Patrice Juah: The humble voice from Liberia.

According to the Urban Dictionary​, the meaning of the name Patric​e​ is a girl, who is humble, classy, meek, and wise. She’s beautiful in her own unique way, but her heart is radiant and blessed. She is basically without flaw that the human eye or ear could detect, but she doesn’t realize that, even though she has a healthy level of confidence about herself. She knows who she is and she chooses her words carefully before she speaks. She believes in uplifting and encouraging a sad and downtrodden or confused soul. She’s a peacemaker and a success at life and love.

This is an accurate description of my sister, and client Patrice Juah.

Patrice is a global citizen but reigns from Monrovia, Liberia. We first met in 2011, when our agency were casting in Accra for the Nigerian soapie, Tinsel. Patrice wears a number of hats from Radio personality, author, poet, activist, speaker, model and designer. This powerful warrior​ has a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications, an advanced certificate in Fashion Design, and a certificate in Business & Entrepreneurship. She is also a Mandela Washington Fellow of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI)

Patrice is dedicated to changing Liberia’s image within the international community. She strives to motivate and empower young women by supporting several local non-profit organisations’ efforts in educating women on topics such as HIV/AIDs, teenage pregnancy, education, and workforce development.
She is also the Founder and Managing Director of Moie, an ethnic brand promoting Liberia’s textile industry and creative sector, while empowering rural weavers and artisans

She has just completed her second book, titled Under Ducor Skies.
Under Ducor Skies is a reflective journey across lost childhood, war, arduous youth, and caged dreams, to a time of soaring peace, where bullets are finally silenced, with an even greater battle left to silence within. In a town that is a shadow of its previous self, and everything around you tells you that you’ll fail, how do you keep the shredded pieces of hope alive?

Under Ducor Skies mirrors life in its various forms—love, growth, adventure, everyday happenings and experiences of people, near and far – known and unknown. You’ll be entertained, inspired, provoked, and pushed to think beyond the layers of what seems ordinary. It is a voyage of dreamers and wanderers, who’ve held onto the tattered threads of their dreams; pushing beyond limitations and challenges, to make something of themselves.

Readers will be given a front row seat into Ducor, the city of dreams, through the author’s lens. They’ll enjoy the openness, depth, vulnerability, and ease with which she shares each poem. Together, they’ll open old scars, mend wounds, laugh, cry, heal and rise. The girl power-themed poems are particularly armed with the right ingredients to give any woman, or girl, back her power, and inspire her to elevate to her most authentic and exceptional self. Leave all your worries, fears and doubts at the door of this book, losing yourself in every page, exploring, rediscovering and emerging as a wholesome you. It’s time to weave stories we’ve long held close to our hearts; those that inspire, challenge, and keep us thriving, in spite of all the crooked paths we tread Under Ducor Skies.

To gain access to her work or services as a speaker or emcee contact​ us,
rosie@wakaagency.biz

WAKA + PASTE

My three passions in life are Women, Africa, and the arts.

My activism career started over 15 years ago when I did my training through POWA, http://www.powa.co.za. I have used my personal​ brand to create awareness on abuse and issues pertaining to women. I not only share my knowledge that I learned through the training but I share my personal experiences on how the abuse affected me. My aim has and always will be to create awareness, let others know that they are not alone and that the abuse is not their fault, all of this connected to the fact that it has been patriarchal ideologies that have supported and protected perpetrators. We have to redefine our rights and enforce gender equality.

