti Khumalo plays Busi on the insanely popular South African Soap Opera, Generations, which is on SABC 1 weekdays at 8pm. When I lived in Limpopo during PC training, part of my evening ritual was to watch Generations with my host family – and I kept up the habit for pretty much the entire first year I lived in Durban.

The show is set in Joburg, and all of the starring characters work for a large (fictional of course) magazine publishing/advertising company. Khumalo plays one of the bosses of the company, who when I first tuned in had just lost her mind and tried to kill herself (drowning)- thanks in part to the meddling of a scheming co-worker. Since then she’s made a miraculous recovery and is back on the job, and rekindled a potentially disastrous former relationship with dastardly gangster and diamond runner, Jack Mabaso. Despite Jack’s untimely death a few months back, Busi has managed to keep it together and is doing quite well these days.

Leleti Khumalo (aka Busi) played the title character in the movie Yesterday (2004) which is about a woman living in rural Kwa-Zulu Natal who learns that she’s HIV positive. The film was nominated for an Oscar in 2005 and I would recommend it. She’s also been in Cry the Beloved Country with Richard Harris and James Earl Jones and Hotel Rwanda with Don Cheedle.

Khumalo got her big break, however, in 1985 when she was cast in the leading role of the musical Sarafina!, which went to Broadway and then finally to the big screen (1992) where she starred opposite Whoopi Goldberg. I’ve also met the author of Sarafina!, Mbongeni Ngema (Durban is actually a pretty small town).

I guess as South African actresses go, Leleti is one of the most popular and best known internationally. When we saw her on the street, she didn’t seem too excited to be recognized and just sort of walked by ignoring us. I can’t blame her though. She must get recognized everywhere she goes (South Africa is actually a pretty small country) and that would get annoying after awhile – that and being called Busi when it’s not your real name. So if you ever see her on the street I would advise calling her Leleti instead.

Hot Water Bottle: My New Best Friend

I’m totally spoiled after living in Kwa-zulu Natal for 2 years.  I seriously cannot handle the cold, which considering the fact that the next time I’m going to be in North America  will be The Dead of Winter, is not a good thing at all.

The coldest it gets here in Durban is probably between 35-40 degrees.  I’ve started to react to these lows as if they were arctic temps; with layers of warm clothes, blankets and of course my hot water bottle at night.

I also live in what is basically a very pretty concrete box that has concrete walls and tile floors (imagine living in an above- ground basement).  As a consequence my apartment’s ability to retain heat is somewhat limited and I would guess that during the day its actually colder inside than outside.

On a recent trip to Joburg – where its freakin freezing – I fully felt the beneficial effects of the hot water bottle for the first time.   I had to go out and purchase my own.  Not just for sick people and little old ladies anymore!  Not when you’re freezing your ass off in your concrete box.