king of bling & King of hearts

Lamborghini’s, Choppers, Patron, purple bow ties and velvet shoes to match! I don’t think we have ever seen a more flamboyant young South African than Willian "Mashobane" Mbatha. Ostentatious, rich young black South Africans we may have plenty of but I’m yet to see one as extravagant and as stylish as Mashobane.

The thing I find most interesting about Mashobane is that even after the much publicised criminal charges against him the black youth still love and see him as a hero. Check out the article here.

Im not here to pass judgement on whether or not he deserves the praise but I do think his story is an interesting case for the power of brands.

On the one hand Mashobane has been spotted chilling with the likes of R.Kelly and Akon and cruising the streets of Johannesburg in some of the most expensive sports cars the world has to offer. On the other hand he has this Robin Hood persona – owns a club in Artridgeville and frequents the hood to relax at parties and Shisa Nyama’s. He has become the tangible and somewhat accessible representation of “possibility” to many youths who after 15 years of “democracy” still see no hope for the future.

Mashobane represents a promise of hope, possibility and prosperity to a market craving just that – The Appropriate promise to the Appropriate Market. And he does it so well that the question of his innocence or lack thereof is a non-entity.

This phenomenon does not exist in a vacuum. The question the rest of us have to ask ourselves (including myself) is where are the rest of the black role models, both young and old? Chilling in Rosebank? Sandton? Melrose Arch? There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing this, but if that’s all we do, do we have the right question the youth in the townships for hero worshiping a man described as a crime kingpin?

While on this topic i have to give a big up to Zandile Nzalo, founder of Findyofayah, a campaign aimed connecting young people from the employed to the unemployed, students to young professionals in the urban and rural areas with mentors and successful businessmen and women. check out FYF here.

I invited Tumi Motsamai to share his thoughts: Tumi is a Socialite, fashion enthusiast, car expert and my personal description of him, a passionist! Tumi has known of Mashobane for a while now and describes him as follows:

"A man for all seasons, Mashobane has become a brand associated with luxury couture fashion, expensive jewellery, exotic automobiles and the MTV lifestyle. He represents hope and prosperity in the minds of the Mtv generation. He is the black version of lolly jackson, so to speak, surrounded by mystery and controversy but people choose to see beyond that, People like what the brand represents, and they don't mind associating themselves with it."

Much love, peace be with you. JK