Building​ my personal​ brand.
When I started my career we do not have direct access to PR gurus or marketing specialists who could guide us and those that did, paid top dollar for their services. I built my brand on knowing and understanding my craft, faith, discipline, dedication and passion. I made a tremendous amount of mistakes, partnered with wrong people, diluted my brand as I did not value myself enough and often second guessed my personal​ talent and ability. I value and treasure all those lessons. I have learned that building a brand and becoming an entrepreneur comes with a lot of challenges and frustrations but​ there are also many rewards. It has taught me to push through those boundaries, even when met with resistance. I remember when I was still acting on the soapie, Generations, I wanted to seek a car sponsorship and I naively approached BMW South Africa. My application was denied immediately and I was told that they do not sponsor non-sports people. So I then decided to visit a BMW car dealership in Bryanston, with my then partner. He suggested​ that I just buy one and forget about the sponsorship. I partly took his advice. As I entered the dealership I noticed that there were very few Black people walking in and out as buyers, I engaged with my friends who lived in that area and who drove BMW’s​ and asked where they had purchased their vehicles. Almost all of them directed me to the Black owned dealership downtown. As much as I wanted to support that dealership, I also wanted to prove a point. So I boldly revisited the​ dealership in Bryanston, sought out my vehicle and applied for finance and bought a vehicle off the showroom​ floor. I felt I needed to prove that as a young black woman, I had the ability and power to purchase the vehicle and perhaps the dealership needed to relook their strategy.
A year later I formed a partnership with a woman​ who could assist​ with a concrete​​ proposal and we approached the dealership that I bought my car from and we proposed a sponsorship deal, based on my facts and experience. This was in 2004 and we originally proposed the deal for six months, my contract was continuously extended till 2007. Every six months I upgraded my car to the new 3- series and had the opportunity of test-driving all the new series when they were launched.

The WAKA flame:
My love for the continent began when I started exploring Africa as a TV presenter and producer. I founded my Pan African talent agency, WAKA TALENT AGENCY in 2011. WAKA means to ​shine in Ki-Swahili​. I discovered that there was a gap for representation across the continent, I also saw it as an opportunity to create projects and synergies with other media practitioners in South Africa and globally. At present Waka Talent agency have a footprint​ in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Botswana, DRC, Uganda. Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Liberia, ​and Nigeria. We represent TV and radio personalities, speakers, emcees, ​and brand ambassador and influencers. A few of my clients are musicians and models in their own right but we do not handle those contracts nor do we search for that type of work. I often asked if that will be my next move and my answer is no. No, I do not wish to tackle that side of the industry as firstly, I respect that craft and with that aspect comes my second reason, I have no first-hand​ knowledge of it. As a manager,​ I,​ need to understand and know the craft, discipline​, ​ and experience that comes with it.

Kojo Baffoe: Ghanaian living in SA

Simba Mudereri from Zimbabwe, based between Harare, Gaborone, JHB and

Flavia Tumusimme based in Kampala

Weza Solange, Angolan living in SA

Lydia Forson. Ghanaian living in Accra

Chishala Chitoshi jnr living in Kitwe, Zambia

Meg Ottawa. Nigerian living in Lagos

These are a few of our Pan-African clients

Nurturing the talent
Being an award-winning​​g actress, TV and radio personality award winning film producer, ​and a revered TV producer, I have the ability to provide concrete advice and knowledge in that sector of the industry. As much as I respect the model and music industry, I have never worked down the ramp (professionally) nor have I recorded a song. So why would I have the authority of managing that career?
The moral of this story is that you need to know your brand, work and be passionate about it. When creating collaborations​, always look at what value the two parties​​s bring to the table. There always needs to be a value added beefits to all parties involved.

Time to PASTE.
As we are still focusing on TV and radio personalities and building brands and connecting them with global brands, we also plan to work with other entrepreneurs and artisans who have the Pan African vision and believe in the artistic spirit.
Brand value is not just about designing a logo, it is about a philosophy and a vision. I see the two concepts as one. As my vision and passion is led and dominated by my Pan African dream, I have looked to work with entrepreneurs who seek and live by that. Moving forward, we will be working closely with Paste Studios.

Paste Studios is a Creative Agency: Specialising in Design, branding and Brand Identity. I do understand that there are many agencies who specialise in these concepts but very few are innovative and keen to understand the Pan African market.
I met the CEO and founder of PASTE STUDIOS Manqoba Nhlapo, at a regular entrepreneurial spot in Johannesburg. We first engaged in conversation last year but as I strongly believe in Gods timing, we only engaged in business discussions this year. His entrepreneurial vision is raw and real.
Many people have this romantic idea that entrepreneurial lifestyle is sexy and cool, with your Mac laptop, you sit at a coffee shop and the work rolls in. Yes,​ you need the laptop as that is our life, we often sit at coffee shops as we need the free wifi. Let us be honest data in SA is ridiculously expensive. We may seem content and cute with our cafe​​e lattes or Americano’s or whatever it is that we are drinking, but often we are sitting with that one cup the whole day long.
So whilst randomly entering our regular space, Manqoba and I started chatting about these exact entrepreneurial challenges. We spoke about how we would see the same faces in the​ public​ workplace but we do to know what we all do. The conversation led to the fact the biggest challenges that small companies and agencies have is that they lack the finance and therefore the resources. We agreed that small entities need assistance from big corporates but we should also look at our smaller entrepreneurial partners for synergies and assistance. We began to understand what our respective agencies do and what our visions are and saw the scope for partnership.

