Birthday Surprise

Two years ago she’d stopped celebrating her birthday, but this is one she’ll surely never forget

- THATO SEHONG

'NOT another R10 tip! Don’t people know the 10% rule when it comes to tipping your waiter?” I asked myself softly as I cleared table five.

Finally, my shift was done and I headed to the taxi rank to catch a minibus home. As I sat in the back, cramped in between two big ladies, my mind drifted back to the “good old days” as we call them. Back to the days when my dad was still alive and I was still happy. To when I knew exactly what I wanted and wouldn’t let anyone stand in the way of me getting it. What had happened to that girl?

I was born to wealthy parents. My mother, Felicia Mhlongo, is the founder and CEO of one of the biggest mining companies in Africa, Mhlongo Mining. And my father, David Mhlongo, was a photographer. Although he was amazing at his job, it was his personality that everyone loved.

He was caring, funny and had this way of making even the smallest person in the room feel like they mattered. He could make people forget all about their problems and just have fun.

My mom, however, was the total opposite of my dad. She was very “focused,” as my dad would often say in her defence. He was just being nice because in actual fact, she was cold and rude a lot of the time. She often blamed her rude and no-nonsense demeanour on her career.

She and I barely got along and disagreed on everything. I loved and respected her as my mom but I was a daddy’s girl through and through.