MMusi Maimane
DA leader
After a busy year how are you going to spend the festive holiday?
With my family then going away for a few days to be alone. This is my best recharge.
Where is your favourite “quiet” space you retreat to when the madness sets in?
Somewhere between the beach and the mountain. I enjoy being alone, it helps with centring myself. As long as I can be away from it all.
What were your goals for 2015 – did you achieve them?
Improve as a leader. Leadership is an ongoing and evolving process. We learn from our mistakes, and we get our mandate from those who we lead. I felt that I have improved and grown as a leader but the best people to ask are those who I lead.
What is the weirdest, most inappropriate or useless Christmas gift you have ever received?
I am fortunate to have received good gifts.
Raymond Perrier
Director, the Denis Hurley Centre, Durban
Your festive holiday?
It is my first Christmas in Durban so, despite warnings from locals, I’m planning to stay in my flat on North Beach and watch the madness – close up or, more likely, from my balcony window.
Where is your favourite “quiet” space you retreat to when the madness sets in?
One of the quieter beaches – I am always amazed that even when some beaches are packed you can still find a quieter spot further away.
What were your goals for 2015 – did you achieve them?
The goal was to move to Durban, get the Denis Hurley Centre up and running to provide services to the poor, and make sure everyone in Durban knows about us – I think all three of those were achieved.
Your weirdest, most inappropriate or useless Christmas gift?
When I was living in Northern Uganda, an English friend who knows I like opera sent me a boxed set of a beautifully elaborate production from Glyndebourne, one of the world’s most expensive opera houses. It was a fantastically bizarre experience to watch it in the middle of the refugee camp which was my home.
Chad le Clos
Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games swimming champion
Your festive holiday?
Training, but will celebrate Christmas with family and then head to the South Coast to have a party with friends.
Where is your favourite “quiet” space you retreat to when the madness sets in?
My living room, to play Fifa.
Your weirdest, most inappropriate or useless Christmas gift?
No gift is ever useless. It’s always the thought that counts.
What were your goals for 2015 – did you achieve them?
I lost the 200m fly at the World Championships.
Pearl Thusi
Actress, TV presenter
Your festive holiday?
I will be working a lot of the holidays. It’s our busiest season of the whole year. It is bad news to not be working now.
Where is your favourite “quiet” space you retreat to when the madness sets in?
My home. It’s my sanctuary.
What were your goals for 2015 – did you achieve them?
This year didn’t go as expected but it was still fantastic. Some things I achieved were beyond my expectations and some didn’t take off. Every achievement is a blessing.
Your weirdest, most inappropriate or useless Christmas gift?
Annoying SMSs. I hate those Christmas and New Year forwarded messages.
Khanyi Dhlomo
Businesswoman and director, Ndalo Media
Your festive holiday?
The most important thing I focus on is family as it is rare I get the opportunity to spend time with my entire family. We have a tradition of discovering new parts of the world together so it’s my favourite time of year. This year we have decided to keep it local and explore Haga Haga in the Eastern Cape, and the warm and welcoming city of Durban, which is my home town.
Where is your favourite “quiet” space you retreat to when the madness sets in?
My home is my haven and I find no greater joy than taking a good book and reading it in my nook. I am reading Thrive by Arianna Huffington, which requires a peaceful and positive environment.
What were your goals for 2015 – did you achieve them?
As a mother and wife, family is my priority. My first goal, which is one I keep every year, is to ensure I give my husband and children the love and support they need. My other goal related to ensuring that Ndalo Media continued to drive a strong positive narrative of what South Africa has to offer the world in business and lifestyle industries.
Your weirdest, most inappropriate or useless Christmas gift?
All gifts are special to me – as they say, it’s the thought that counts. If it’s inappropriate, I find someone who it’s appropriate for.
Ben Voss
Actor, satirist, director
Your festive holiday?
Working. Someone needs to be creating that festive spirit. I hate to break it to you kids, but that’s not really Santa counting the minutes under lights in the pavilion forecourt. That’s Ben Voss. Fifty bucks an hour is not to be sneezed at when Winnie Mandela might be tomorrow’s finance minister.