WAKA TALENT will work in conjunction wit PASTE STUDIO on creating platforms and projects that can project to our Pan African audience and climate. They have the design, brand value and knowledge, we have the talent, expertise, ​and clientele, we both are passionate about the PAN-AFRICAN​N dream.

Manqoba’s passion to to create and design as well as connecting people from our continent. His vision is for PASTE to become the frontier of innovative​ design in Africa. Collaborating with the best designers and talent​ too​ bring South African products to a world class standard. Their leading factor is that they have the ability to create and design spaces that will to enrich people and optimise human interactivity.

Our first collaboration will ve revealed soon but should you require any additional information on with agthe ​ency, feel free to contact us:

WAKA Talent agency:
http://www.wakaagency.biz
rosie@wakaagency.biz
+27 0102861935

PASTE studios:
manqoba@pastestudios.co.za
​

-End

Slim slam dunks in Phokeng.

Slim the gift of givers.

This past weekend was an incredibly proud and beautiful experience for me, as my client Jerome a.k.a Slim Du Plooy traveled through to Phokeng. ​He was booked through The JR NBA to emcee an event and we participated in a number of accompanying events. Prior to the event​, ​I organised a special surprise for a few scholars at one of the local schools in Phokeng.

My Bafokeng pride:
I was born to The Bafokeng nation, my family​ originates​​ from a small village called Phokeng. Prior to my birth, my mother was a domestic​ worker for a white Jewish​ family, they were based in Johannesburg​. After my birth​, I traveled​ to Johannesburg where I lived with my mother. After a few months of living there, her employers took it upon themselves to raise me as their own. The arrangement brought about great opportunities for me but also many sacrifices as I was not brought up to know my tradition and customs and therefore did not grow up in Phokeng. Fast forward to forty years later, after completing my autobiography, Reclaiming the Soil. My book took over a decade to write as it took me through a process of trying to find myself, reclaim and understand my African identity and reclaim my African pride. Part of my journey and new life choices is to get involved in uplifting and empowering my community of Phokeng. I have participated in a number of events and project with Matale Secondary school.

So when Jerome Du Plooy a.k.a Slim called me to tell me that he was buying​ shoes for scholars and that he wanted to hand them​ over to a school I automatically thought of Matale Secondary School. I contacted the principal and we set up the logistics for the handover. Handing over the shoes was a great idea but it is important for scholars to hear from other about the stages of success. As Slim started his life living way below the poverty line, he speaks from a place of inspiration and empowerment. He shares his​ journey and celebrates himself. He is blatantly honest when it comes to teenage pregnancy and is very passionate about teaching the youth that there is a time for people to have children and that focusing on education is key.

Who is Slim?

Jerome Du Plooy a.k.a Slim a revered emcee and motivational speaker. Slim grew up on the dusty streets of Kliptown, where​ he stayed in a one-roomed​ shack with his single mum. For nearly two decades he only knew of a life of poverty where he was used to living without electricity and running water. On the streets,​ he was taunted to join the fast and dangerous life of drugs and gangs. At some point,​ he chose that life and joined a gang who were involved in drug dealing​ and crime. Through the grace of God, he pulled himself out of a gang whilst on a drug run. It was through assistance from the NBA and Boston City Campus he was awarded two bursaries and studied towards his future.

Slim is now an accomplished actor, after featuring as a supporting role in Generations, Rhythm City, ​and Hope. Through​ the NBA, Slim has travelled across Africa and all the way to NYC as an emcee for the global sporting brand.

