A-LISTERS | A mom’s heartache, winning design and a whole lot of perfumed power

If you spend some time in the company of women these days, the spectre of what is haunting them will soon become all too clear. On Tuesday, the president again addressed the nation with another plan to tackle gender-based violence and femicide.

However, I wonder what in Cupcake’s new “four-point plan” would be of comfort to Ma’am Mpho Letlape, who opened her heart two days later in front of some of the country’s most successful and influential women.

“On September 19 2025 — a day I will never forget — I collapsed in court and blacked out. I had a meltdown like I had never had before, not even on the day we found our daughter’s lifeless body. Because on that day my daughter was killed for the second time by the South African justice system in the form of a young, very astute African female lawyer; a young, very astute African female state social worker; and a female judge in courtroom 4B at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg,” she said.

The case is familiar to many of us, but we have probably forgotten about it, owing to the outrageously long list of women who have died since her daughter, well-known pastry chef Thembekile Letlape, was murdered in May 2024 by her partner, Sibusiso Zitha, in front of his 10-year-old daughter.

He pleaded guilty but was sentenced to just 15 years in prison.

It was not a planned speech, and, perhaps because of that, the raw, honest and unrehearsed truth hung heavily in the room. The audience — including two university chancellors (Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe and Naledi Pandor), former chair of the AU commission Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, billionaire businesswoman Irene Charnley, and erstwhile CEO of the National Empowerment Fund Philisiwe Buthelezi Mthethwa — listened in stony silence.

We were at the annual event hosted by the International Women’s Forum South Africa (IWFSA) — a powerful sisterhood of leaders from business, the government and civil society founded by Zanele Mbeki — who use the occasion to honour women who have made an extraordinary contribution to the nation.

It is a joyful event in my calendar I always look forward to — not least because, boy, can these ladies roll out the perfumed power. Even the often stern Nkosazana looked glam in red, though methinks that might in part be because, after 24-odd years in office, she now has more time to pamper herself.

There were speeches galore at the affair, hosted by Basetsana Kumalo and Cisco head Charmaine Houvet. But they’re often the sort that leave you warm and fuzzy, such as the one given by one of this year’s Hall of Femme recipients Sibongile Mkhabela, who, as the CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund at the time, was instrumental in building a state-of-the-art paediatric facility bearing the former president’s name. The same was true of the address by the formidable Dr Anna Mokgokong, whose business empire spans health care, mining and energy.

AI doesn’t know the ache of an empty chair at the table

—  Margaret Nienaber, Standard Bank COO

But the standout item on the agenda is for me always the poetic praise that precedes the announcement of the recipients, performed lyrically by Lebo Mashile. I also liked the metaphor about passing the baton to the next generation delivered by advocate and current IWFSA president Thandi Orleyn. And we all nodded in agreement when Margaret Nienaber, the oh-so-glamorous COO of Standard Bank, pointed out that AI “doesn’t know the ache of an empty chair at the table”.

On to this week’s other engagements.

First up, I joined the talented interior design and architecture crowd for the Designer of the Year Awards, held at Steyn City’s clubhouse. Now, I have to admit I had a slight case of the jitters because one of my clients, interior design company Head Interiors, had been nominated in the coveted Home of the Year category for their recent Bishopscourt commission.

Arriving at the venue, I wished co-founder Michael Harrison and interior designer Abilene Brodie good luck before greeting Catherine Mo, the convivial editor of House & Garden, which runs the awards. I then said hello to designer Treven Moodley and met landscaper Hannes Stander, who’s currently working on a Garden Route project.

The attentive waiter kindly ensured Masi and I were served our mains before the awards got under way (a melt-in-your-mouth Norwegian salmon fillet with cauliflower mash and edamame beans for me, and lamb chops accompanied by potatoes fondant with pumpkin puree and apricot chutney for the lensman).

My tablemate Dionne Shimidzu, of Rosebank’s chi-chi Hyde hotel, was ecstatic when their newish hidden restaurant, Nine Lives, was named Restaurant of the Year.

We only had time to find out that Lisa Rorich Architects had been named Architect of the Year before we had to slip out — though I did pick up a titbit from Steyn City Properties CEO Steven Louw that the nearby mansion of the late insurance baron who created the estate, Douw Steyn, will soon reopen as a function venue.

Steven, it also turns out, is good mates with financier Pierre Jacobs, husband to Joani Jacobs, whose book launch was my other diary date.

When we arrived at Hotel Sky Sandton, I was chuffed to learn Head Interiors had indeed won in its category. But there was no time to pop the champers because we were here to hear about Joani’s uplifting read Crowned in Confidence, which is peppered with words of wisdom from the glam entrepreneur who started modelling academy Ace Models at the age of 24 with a R10,000 loan from her dad.

Today, the business boasts more than 40 franchises across the continent and has its eyes firmly set on international expansion.

Cosmetics queen Cindy Nell is also a partner in the business, and you wouldn’t have guessed the former Miss South Africa had just stepped onto the tarmac at OR Tambo International just a short while previously, after a gruelling long-haul flight from Melbourne, where she now lives.

By the way, Cindy, if you’re planning on bringing out a book any time soon, Perfectly Poised would be an apt title.