Kenneth Nkosi pays your bills

Kenneth Nkosi

Kenneth Nkosi

Published Jan 26, 2015

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BY Munya Vomo

Gimme That Bill is not just another game show. It’s for you, and that contract that you have been struggling to pay off during the past year. Yes, when you wanted that trendy iPhone, it seemed like a great idea at the time, but now, with interest rates and data bundle charges (because you can’t do without your WhatsApp and Facebook), the bill keeps increasing. In some cases the cellphone was damaged or stolen, and it wasn’t insured, yet you are still paying for it.

Sound familiar? Well, Kenneth Nkosi (pictured) and Siya Ngwekazi have the solution, Gimme That Bill, a show that has you play games to possibly win some money to settle your bills.

“The producers of the show, Endemol, thought it was a good fit for me so they gave me a call to see if I was interested. I had worked with Mzansi Magic before, where Gimme That Bill will air, so they, too, wanted me to return so I agreed,” said Nkosi.

For him, the show lightens up the gloomy face of credit and gets people to face the fact that in most cases they live beyond their means.

“The show is about having fun with our credit situations. It was also about the people I was going to work with, especially my co-host, Siya Ngwekazi. I have never worked with that boy before, but he has amazing energy. If there is anyone out there with my kind of energy, then it has to be him, so it was a delight to finally team up with him and I am really enjoying it. Siya is a genius and we strike a good balance,” he said.

Across South Africa, there are many people who, for different reasons, struggle with paying for their bills. Gimme That Bill selects interesting people to help.

“We go and audition people with bills. We are talking about funny bills or strange ones and we call them to the show. All they have to do is play some games to get their bills paid. Sometimes they even have to embarrass themselves in the process,” Nkosi explained.

“I am having fun paying people’s bills, but I just want it to be known that they don’t come straight from my pocket. So people, please, when you meet me on the street, do not ask me to help you out with your credit. I’m not rich,” he joked.

While it’s all fun and games for the TV show, there are serious issues underlying the subject of earning money and expenditure.

“As South Africans we are really not in tune with our money. We have a lot of people with new money and they drive expensive big cars up and down Vilakazi Street in Soweto so that people can see them. They do all this to fit in yet they can’t afford that lifestyle.

“I was talking to young guys in the soapies recently and told them that if they are working in a good production and they can buy a home, they should invest in a place like the East Rand, where I stay. You will get a big yard for R1 million. Instead, they want to go to Sandton and buy a flat for R3m and after they lose their jobs, they lose those homes, too. It’s really sad,” said Nkosi.

Given that he feels strongly about the subject of financial savviness, Nkosi gets to speak about that on the show.

“There is a part on the show where I give some advice on finance management. I always go back to my own life story when I grew up with a struggling mother of five. I knew when I started working that I would get all the things I wanted, but we could not afford. So I had accounts at places like Edgars, Truworths and Sales House at the time. They would say: ‘come get and pay later’. We forgot about interest rates. By the time I woke up I was deep in debt. Today I buy cash so I don’t owe anyone. We live beyond our means because we want to show off,” he said.

Gimme That Bill, 7pm, Saturdays, Mzansi Magic.

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