A few years back he founded The Slim Cares Foundation, through the foundation he wants to uplift and empower underprivileged​ children​. The foundation aims to ensure that these youth will have the same opportunities as those who come from welathy and privledged backgrounds. The foundation aims at providing basic and necessary tools and items for these youth, such as school​ shoes, advice, food, ​and clothes.

He has emceed a number of sporting events and this year he was hired again by NBA to host the League Finals through the JR NBA.

What is JR NBA?
The Jr. NBA is the official youth basketball participation program of the NBA. The Jr. NBA includes a free, membership-based program for existing youth basketball leagues/organizations. The membership is to help encourage and support youth basketball participation at the grassroots level and improve the overall youth basketball experience for all participants. The Jr. NBA aims to develop a lifelong passion for the game of basketball in boys and girls ages 6-14 by teaching them the fundamentals of the sport while instilling core values including teamwork, respect, ​and sportsmanship.

The shoes handover:

On the day of the handover, Slim was accompanied by his two friends and brothers form the Basketball world, Thabo and Junior.
Thabo Marotola is form Hoops 4 Hope and Mmoloke Junior is the head coach from Royal Bafokeng Sports and operates​ from theRoyal​l Bafokeng Palace.

Hoops4Hope:

Hoops 4 Hope provides the skills and support young people need to play team sports and face the many challenges of growing up in communities plagued with poverty, crime, and the HIV epidemic. Their dedicated team of MVP volunteers and All-Star​ staff are on the ground and help achieve long-lasting community benefits
H4H

All three gentleman shared their views on success, laughter, ​and entitlement. These uplifting words were well received by the learners present, the videos can be found via the Waka Agency Youtube channel:
Shoes Handover at Matale secondary School.

Thabo from RBS

Slim talking at Matale Secondary school

For more information or bookings from Slim or if you would like to get involved with the Slim cares Foundation, please do contact us:
rsoei@wakaagency.biz
http://www.wakaagency.biz

Neliswa and Anele Mxakaza I believe you.

Neliswa and Anele Mxakaza I believe you.

In 2017 South Africa was woken up to another horrific case of rape and sexual trafficking. In my previous blog, I spoke of the so called man of God, Timothy Omotoso.

Cheryl Zondi: I believe​ you!!

Just this week, the trail started and we watched how the young Cheryl Zondi took to the stand and shared how she lived a traumatic life of being kept captive and continuously raped by this despicable excuse of a human being.
When the case broke in 2017, many press outlets interviewed a number of people who were part of the church cult. There were two young twin sister, Neliswa and Anele Mxakaza, who initially denied any form of abuse and rape. This year they changed their statements and confessed that they too had lived in fear and spoke out about Omotoso demonic ways. ​
They issued the following statement:

For immediate release
29 January 2018
SA IDOLS TWINS, SPEAKING OUT ABOUT THE NIGERIAN PASTOR REV TIM OMOTOSO
We would like to share our hearts with the whole nation regarding our journey in Timothy Omotoso Ministry.
Firstly we wish to send our heartfelt and sincere apologies to all the woman of South African for we appeared to be taking Timothy Omotoso’s side when he faced rape and sexual harassment charges and mostly we wish to apologize to all the victims (all the girls that were raped) we know them all and we took them as our blood sisters, but when they came out we were made to turn our backs against them and support Tim Omotoso. We were even asked to go do newspaper interviews to protect Omotoso.
We wish to also apologize to all the people that love and support us and our talent.
We have been in this Ministry for four years and we have lived in his house in Umhlanga for about a year, it was the worst experience ever… we were actually pushed to please the man, we were told that God will punish us if we ever say anything against Omotoso. We lived a life full of threats and Fear.
The elders of the church played a part in making us run away/escape from our homes to stay in Omotoso’s house, serve in his ministry as kids we were made to believe that Omotoso is the closest person to God and we can never have a relationship with God but only through Omotoso.
We have hurt our parents by allowing a Nigerian man to rule and rein over our lives, however many things happened in spirit than on the flesh. We have been blinded and our spirits were controlled or locked up somewhere by this Man and his Spirits because we could see all the wrongs but never bold to speak out, we wanted to scream but had no voices. Omotoso caused divisions in many families and ruined many peoples lives, his church have the highest unemployment rate and young people who are not studying.
We were not allowed to go to any other church, we were not allowed to listen to any other Pastor and we were not allowed to sing anywhere else besides in his church, we were not allowed to study, but his kids were studying, we were not allowed to see/visit our families.
The rape allegations were not new to us when Omotoso was arrested, it is something that we knew long before he got arrested. The girls would talk immediately after it happened in the house and when one was called to the upper room we knew what was going to happen to them, we were made to keep quiet and never say anything. We escaped and ran away at some point because we knew what was happening. Even when we had left the church we were still not free to talk, we were afraid that something bad will happen to us or our families.
We are happy to announce that we are finally free. We want to thank God Almighty for saving us and delivering us from Omotosos hand. It is not for us to judge.
We are happy to have our lives back and without a shadow of a ​doubt, we are ready to excel in life and spread the word and power of God through our music.
Issued by ANELE & NELISWA
For queries contact:
Mando Makhubela 0711799762

