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Episode details

World Service,10 Jun 2019,53 mins

The secrets of a Soweto chef’s success

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Available for over a year

Celebrity chef Lesego Semenya is one of South Africa's most recognisable black faces in a fine dining industry still dominated by white personalities. Growing up in Soweto at the end of apartheid Lesego was one of the first wave of black children who got bussed to school in white areas and says this gave him the skills to operate in both worlds as an adult. He tells Andile Masuku how a game show, a pie and keeping it real has been key to his success and why he's on a mission to take the snobbery out of the haute cuisine kitchen. Lesego has written a book called 'Dijo', which means food. Willard Katsande has had an incredible journey from herding cattle in remote Zimbabwe to playing for one of South Africa's biggest football clubs, the Kaizer Chiefs. Named after a Zimbabwean footballer Willard felt destined to play professionally, he tells Andile how his career has helped him lift his family out of poverty and what it's like dealing with pressure on and off the pitch. Shubnum Khan has a cautionary tale of why you should always read the small print. She's a South African artist and writer whose image went global, not for her work, but because pictures from a photo shoot she did were sold on to a stock photo company. Shubnum tells Andile what it was like to discover her face was promoting acne creams, dating websites and a Cambodian trekking company. Image: Lesego Semenya Credit: Claire Gunn/Jacana Media

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