The Other Side of Skolopad

Music and TV awards shows aren’t safe from her booty-baring outfits, but the single mom is just trying to make ends meet with her outrageous alter ego.

- Shanaaz Prince

PUT her on the red carpet and she laps up the attention – batting her false eyelashes for the camera, flashing plenty of flesh and vamping it up for the world to see.

Who could forget the slit-way-up-to-there yellow gown she wore at the Metro FM Music Awards in Durban in February? Or the provocative bare-legged sprawl on the carpet at the South African Music Awards at Sun City last month?

One thing is for certain: Skolopad knows how to get people talking. After a night out on the town she’s trending on Twitter and even DJ Sbu complimented her on her efforts after her raunchy display at the Samas. “Well done on some amazing PR on yourself over the past few months, my sister,” he tweeted. “You can teach PR students a thing or two about publicity.”

So how does the woman of the hour feel about all the attention? “Being Skolopad is something that keeps me busy – it’s my brand as an independent woman,” she says. “I find my strength in her and she makes me happy.”

But today, sitting on a brown couch in her one-bedroom house in the Bohlokong township in Bethlehem in the Free State, she’s a far cry from the in-your-face socialite who loves hogging the limelight at glitzy dos. She’s promised to reveal the woman behind the wow – and when she’s out of character Skolopad is almost unrecognisable. She’s just Nonhlanhla Qwabe, a nurse at a hospital in Bethlehem, and the only reminders of her Sama stunt are her exaggerated eyelashes and glittery manicure.