The day Betty came to town
Tumie Modise | Monday November 24, 2014 17:20
The story goes that a certain celebrity from a neighboring country graced our shores a weekend ago; leaving in behind a storm only second to the just ended general elections. This lady, Nonhle Thema, is said to have jetted into the country at the behest of one of Gaborone’s trendiest new joints, as well as one local clothing store where she was to promote an international shoe range.
Armed with just a Matric certificate, Ms Thema is by no means a very big person in stature. Standing at just 1.50m tall in her heels, she is just slightly taller than a drum and would not look out of place among a class of primary school students. But for what she lacks in height, Nonhle definitely seems to make up for vocally. Only a few months ago, she was all over the news because, once again, her seemingly big mouth had landed her in some other trouble with her fans and sponsors.
For those puzzled by this tale, apparently Ms Thema is a celebrity back in her country of birth. It is very unclear what she does but a brief professional profile lists her as ‘Proud mom, Perfumista, Business Woman,TV Star, Actress and New Face of Madison Shoes’. Details are quite sketchy, the villager that I am, I have to admit that I never been to the place where the incident supposedly took place. All I heard, and I trust my sources, is that while talking to an unidentified person on the phone, the bold Ms Nonhle was overheard saying that Batswana women were; “skinny, ugly and AIDS infested”.
I have already admitted that I have never been to the club in question. The closest I have come across it, is seeing pictures of the trendy establishment on social media and some newspapers. In all fairness, the place looks very decent and classy. By the end of that weekend, posts were flying thick and fast on social media and for once, Batswana women were united- in their disdain for this young lady. Initially, I paid little attention to the spat and really thought nothing of it, after all, this incident is not the first and something even tells me it won’t be the last. Wasn’t it not long ago when another alien from that very same country labeled our country a ‘puppet of the West’ before and our President a dictator? These matriculants though.
Back to the saga, what I find very hilarious about this whole drama is the fact that this all started when some people decided to eavesdrop on a private conversation! I never knew Batswana could be this angry, I never knew they even had it in them to unite, put their usual bickering aside, go all out and even cause a foreigner to lose their bread and butter in this manner! Step in the right direction, even impressive.
Before long, this simmering furor soon escalated and before we knew it, Batswana were all over social media causing an international havoc. Soon the backlash reached South Africa and that is when I feared for the worst! I recall that not very long time ago there was another spat between Batswana and Kenyans, if I am not mistaken our former Foreign Affairs Minister had everything to do with it.
As the Nonhle spat spiraled on, her sponsors got wind of the drama, quickly issued out statements and abruptly cancelled their deals with her. You know things are messed up when not only do we get insulted by a school dropout, but also by someone whose remuneration is just a mere 10 pairs of shoes!
On a positive note, Ms Thema’s New York sponsors are said to have pledged an amount of P10, 000 to a local AIDS charity as a way of saying ‘sorry’ to this country’s women for the demeaning remarks. It is another insult. My take, a better option would be, as a matter of urgency, to invest that sum towards Ms Thema’s own education. Educating a woman, they say, is educating a whole nation. There is also nothing more frightful than ignorance in action. As for our local promoters, is it not time our local stars have their own ‘time to eat’ moments too?