A day in the life of the city’s first citizen
Review was able to catch up with this dynamic woman at the beginning of the week to reveal a bit about who the woman behind the mayor really is and what makes her tick.
POLOKWANE – Mayor Thembi Nkadimeng has very little spare time.
“Yes, it’s true. I have very little spare time and family time. Getting home at 19:00 is early for me and when I manage this I spend the time with my boys until their bedtime at 21:00,” she says.
Thembi is married and has four children. “Actually I have five – I have two sons and two daughters and my brother’s son also lives with me,” she explains.
She says she adores reading and with her current hectic schedule, if she can get through two books in a month then she is content.
“I also enjoy lazing around the house with a glass of red wine. It helps to wind down the hype of the day. I love listening to my boys – who are still in primary school – when they tell me their stories about what happened at school. Their stories are fascinating and unwind me,” she says as the tender love she feels for her children shine with a special light in her eyes.
She loves dry, red wine and her favourites are a cabernet sauvignon, a merlot or a blend. “I’m not a sweet tooth, so I enjoy a dry dessert wine.”
While many woman go to great lengths to hide the fact that they indulge in shopping therapy, Thembi has no such inhibitions. “I have yet to see a woman who doesn’t enjoy shopping. If she exists, please introduce her to me so I can get the recipe,” she says candidly.
“I do some shopping therapy, which is actually not advisable,” she laughs, adding that the cost of her shopping therapy trip depends on how stressed she is at the time.
“My favourites are shoes and handbags. Shopping is great therapy – it really does work!”
With so many irons in the fire, the question of what motivates her to get up every morning and take the day by the horns has to be asked. “My willingness to serve makes me get up every morning. And especially where people need government services at municipal level. The hospitality people offer and the love they show their community leaders inspires me to do what I can to improve the quality of their lives. The people depend on us to get their RDP house, to get water, to get electricity,” she says with a determined set to her jaw.
She spent some years in Mankweng as a young adult while she was a student at the then University of the North. “I even got my driver’s licence in Mankweng.”
She still has ties with some of the families she befriended while there. “They enriched my life and those of other students. I was practically adopted by Joyce Mashamba (currently the MEC of the Department of Social Development). She was very firm with us girls who she took under her wing.
“She pushed us to study, do well and complete our studies and this went a long way in determining who I am today.”
She describes Joyce a great person and inspirational. “She has helped create young female leaders. In turn I will try to do the same. That is what sustainability is about,” Thembi says.
She is very passionate about women in leadership roles, whether it is in their family, their village, or on provincial political level. She is doing a Masters Degree on this subject and says it fascinates her. “For example: what are the barriers that prevent women from growing and how can they be overcome?
“Life is about sisterhood and making sure we forge ahead as women, especially in roles of leadership,” she concludes.