END.

The Mxakaza twins are originally from Ridgeview in Durban, they were invited by the pastor to join his church in 2013. After moving into the house, their mother tried on a number of occasions to get the girls out of his house, Mme Mxakaza was quoted as saying: ”From the beginning, I did not like the idea of them living at the pastor’s house, I fought with him several times, at one stage, he [the pastor] called me a wicked woman because I demanded that my daughters should come back home.” Mxakaza said the pastor had been telling her that the girls were “safer and okay” with him than at home.

The case will resume in Port Elizabeth next week. The twins will be called to testify.

Cheryl Zondi: I believe​ you!!

Cheryl Zondi and the many other survivors, I BELIEVE YOU!!!!!

WHO IS CHERYL ZONDI?
A brave young woman, who had dreams and aspirations of becoming a major gospel artist and to follow the laws of the church. She trusted and respected a man who was meant to mentor and guide her, instead,​​ he stole her innocence​ and​ pushed her life into turmoil and pain. This gross and inhumane individual had and still has the audacity of calling himself​ a ​man of God.

Who is this so-called​ man of God?

Let us​ identify this monster! His name is Timothy Omotoso:
Tim Omotoso (born Timothy Oluseun Omotoso, 14 July 1958) is an​ alleged rapist, televangelist, and the senior pastor of a human trafficking syndicate called Jesus Dominion International, based in Durban, South Africa.​ He is currently awaiting trial at the Port Elizabeth high court for alleged offenses​. He was arrested by the South African priority crimes unit, Hawks, on Thursday, 20 April 2017. Omotoso along with Lusanda Solani and Zukiswa Sitho, face 63 charges including racketeering, contravention of the Sexual Offences Act, human trafficking and rape. Charges against a fourth accused, Nobubele Mlindi, were withdrawn.

His dodgy​ dealing​ with immigration​​n.

Along with these charges, Omotoso’s legality around his passports has been brought to the forefront. Last year, home affairs immigration officer Ivan Classen investigated the legality of Omotoso’s many travel documents. In a previous court appearance, Omotoso declared that he had four passports but according to Classen report he, in fact,​ has six passports.
Classen report:
Classen said Omotoso’s visa could not be confirmed and that South African law obliged Nigerian nationals to enter the country under strict conditions, such as being in possession of a visa, as well as a valid passport.
He said that​ on 18 July 2000, Omotoso traveled​d to Botswana from South Africa and made an application for a work permit at the South African embassy in that country.
“He was granted a work permit that was based on his application stating that he was in South Africa to be employed by Jesus Arena International in Sunnyside, Pretoria, as an overseer and founder member of the church,” said Classen.
“On the same day, he travelled back to South Africa and his permit was not scanned,” said Classen.
He said Omotoso had used the same visa to travel in and out of the country three times, despite its single-entry status.
“He travelled in August 2000, leaving South Africa; he travelled again in October 2000, entering South Africa and lastly departed in June 2001,” said Classen.
He said there was a second passport that granted him temporary residence for a holiday.
“This permit was issued in July 2000 in a Pretoria office,” said Classen.
Classen drew a picture of several South African immigration laws being flouted during Omotoso’s travelling to and staying in South Africa in the past 17 years.
He said Omotoso was granted temporary residency status that could be renewed for a maximum of three years, which he never activated.
“He illegally renewed this document for a period of four years, despite it never being activated,” he said.
“This is in contravention of immigration laws and conditions,” he said.
He said that, according to various laws of immigration, a lot of suspicious activity took place in the various ports of entry where Omotoso entered and left the country.
“There were referrals done on documents that were supposedly in certain pages in his documents, yet the pages referred to are blank and have no previous history,” he said.
Omotoso’s lawyer, Alfonso Hatting, said Omotoso could not be blamed for human error on the part of immigration officers.
He requested that application forms for the last passport be made available to the ​court.

