Matli Tshabalala
The love of celebrity and the advent of reality TV and entertainment news in South Africa heralded the entrance of social media stars, and that is what Matli is.
She made the most of her looks and her love of beautiful things to land herself a job as an It-girl, a party-starter and professional entertainer. This opened the doors to the “good life” that Kabelo espoused in his famous song, getting Matli the things she has loved since she was a little girl - free clothes, free bags, free shoes… entrance to the exclusive gigs, and of course entrance to the wallets of rich men who don’t care whether they are being obviously fleeced by beautiful young women.
She is a fierce friend to Mandisa, who shares her background of being fatherless. She has one-up on Mandisa though because she has never known the love of her mother Nomusa. Mandisa and Matli protect each other, understand each other, and will never allow anyone to do wrong by the other.
Matli is a truth-sayer, which often lands her in hot water, because a well-placed white lie sometimes opens bigger doors then a plain-faced truth. After the whole Diliza debacle with the fake pregnancy, and a very public break-up, Matli seems to have found her feet again. The eventing business that she was dabbling in is doing well, because people love to claim that a celebrity organised their gig.
She is still a party starter, and knows how to turn up the turn up.