Pretoria - Solly Msimanga greeted the Pretoria News team with a warm and open smile as soon as we’d parked on his driveway.
He had just arrived from work, and still had on his slacks with a matching shirt, although he had discarded his jacket and tie. On his feet were white casual slippers.
Msimanga was recently elected as the DA’s mayoral candidate for next year’s local government elections, in a bid to have the nation’s capital under the rule of the opposition party.
Since the announcement, his schedule has been pretty busy, so getting this one-on-one interview wasn’t easy.
After assuring us that his two dogs would not bite, he ushered us into his home in Capital Park.
We are greeted by the helper who was busy in the kitchen. Solly led us to his study, where he does most of his work.
But, instead, we agree to conduct the interview in the family room, a more relaxed environment which is fitting since this interview is not about Solly the politician, but the family man.
Soon we are joined by his two young sons, Aobokwe, 9, and Amogelang, 4, as well as his wife Monde.
Although he is meant to be the centre of the interview, his children soon take centre stage, with Aobokwe leading the way.
The Grade 3 pupil’s biggest concerns are his weekly tests which he says are “hard”.
His younger brother doesn’t talk very much, but makes his presence known through his curiosity about what is going on around him, as well as, like other children his age, his inability to sit still.
“He is a replica of his daddy. He has so much energy,” Monde said.
The parent in Solly, who often paused in the middle of a sentence to reprimand one of his sons, is always simmering under the surface. The love is evident, though, in the way his sons are able to joke with him and respond to his playful side.
Although he has spent less than a decade in politics, his rise has been a steady, if not swift, one.
Since his start in 2006, he has held positions as an operational provincial director for Gauteng, chairman of the DA in Pretoria, a councillor and caucus leader and in 2014 he was elected to the provincial legislature. He said during his acceptance speech, when he was announced as the DA’s candidate for mayor, he wanted to give his sons, and the city’s citizens, a better life than the one he had growing up.
He was raised partly in Jeffsville and partly in Atteridgeville by his grandmother and mother. After completing his high school education, he furthered his education at Vista University.
“My mom was unemployed for a very long time. After some years she worked at PMP (Pretoria Metal Pressings). She also worked as a cleaner for several companies,” he explained.
He spent some time living in an informal settlement and recalled times when he had to walk to school everyday, sometimes on an empty stomach.
Through hard work and determination, Solly was able to complete his studies and get himself out of that difficult situation.
“My hope for my children is to make sure they get a good education, be safe and have good opportunities.
“I want to make sure they inherit a city that is safe.”
His children aren’t the only loves of his life, however. His wife Monde also brings a smile to his face as she tells the tale of how they met.
“We worked together at Project Literacy (in 2004). Within a month we were going out for lunch with a friend of ours and sitting and talking together. One day he came to me and said ‘you, you're going to be my wife’ and I was not impressed,” Monde said.
Eventually, through cooking and baking for her and insisting they attend church together, he was able to win her heart.
The couple were married in August 2006.
His love for cooking was not only a tactic used to win his wife’s affections, but is also a hobby he greatly enjoys.
“I cook better than my wife,” he bragged.
He said a typical day in the Msimanga household began with him heading to the gym at 5.30am, his wife getting the children ready for school half an hour later.
By 7am, they are out of the house headed in their different directions.
The children will be fetched from school between 4pm and 5pm and homework gets done before they bath and are in bed at 8.30pm.
The house seems to work like a well-oiled machine but talk of having another child slips in.
Monde revealed that they hoped to one day adopt a little girl, which Solly also confirmed.
“It is something that will definitely be happening.”
What is in the near future, however, is the fight to be called the executive mayor of the City of Tshwane.
This time next year, life may just be a little busier.
Pretoria News