Taken from SABC digital news
The rape trial:
The crimes took place a few years back. Cheryl was young and innocent and went to the​​ church as they claimed they would assist with voice training. Whilst​ there she testifies how she was instructed​ by the older congregants​​s to satisfy the Omotoso beast by having meetings in his bedroom. This is where the molestation and rape began.

Cheryl Zondi has been questioned​​ in court on Monday 15 October 2018.
One of the many reasons why survivors do not go to court is due to the fact that they receive secondary victimisation from the police​ and the again whilst questioned during the trial. This trial is no different. I am still wondering why the trial was allowed to be broadcast. I am in two minds as we empathise with the survivor but we have reached a point where society need to understand what survivors go through in court and perhaps understand why so many choose not to relive their ordeals.

The court proceedings

On Monday 15 October 2018 during cross-examination in court A of the Eastern Cape High Court in Port Elizabeth the following occurred:

Taken from: https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/rape-accused-pastor-has-six-dodgy-passports-20170513

Rape accused Timothy Omotoso’s lawyer Peter Daubermann had made several claims implying that Cheryl Zondi, 22, was a willing participant in the rape and molestation she allegedly suffered at the hands of Omotoso. The lawyer said Zondi had options to leave or report what happened to her at the time.

“Why didn’t you tell your mother?” he asked.

“You went back to the safety of your mother’s house. Secunda is many hours away from Durban,” said Daubermann.

Makaula repeatedly objected to Daubermann’s line of questioning.

Zondi, who was allegedly raped by the “man of God” from when she was 14 years old, told Daubermann several times that she was a child when the incidents took place.

‘Why did you not scream?’

“Can’t you work out the exact time?” shouted Daubermann in apparent frustration at Zondi’s failure to remember the dates on which she was raped.

Zondi said she could not remember because she suffered from severe depression and that it had affected her memory.

He asked if she wanted to make an impression on Omotoso when she went to the Durban church.

Daubermann also asked why Zondi did not scream during the sexual attack.

“Didn’t you realise that if you screamed, somebody would hear you.”

“Why did you not scream when he was busy with this act?”

‘You didn’t say anything to anyone’

Zondi responded that she could not think about screaming because she was in shock and almost paralysed by fear.

“You allowed him to continue,” said Daubermann.

Zondi explained that she was scared of opposing him because he was “a man of God”.

“You carried on as if nothing had happened; you didn’t say anything to anyone,” said Daubermann.

Daubermann then asked Zondi how many centimetres into her vagina Omotoso pushed his penis.

Makaula intervened once more and this led to another heated exchange between the two. 

‘You accepted the risk of being raped’

Makaula told Daubermann that if he was unhappy with being reprimanded, he should use his options, as he was permitted to do so by law.

Yet another heated exchange ensued between the two men when Daubermann alluded to Zondi being prepared to be raped when she went back to Durban.

“When you went to Durban you knew that there was a risk of being raped and you accepted the risk of being raped by agreeing to go there again.

“You voluntarily went back,” said Daubermann.

Makaula warned the lawyer again and told him that he would not allow the question to be asked of the witness.

Daubermann argued that the judge was interfering in his defence case.

The court was adjourned. The matter will resume on Tuesday morning. 

SUBSCRIBED 218K Cheryl Zondi broke down during cross-examination at Timothy Omotoso’s rape trial at the Port Elizabeth Magistrates Court. She faced a barrage of tough questions from Omotoso’s lawyer Peter Daubermann. Courtesy #DStv403.