Church fund raiser graced by top actors and artists
Shwa last Friday evening visited a kind of unfamiliar territory – a church event, nay, a fund-raising gala dinner, hosted by the Anglican parish church of Saint Stephen’s the Martyr, Thokoza, Ekurhuleni, at the Alberton Civic Centre.
It is great to note, the centre, even as we complain of the rot and service delivery bungles going on in our country, remains one of the best maintained government buildings in the country.
But Shwa digresses.
The event was splendid, graced by some of the country’s top artists and actors and actresses in the entertainment world.
Actor Sipho Manzini, popularly known as Mjekejeke, was among those who attended with his onset partner, Petronella, real name Thembsie Matu. This time they were not squealing, or at each other’s throat for cheating, but helping to raise for the church the requisite dollars to build the house of God on Earth and community centre for the Anglicans in Thokoza.
The point about church-community relations was underscored abundantly by the parish priest, the Reverend Fr Jo-Mangaliso Mdhlela.
Mjekejeke and the evergreen Connie Chiume formed part of the event to lend a helping hand to the fund-raising project.
Playwright, actor and singer, lanky Patrick Sanku Bokaba brought down the roof with his musical rendition, also implanting in the minds of the audience, in his message of support to the project, that “each of us must use their talent to make South Africa a beautiful country”.
Not to be outdone, Free State provincial president of the Chamber of Commerce, Tshediso Thinane, was part of the church jamboree, and so was Thabang “Papa Katu” Neko, a radio and a TV presenter and voice-over artist of note.
