Basetsana Kumalo

Beauty queen and entrepreneur

Basetsana Kumalo addressing students at Fumana High School in the East Rand

This is a rag to riches story – one of those we love to hear and celebrate. Basetsana Kumalo (née Makgalemele) was born in Soweto on March 29, 1974, to a bus driver father and teacher mother. As a child, Bassie – as she is known – and her two sisters and brothers earned extra money for the family by making and selling sandwiches. She began her schooling at Thabisang Primary School in Soweto, but transferred to a school in Lenasia when disruptions threatened her education.

In 1990, at 16 years of age, Kumalo entered the Miss Soweto beauty pageant, where she swept the title, going on to land “Miss Black South Africa” too. Planning to be a teacher, like her mother, she headed to the University of Venda, but her mother entered her into the 1994 Miss South Africa pageant. There was no turning back: after claiming the coveted crown, she was named first runner-up in the Miss World pageant that same year.

Her 12-month reign as Miss South Africa created many opportunities for Kumalo, who maximised on high-profile circulation and newfound fame to launch her business career. She and her business partner, Patience Stevens, were awarded a contract by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) for their all-female production company, Tswelopele Productions, to produce lifestyle television programme Top Billing. In 1999, Tswelopele merged with Union Alliance Media and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Kumalo was now one of the country’s youngest black female directors; her astute mind and business acumen had rapidly created a very valuable brand.

On the romance front, Kumalo had dated boxer Dingaan Thobela but had apparently suffered abuse in this relationship. The beauty was pursued by Romeo Kumalo, a former broadcaster and Vodacom executive, and the couple married in 2000 in a celebrity wedding attended by former South African president Nelson Mandela. In 2003, Kumalo gave birth to a son, Nkosinathi Gabriel Kumalo.

The first South African woman to grace the cover of international publication Psychologies, Kumalo has also appeared on the covers of local glossies such as Cosmopolitan, You/Huisgenoot, Drum, Tribute, Ebony, True Love, Femina, Soul, Bona and Fair Lady. As the face of Revlon’s Realistic Hair Care range, she was a spokesperson for the company for more than half a decade.

In 2001, Kumalo joined the Gauteng Travel Academy as a director. She is the outgoing president of the Business Women’s Association of South Africa, sits on numerous boards and has built up business interests in mining and property. She is the editor-at-large of Top Billing magazine and has launched her own clothing range and an eyewear and cosmetic line.

Kumalo has been a winner on the fashion front too. The 2006 Cape Town Fashion Festival bestowed the Fashion Icon Award upon her; Femina magazine previously listed her as one of the top 10 most glamorous women in South Africa; and in 2002 and 2003 she was voted the most stylish female magazine/entertainment show host by the Sunday Times and Elle magazine. She was nominated as Woman of the Year by Shoprite/Checkers/SABC 3 in the media and communication class and is a previous recipient of the annual Rapport/City Press Prestige Award.

In 2004, Kumalo contributed to the book, Inspirational Women at Work, which focuses on new leadership.

Her philanthropic efforts include the Basetsana Kumalo Family Foundation, which she founded with her husband to empower children, especially those orphaned by AIDS and related diseases. With actress Salma Hayek, she has highlighted the need to wipe out neonatal and maternal tetanus in the world as part of the United Nations Children’s Fund/Pampers One Pack = One Vaccine campaign.

In 2007 she took a public HIV test, volunteering to promote testing and knowing one’s status at the request of former first lady Graça Machel. She has raised money for Baragwanath Children’s Hospital with Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe and volunteers with Agang Sechaba, an initiative formed by women professionals to develop the township communities they were brought up in.

This hugely driven and extraordinarily beautiful woman is the symbol of success, yet she has not lost her grounded personality and caring approach to life.