Where is your favourite “quiet” space you retreat to when the madness sets in?
I don’t retreat anywhere. I enjoy changes of focus more than retreating. So after a busy month I might refocus on something different but just as “busy”. The change of energy, people and objective feels like a holiday. After my recent project Wickedly Odd – The Night Garden I flew to the Eastern Cape to run my art gallery in Bathurst.
What were your goals for 2015 – did you achieve them?
The big one was completing Wickedly Odd which took some serious work. I took two roles in movies. On the flip side, I started the year with grand visions of venturing into stand-up comedy, which never materialised, a movie script that has been “Van Rooyened”, and a one-man show vanished with my exploded hard drive.
Your weirdest, most inappropriate or useless Christmas gift?
My mum was an appalling gift giver. Hippies give the worst gifts. All I wanted as a kid was a plastic machine gun that shot dinosaurs. I got home-made wheatgrass and aniseed do-it-yourself painting kits with recycled paper. No wonder I’m in therapy.
Nibs van der Spuy
International musician
Your festive holiday?
I’m based in Lisbon, Portugal, but will be spending a few days in London with family. I will return before New Year’s Eve, in time to play a concert in a beautiful fishing town called Cascais, on the coast.
Where is your favourite “quiet” space you retreat to when the madness sets in?
Over the past year, I have found my sanctuary in the walls of a 16th-century fort on the banks of the Tagus river a few kilometres upstream from my home. It’s magical.
What were your goals for 2015 – did you achieve them?
I’m in a transition in my life where a lot of change is happening and I am waiting for the deep calling before I set sail again. It’s my first sabbatical in 12 years. One thing I did achieve was to record a new album, which was produced by a world-renowned producer in the south of England. It will be released early next year.
Your weirdest, most inappropriate or useless Christmas gift?
Last year my sister and I coincidentally bought each other the same gift. It is a plastic contraption called a Fasta Pasta. You put spaghetti in it with water and pop it into your microwave and, miraculously, after 10 minutes, one has al dente spaghetti. Amazing. We forget that if we used a normal stove to cook the pasta, it would only take seven minutes.
Holly Wasserfal
Singer
Your festive holiday?
My birthday is on December 27 so it’s always a great time. Family, friends and a whole lot of food.
Where is your favourite “quiet” space you retreat to when the madness sets in?
Home. Wherever my family and loved ones are.
What were your goals for 2015 – did you achieve them?
I wanted to focus more on my music, which I did. I also worked on my branding, got signed to a great management company, and performed at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival’s main stage alongside The Mahotella Queens this year. So yeah, I think I did well.
Your weirdest, most inappropriate or useless Christmas gift?
Coat hangers. And they were the absolute worst.
Logie Naidoo
eThekwini Municipality speaker
Your festive holiday?
I am spending a week on Bali. Christmas and New Year will be in Durban. I’ll go to a friend’s birthday on December 26 and celebrate my mum’s 83rd birthday on December 27.
Where is your favourite “quiet” space you retreat to when the madness sets in?
Visiting a friend in tranquil Zimbali.
Your weirdest, most inappropriate or useless Christmas gift?
A cellphone charger bank that does not work.
What were your goals for 2015 – did you achieve them?
I am impressed with the council’s performance and achievement of a clean audit. My daughter completed her first year studying law at the University of Cape Town and my son completed his matric.
Shashi Naidoo
Actress, model and presenter
Your festive holiday?
I’ll be in Cape Town for two weeks. My sister recently gave birth so I am now an auntie. I’ll be going to London for a break.
Where is your favourite “quiet” space you retreat to when the madness sets in?
Staying home. That’s the best quiet space.
What were your goals for 2015 – did you achieve them?
I don’t set goals, but I wanted to work out regularly in 2015, which I did. I also achieved business goals, which I’m happy about.
Your weirdest, most inappropriate or useless Christmas gift?
Receiving nothing is the most useless. I haven’t received anything I didn’t like.