EDIT:
THIS INTERVIEW WAS FIRST PUBLISED ON 09 JANUARY 2007. HE'S BACK IN YOUR FACES SO I THOUGHT, WHY NOT. ENJOY.
PG 16:
So, what words come to mind when you hear the name, SIYABONGA NGWEKAZI? Are you thinking energy, vibey, funky, action, crazy, arty, poetry, sneakers, fresh, talent, weird fashion sense, and full damn kissable lips? Are you thinking “good catch”? Yep, that’s him!
So if I’m a gal and I have a weakness for beautiful boys, how the hell am I supposed to chill with him for two hours and not be “stirred”? I am not made of stone and THAT is Blogiwood public knowledge!
One thing that I know though, is that I looove Blogiwood, especially the interviewing part of it. Forget what your mama told you, mixing business with pleasure is the best thing ever....
I sat down with Siyabonga two months after we first spoke of doing the interview and it was simply because I was waiting for the right moment. He is good! F**k, he’s damned good and I felt that if my article on him portrayed otherwise, I would have failed.
I mean, how do you explain the fact that I stay up to watch Street Journal purely for his links? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a damned good show but for me, the best part is when he is on my screen saying this or that in that quirky way in which he says everything... I swear, whenever he’s on, I gotta put some shades on coz my TV just goes all bright with stars all over...C-rius!!
Knowing that he talks too much I decided to start with the most important question first. Y’know, the one I always forget to ask my “subjects”? (wink wink) Yeah, that one...
So as you read this “innerview”, prepare to fall in and out of love in a matter of seconds, prepare to get shocked, shaken, dazed and no matter what you think of him now, by the time you finish reading this, you will be thinking “WoW!”
Not “wow” coz my questions are so good (ha ha ha) but “wow” becoz he is such an amazing character!
Ja, ja, ja, I know you know I love exaggerating but this time I’m not, he really knocked me for six!! Too bad you have to read the final part of the interview to get it...
He’s 24, Born in P.E, last born, only boy at home, sharp as a knife (not the kasi meaning of sharp plz), super phat lips, cute as hell, here is what Siyabonga Ngwekazi had to say:
Brown Shuga: So, who’s the lucky gal?
Siyabonga: I wouldn’t say she’s lucky coz experiences have just pushed me not to be relationship orientated. I do have someone in my life ngu Nonkululeko igama lakhe but I’m hard to like, let alone love so I wouldn’t say she’s lucky. Actually, she’s got a hard job on her hands.
(A bomb! Zisuka nje!)
BS: Why that mindset?
Siya: I'm very focused on my career right now and television is a very ego driven thing as well so if a gal would mess with my heart right now it would mess up my persona in front of the camera and I'm not ready for that hurdle.
BS: And she’s cool with that?
Siya: It's not even about her being cool with it; it's about me being honest. If I'm honest to you, you decide what to do with the information but at the end of the day, I've given you all the info so it's up to you how you work it or play your cards but mna I can only be 100% honest coz I don't want karma coming back some other way.
(Open book...mmhh, I like him already)
Also, being young and in the field that I work in, you meet incredible people whether you're in JHB, DBN or wherever and I don't want to out rule people just because you're meeting them on the road and be like "Hay' suka, I've got someone at home". I don't work like that.
If our relationship stands the test of time, it's cool. I'm young; I ain't even trying to bog myself down with marriage or kids. I'm career and family, ekhaya! Those are the first people I need to take care of, and then mna ke.
BS: On that relationship note, how far would you go on a first date?
Siya: Ha! As far as it goes! I'm serious, I live and if I meet someone, I'm a great judge of character so whether it's the first date, if I feel like I've known her for a long time, and because the ball is normally in the gal's court, as far as she would go on the first date, mina I'd be like "azishe"!
(Ok, now that I had asked my questions, it was time to do the real “innerview” for you folks...)
BS: You are the best TV presenter on Mzansi TV right now but who is the real Siyabonga Ngwekazi?
Siya: I'm someone that's always wanted to be on TV. I just didn't take it seriously and I did not want to take it seriously because I was living in P.E. I didn't wanna dream and have it not happen coz it would have frustrated me for the rest of my life.
Growing up, I was always into plays, dramas and such things and when my parents' friends were visiting, I would eavesdrop on their conversations and play them out afterwards. I also started playing basketball when I was 11...
BS: Aren’t you a bit short for basketball?
