Fikile Mbalula at his 50th birthday party. Picture: Facebook
Known as “Minister Razzmatazz”, “Mr Fix”. “Mr Fear Fokkol” and “Mbaks”, Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula, is not only known for being contentious and opinionated but correspondingly having an interesting sense of style.
At times he even refers to to himself as a “crush” .
As one of the younger ministers at 50, Mbalula has a colourful sense of fashion and keeps up with trends. At times a total hit, other times a bit of a miss. We take a look at some his best looks and others that had us raising our eyebrows.
His sense of fashion, though praised for being brazen, does at times meet criticism from those who believe parliamentary figures should be slightly more conservative.
The South African State of the Nation address (Sona) 2020 saw Mbaks donning a classically West African agbada in midnight blue, with an accompanying brown hat.
The technical description of an agbada is: A long, wide-sleeved flowing gown, often embroidered, worn by men in parts of West Africa, especially Nigeria.
Although prominent in West Africa it’s rarely seen in the streets of South Africa. While it’s a conservative outfit, the detail in the fabric and embroidery adds to the touch of pomp and ceremony.
According to Times Live when asked about his outfit he described it as “inspired by Africa”. The outfit was praised by some as making Mbaks look like an African king.
This year, his birthday look consisted of a marble black and white jacket and trendy dress shoes with studs that made quite the impact. Appearing on AKA’s SABC1 Braai Show he wore a red and green tartan suit with matching scarlet shirt and blue and white scarf.
No one can argue that Mbalula doesn’t know how to style a good suit and this seems to be his style forte. In an amusing exchange on Twitter where EFF Leader Julius Malema teased him about a suit he wore, saying it was a five-piece ensemble, he said:
“Bafanas, ka five-piece including other things”. Mbalula was quick to correct him saying “This is 6 piece@Julius_S_Malema
Responding to the tweet Mbaks said: “If you add the hair, Covid is temporary drip is forever moetapele“. Adding that it was a Chinese suit and quoting an old classic Mzansi tune from late singer Senyaka.
It demonstrated he has a healthy sense of humour when it comes to his clothes and isn’t overly sensitive about comments.
Keeping it young and trendy Mbalule dabbles in loungewear, urban gear, and can often be seen in luxurious Gucci, wearing signature cardigans and embellished beanies. He’s often spotted in hoodies and comfortable Gucci tracksuits.
Being active on social media makes him easily accessible for those who want to question his fashion sense. In his previous post as ANC head of elections, Mbalula appeared before the Zondo commission sporting a brand new pair of very distracting glasses.
His followers wanted to know what made him choose the particular cat’s-eye spectacles he wore, even saying that they were reminiscent of the intimidating aunty at a family gathering and calling them Gogo glasses. Even with all this criticism the minister still wears his cat’s-eye glasses with pride.
He tends to play fashion police and often comments on other people’s questionable sense of fashion.
He previously commented on Mduduzi Manana, who was accused of assaulting a woman in Johannesburg nightclub Cubana. According to The Sowetan while visiting the woman’s family in Khayalelitsha, Cape Town, Mbalula commented that Manana’s flash suits would not save him.
In the portfolio of sports ninister in 2016, he tweeted that he was unimpressed by Team South Africa’s Olympic look saying: “No swag for Team SA at the Olympics.”
I share the same sentiments with all of you. This should never happen again. Our athletes deserve better.” RSA Min of Sport (@MbalulaFikile) August 13, 2016.
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