The Power Of Celebrity – Part 1 – The Opportunist

Posted by SihleMlambo on May 4, 2011 · 2 Comments 

From the small town boy or girl whose grit and determination to succeed in the limelight’s that be powered him on to be “celebrated” as the definition of the word would describe to the laymen. To the seasoned comic who propelled the micro-blogging world and showed the world that he is “WINNING”, these people that we usually rely on for entertainment and affection, have incredible power, but who gives them that power, is it the people, or the media, whichever it is, the power of celebrity lives on.

Charlie Sheen - Winning - Tiger Blood

Vodacom and it’s big-daddy cool empire Vodafone says it’s the “Power To You”, Cell C and their Customer Excellence Officer Trevor Noah say no, “The Power Is In Your Hands,”   award winning American rapper Kanye West says “No One Man Can Have All That Power,” and many others have their own phrases about this power hungry matter of power.

In recent times, we have seen celebrities turn from head honcho status, and watched them fizzle out to has-been status, we have seen others grow from YoTV “Mickey mouse” status and beat the odds to become the Walt Disney of their own empires.

Celebrities are carved in one of many ways, there are those I call opportunists, these are the Khanyi Mbau’s of this glamorous forte that is usually identified with glitz glamour and a whole lot of money. These are socialites that fall into celebrity status for the sake of it, they don’t have any real talent beside being bloody good at getting what they desire, they conveniently know all the right people and everything seems to go their way, even when it’s a bad thing. These people often live by. “there is no such thing as bad publicity.”

Here’s a case in point, Khanyi Mbau rose to celebrity status at age of 20 when she was selected to play the part of Doobsie in the popular SABC2 soap opera Muvhango after the original Doobsie, Lindiwe Chibi was shot dead by a boyfriend.  Mind you, all this with no particular acting experience. Unlike other Muvhango actor’s, this young lady made the most of her time at the show, she used the attention of the media to her gain, ever-so-controversial, she was giving stories, even shared information such as how much seasoned Muvhango actors and actresses earned, she was alive – a-Generations like personality, something very un-Muvhango.

In the end, her explosive nature for lack of a better word angered the producers of the show and she was fired, but she left a lasting impression, not so much for her non-existent acting abilities, but more so for her escapades. Here’s one. She quickly hooked up then married and fell pregnant to overnight millionaire Mandla Mthembu (50 at the time). They were soon to divorce after Khanyi had loosely spent bucket loads of cash on expensive fake clothes, a rented top class residence in Northern Johannesburg and fancy million Rand cars. At which time the media had grown to become obsessed with this feisty young Soweto girl with a suburban like swag for swindling rich men around like it’s funny.

Khanyi and ex-husband Mandla Mthembu

The media has been obsessed with Khanyi since 2004, it is now 2011, Khanyi is still just another popular face that gets off on being popular, yet still, not much has changed, the media is still a firm fan of Miss Mbau and the hordes of Khanyi fans continue to pack gigs where she simply SHOWS UP.

That my friend, is the power of celebrity.

Khanyi Mbau has a phenomenal reach, she is the family of the Kardashians all by her own, she has proven that she does not necessarily need the Crous’s or Mthembu by her side, in fact, who is Theunis without the Khanyi and Primrose beef anyway?

We love her to hate her, or vice versa, promoters pay her thousands of money to make an appearance at their events, she’s simply “blinging and bringing”. The New Age recently reported the first ever Black girl to be on the cover of Playboy Magazine (SA Edition), to the surprise of many, the lady described as the un-official Finance Minister by comic Loyiso Gola, was upstaged by the young and charismatic fellow Sowetan (not the newspaper), Tshego Seakgoe.

Whether the equally beautiful Tshego will sell as many Playboy Magazines as Khanyi might have is a question that will only be answered in May when the Journalism student appears hits the cover. Of course, she now stands a chance to travel to the Playboy Mansion where she may have the chance to meet that old hag Hugh Heffner.

More to say, at President Jacob Zuma’s daughter’s wedding in the Eastern Cape,  a private affair which included some important people, the sometimes psychotic Khanyi Mbau was part of that contingent. Diamonds just follow Mbau everywhere, Duduzile and her bridesmaid wore diamond accessories to a reported value of R4.5 mil, they were loaned from Browns Jeweller as a gift. From the 1000 pieces of diamond that were on show piece, I just wonder if Miss Mbau didn’t pinch a diamond earring at the least.

Some people have the ability to remain relevant, perhaps “Khanyi Travels SA” may have been more relevant than a certain groundbreaking first reality TV series in South Africa, she has more than outweighed her tag of celebrity considering how little acting she’s done as an actor.

So I pose this question, who bares this “Power of Celebrity” I speak of, is it the celeb in question herself, or the people that care to entertain the person in question.

Without sounding anti-Khanyi Mbau, I should probably state my love and admiration for her continued hustle…

YOU’RE THE MAN GIRL!

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