Siya: I am but I'm quick as hell and I've got heart. Basketball is heart driven and it has treated me well coz I've travelled very early out of SA and it broadened my mind state. I got expelled in high school though...
BS: What did you do?
Siya: My parents were going through some heavy things endlini. My dad lost his job numerous times, beating on my mom, my sister got pregnant during those years so I looked at my life and I was like "Ek se, ingathi ndizakuba si statistic big time".
I didn't know how it affected me at the time but I dived into books coz I knew they wouldn't disappoint me so I spent all my time being a straight A-student and working, working, working. When these things happened, there was a part of me that raged so at school, I used to steal, lie and I used to forge letters, man I would even bunk school but ultimately it all caught up with me. I almost didn't write my matric exam.
Why I'm so bent on succeeding right now is ...I remember after being expelled from school, my mom was going up and down looking for a school for me to go to and her complexion went from... you to very dark. She was going up and down just so I could write my matric man and from that day on, I thought “No, ndizi costile and I’ve costed my parents” so I wrote my matric at Edu College as a private candidate.
After that ndaqokelela imali and went to Durban. The reason why I went there was coz I wanted to play ball so I played at Natal Tech and I was saved for 3 years.
BS: (Disbelief overcomes me) You were what??
Siya: I led the student ministry, preaching for 3 Years straight but the knowledge opened me up, I was like “I hear God, I see God” but I can't confine him to just a bible and this church” so things changed and I left church.
While I was still playing ball in Durban, I got a job offer to commentate basketball on Etv’s Engen in The Zone so I started doing that and these guys were like “Listen man, we want to use you as our face now" so I went to Cape Town but at first I declined coz I wanted to finish my accounting studies.
BS: Why were you studying accounting?
Siya: It was the only thing that would guarantee me money and a steady job so I could help out my parents. I really wanted to help out at home so I went to do the presenting thing for a year and six months. After that Street Journal gave me a call and I moved up to Joburg.
BS: How did you get the SJ job?
Siya: Mathoto used to watch the basketball show and I met her here during a basketball event, and she told me they were looking for a presenter.
BS: What happened to her?
Siya: She couldn’t speak vernacular languages and didn’t fit in with the whole SABC 1 profile so she went back to school.
BS: When did you start with Street Journal?
Siya: I started in October 2005, it hasn’t been that long but it feels like I’ve been in Jozi for like 3 years.
BS: So you just got here and started working?
Siya: Yeah, and it was exactly what I wanted. I didn’t want to come here and be hustling coz I think I would have had to sell my soul. I prayed to God, that “please take me to JHB but on some easy red carpet” and it happened.
BS: Time is a big problem for me, the show's on very late. Are you guys working on that?
Siya: The time thing won’t be our decision unfortunately, but the more we say it, the more it can change. It has been re-commissioned for another season so maybe then it will change but this season, which runs till June 2007 will continue with the 22:00 slot.
ON FAMILY...
BS: You speak very fondly of your family, your parents must be very proud of you?
Siya: They are proud of me but I’m not fully comfortable with that pride coz it’s a pride of “My son is on TV” but I wanna fulfil more the material needs, the spiritual needs have been met over and over again
BS: I can’t get over how mature you sound man...
Siya: I can’t take credit for it; I can only credit what life throws at me because if I hadn’t gone through some things very early, I wouldn’t have this mind state.
I have to thank God for that too because He’s the one who preached things to me. That with everything that happens, you gotta learn from your mistakes. If you stick to your mistakes and be like, “Impilo yam iyaphi?” you won’t go anywhere so learn from your mistakes coz that’s the only way you’re gonna progress and progress is a slow process. It takes patience but you gotta work hard.
(Mmmhhh progress is a slow process, Wasn’t that 50 Cent? Ag, who cares?)
BS: Do you still go to church?
Siya: I don’t go to church anymore but I do see & feel God now even. Maybe my interpretation of how I saw him when I was in church was very warped because of the people and the expectations.
When I left church I thought things like, wow, I’ll get hit by a car and go to hell but now I’m really understanding the man, or the being or the spirit and even though I don’t go to church, I’m still heavily spiritual.
One of my resolutions for 2007 is to read my bible because all this wisdom that we try to get from books by these so called gurus, it’s all in the bible.
The most accurate prediction for your future is the past and the bible is about the past and because nothing’s new under the sun, whatever has happened before will definitely happen again and if I can use the bible to decode all those things, I’ll definitely have a smoother ride.
