South Africa’s media royalty gathered for an evening of dazzle, glamour and good conversations over a three course dinner this week.
Stella Artois’s Lets Do Dinner event on Wednesday night couldn’t have happened at a better time, as the vision of bringing people together is the country’s current mood for tonight’s Springbok’s game at the rugby world cup finale.
The A-list event which was hosted by media personalities, Nomzamo Mbatha and Kat Sinivasan, and attended by the likes of Loyiso Gijana, Pabi Moloi, Unathi Nkayi, Melanie Bala, JR and his wife, Tshepi Vundla amongst many others, saw some of South Africa’s most influential people gather around a dinner table in aims of bringing people together.
Marsha Kumire, marketing director at Stella Artois said the brand’s mission is to save lives and contribute to things of genuine worth, she said bringing people together over dinner would result in human connections.
“We understand that when people connect, they leave feeling fulfilled. Dinner is able to achieve this. Good food and good conversations are good connectors and showers of love. Our hope through this instalment is that people get into the habit of doing dinner more and have people connect,” she said.
Mbatha who elegantly hosted the evening said the South African instalment versus the American version, which she attended last week was more intimate.
“New York was beautiful and grand, but felt segregated. The South African instalment also had music as a unifier. I have found that South Africans connect and relate through music, this evening had that,” she said.
When asked if she could bring to dinner just one of her icons, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Viola Davis or Queen Nandi, who she graciously portrayed recently in Shaka Ilembe, she said: “I would bring back Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Each time I encountered her, I was left with something. She was larger than life and lived an interesting life,”.
The evening saw the likes of musician and producer, JR perform and much loved songbird, Shekinah perform, leaving everyone in attendance on their feet. The food was elegantly prepared by celebrity chef, Reuben Riffel.
Riffel said: “I’m thrilled to be involved in this extraordinary event that created a menu that will explore our regional flavours and produce in a way that brings the wow factor. I had a number of surprises which will spark conversation,”.
The red carpet was beautified with elegance in which Mbatha said meant that guests understood the brand.
“Usually when we South Africans attend an event, we dress up and go all out, but tonight though we looked amazing, we chose elegance and simplicity but still stellar,” she said.