Cape Town – There couldn't be a more apt time to listen to Basetsana Kumalo sharing a candid and inspiring account of her remarkable life from her best-selling book, My Journey of Hope – a no-holds-barred account.
On Thursday, the Cape Times will be hosting an intimate session with Kumalo from 4pm to 6pm at the Cape Town Hotel School in Granger Bay.
During the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign, her book makes for compelling and compulsory reading. She is brutal in her honesty about how she was subjected to physical and emotional abuse at the hands of an ex-lover.
With gender-based violence being so rife in South Africa, she felt it was important to highlight that it could happen to anyone, even someone as successful as her.
She also recounts her miscarriages, being the victim of cyberbullying and a stalker, and the death of her parents, among others.
It is not all doom and gloom, though. The Miss SA 1994 also gives a candid account of her relationship with Nelson Mandela, who played a big part in her becoming who she is.
She also explores in detail her continuing relationship with his widow, Graca Machel.
Her journey from beauty queen to mother, businesswoman and philanthropist enables us to better understand one of the most influential women in South Africa.
She told the Saturday Star the purpose of her memoir was to remind readers of her wide-ranging struggles in a bid to demonstrate that hope is never lost.
“I wanted to chronicle the journey of my life in literary form and fully reveal the lessons that I have learnt and the challenges that I had to overcome to inspire a new sense of hope.”
Kumalo stressed that such a book was needed in South Africa at a time the nation is constantly confronted with a new set of challenges.
“We have lost that which makes us South Africans because of the real challenges that our country is facing."
To book: https://www.quicket.co.za/events/92561-cape-times-presents-basetsana-kumalo/#/