BS: I personally consider you to be a star already, what would you say is your definition of a star?
Siya: If the praises match the money then you’re a star. I can’t see myself as a star right now, while I’m still having money problems. I’m just a normal person joe. That’s the anchor like, “u just work on television brother” but until your parents are chilling, until your house is fully furnished, with that plasma and the artworks hanging, and the candles burning and the incest, till I can cook and I can get into my own car, until I can fly to an overseas destination for inspiration, I won’t consider myself a star.
BS: Ok, maybe I can predict the future then coz I look at you and I think “wow, this boy is going places”.
Siya: Well, I’ll admit that I’ve always watched presenters on TV and thought eish, something’s missing so I try to fill that gap.
The thing is they’re too orientated on being that star and not worried about being the person but if you are a person, then you draw more people and they are the ones that consider you a star at the end of the day.
I wanna be the people star, dude. I wanna be a person that people can talk to, like get into a taxi and not have them wondering what I’m doing in a taxi. Zola is actually one of the people that I look at and be like “now that’s a star”. Sbu is a star, y’know what I mean.
BS: Yeah, those are my people. Sometimes you remind me of Lungsta from Channel O, except wena ke you specialize nge – punch lines...
Siya: Wow, you know punch lines, am impressed!
(This is where he broke the spell he had on me...I was very offended by his statement. Really did I look so ancient that it seemed like I wouldn’t know what a punch line is?? Moving right along...)
BS: I believe you write your own script for the show?
Siya: Yeah, I write my own script simply because I cannot accept someone writing words that should come out of my mouth. With my wardrobe as well, I have someone who looks for the stuff but I’ll go out with her and I’ll be like “no, not this”. She has her way of putting things together but I rearrange them in my way because it’s me at the end of the day, you know.
I want it to be as authentic as possible. I’m comfortable with what I’m saying on screen and I’m comfortable with what I’m wearing so when I meet people outside, they should feel like it’s the same person.
Consistency in the on screen and off screen personality have to be there, as much as sometimes they have to be separate and I think I have a good balance ku lonto.
(All of a sudden he’s staring into space and kinda looks like his mind is elsewhere....so I gotta ask...)
BS: Why do you look like you’re so deep in thought?
Siya: No, no no, I’m not. It’s just that I have to be correct; I have to be true and honest.
BS: Why? Just be you
Siya: Yeah, that’s what I’m saying, I must mind my words.
BS: I wish you wouldn’t...sometimes we miss the juicy bits coz people are too worried about what they’re gonna say and how they say it.
Siya: Trust me no matter what, I’ll say what I wanna say, it’s just a matter of how I’m gonna say it but it will be what I wanna say. I won’t hide the cover but I’ll look for the words that will describe exactly what I feel.
And he did just that....(Abantwana phandle!! No kids allowed past this point....)
BS: You seem like a fearless guy, what’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done?
Siya: Umm...I’ve done it all man...
BS: Oh really? So you’ve had a three-some?
(I really didn’t plan to ask this, it just went flying out of my mouth)
Siya: Yeah.
BS: (Not exactly the kinda answer I was expecting) Siyabonga, you’re only 24!!
Siya: Yeah but I’ve done it, haven’t you?
BS: No, and I wouldn’t.
Siya: I also thought I wouldn’t do it but it caught me off guard. I was with these two gals...
BS: Is that for the record?
Siya: Yeah, you can put it in there. I’m not ashamed about it...like I told you; I’m not scared out here. This is me; I can read this and be like ‘this is me!”
BS: Whooaaa, ummm what was the question again?
(ungishaye ding dong!)
Siya: You were asking what the scariest thing I’ve ever done was. The threesome wasn’t scary at all actually.
BS: And you were not shy or anything?
Siya: Why? Sex is a scientific need caused by hormonal influxes in your body and you have no control over it
BS: Ok, when it’s just the two of you, yeah, but having a third person around is a bit weird...
Siya: My first threesome was only this year...
BS: (shock waves cause me to interrupt) Your first? So there was a second time??
Siya: Yes!
BS: OMG, different women?
Siya: ..................
Log on to Shuga's Blogiwood tomorrow on Friday to find that out and what his thoughts are on weed, weed, weed and his love for anything Pharrell!
Hott does not even begin to describe what's coming next...don't miss it!!!!!
If you wanna kill me, send the thunder to brownshuga@tvsa.co.za :) ........Later!!!