A chat with Relebogile Mabotja

‘Multi-talented’ doesn’t even begin to describe local goddess Relebogile ‘Lebo’ Mabotja.

She’s had 12 years in the media and entertainment industry and has become a household name, but Mabotja is quick to point out that she came from humble, if not blessed beginnings.

“My upbringing was diverse, interesting and very mixed,” she said. Born in Pretoria, Mabotja revealed that her grandmother lived on a farm where her family would often spend their holidays. “Yet I lived in the township and went to school at a private school in the suburbs, so my upbringing was really a little bit of everything.”

She added that she was grateful her parents were open-minded enough in 1990 to put their children into private schools. “It opened us up to all those opportunities and those are the kinds of schools where you do everything, from nativity plays to sports like badminton,” she laughed.

“I had a blessed childhood, I’d say, for someone who was living in the township.”

Her big break came about in her final school year when she appeared in Fame – The Musical. “That was the most naive I was, the most real, fresh and purest that I must have been in my career. I’ll never get that moment again,” she fondly recalled. She mentioned that this, as well as singing for former President Nelson Mandela as a child, was one of her most memorable moments.

She may have spent a lot of time on stage and in front of the camera, however, at this stage in her life, Mabotja admitted that she preferred being behind the scenes. “I love the fact that I can really take something from a baby and make it something bigger. But I’m not going to retire from performing just yet,” she hinted.

She’s also hard at work growing Lebotja Media, the company she started three years ago. “It’s a brand extension of who Relebogile is, it takes all of my passions and puts them together. I need to contribute something to the industry and I’m so passionate about doing something for women, women in media, women in entertainment.

“There are so few of us that are really making a mark as black women.”

She was also willing to share her views on the gender pay gap in entertainment, a topic which is hot at the moment, thanks to American actress, Jennifer Lawrence. “I think it’s partly to do with how society has allowed things to be, but it’s also partly because of how us, as women, carry ourselves. I know, for myself, I have issues with learning to ask for more money, it’s such a taboo conversation to have.

“The moment there are more of us banding together and being able to have the conversation of ‘how much are we earning?’ it will be better. I think we’ve got a way to go but it also requires us, as women, to stand up for ourselves.”