How I Met Thobile Zulu, Daughter of a President, at Hotel Indaba, Fourways, in 1998, and How That One Night Became a Lifetime
My sons and daughters, listen! It is written in that picture you sent me: Serendipity, “a beautiful accident.” You never really know which ordinary day will change your life forever. Sometimes it is a random message, a delayed train, a small decision, or a conversation that almost never happened.
For me, that ordinary day was 1998.
1998. Witkoppen Road. Fourways. On the road to Pretoria from Johannesburg. Hotel Indaba.
Apartheid had just gone! Mandela was in State House! But Fourways was still white like milk! White faces, white music, white wine! A live instrumental band, with a saxophone crying and a violin whispering sweet soul sounds!
I was walking alone. A young man from Kifuuta, lost in South Africa but not lost in spirit! Because Jjaajja Kifuuta had taught me, “My son, even when you are the only black seed in white soil, stand like a mvule tree!”
I sat alone near the counter. At the far end of the counter, a beautiful African queen was sipping Windhoek lager in a tumbler glass! That was Thobile Zulu! Daughter of a President! In that whole place, we were only two Africans! Me and Thobile! The rest were baas and madams!
Many young men from Busoga, when they enter such a white place, shrink! They order water! They look down! They feel misplaced!
But I did not. Because Jjaajja had taught me how to dance like a gentleman, not like a villager doing Bakisimba at a funeral!
I looked at the bartender, a white man with a bow tie, and I said, “Give me my usual: four shots of Rémy Martin XO cognac, neat!”
My sons! The whole counter turned! CLING! Glasses stopped! Everyone turned to see who takes this classic shot!
Straight away, Thobile crossed to my side. We talked. We laughed. We danced to the saxophone and violinist’s sweet soul sounds, not like villagers from Namwendwa, but as Jjaajja had taught me: gentle, chest out, soul to soul! Thobile fought to pronounce my name. Even now, she calls me Mbassi instead of Mbazzi. Mbasi, my Mbasi, then you Mbasi! She failed, Bambi!
That was serendipity! That was the beautiful accident!
BUT, MY CHILDREN, SERENDIPITY DID NOT END THAT NIGHT!
Many people think serendipity is just one night! No! True serendipity is when one ordinary conversation becomes a road that builds your life!
From that night in 1998 at Hotel Indaba, Thobile and I have been together ever since! Not as lovers passing, but as family!
She made me visit Durban City! And my sons, surely, back then, Durban was a very clean, beautiful city! Old-fashioned vehicles doing taxi duty, driven by locals! Indian Ocean breeze! Palm trees! Not this crowded noise of today! A city that respected itself!
She connected me to her brothers, Sithokomere! My brother Sithokomere! When I am in Durban, I am like a Prince of the Zulu! Because of Thobile! They welcomed this son of Kifuuta Kyotera Buddu into the Zulu kraal like their own blood!
She convinced me: “Buy here! You are our brother now!” And I bought! Inhloni Crescent house! My own house in Durban! Because a sister from a beautiful accident told me to put a root down!
Since 1998, Thobile and her family and I have been close! Close! We eat together! We mourn together! We celebrate together!
In Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease, he says one contact can change a man’s chi!
Because of this connection with Thobile Zulu, through my friend and brother Sithokomere, I managed to get a subcontract while building King Shaka Airport in 2008! Me! A man from Kifuuta Kyotera Buddu! Building an international airport in South Africa! Tuvuudde wala, tondaba awo n’olowoza Nina gwenabba. Tunatokambali sana!
Tell me, if I had not ordered those four shots of Rémy Martin XO neat in 1998, would I have gotten King Shaka? If I had sat shy? If I had felt misplaced?
That is what they call serendipity! Serendipity loves the bold!
WHAT IS THE LESSON FOR YOU?
One Drink Can Buy You a House!
Not alcohol, confidence! Your Rémy Martin XO moment is that moment you decide not to be small! Order your life neat! The bartender of destiny is watching!
One Sister Can Give You a Kingdom!
Thobile did not just give me a dance! She gave me brothers! She gave me Durban! She gave me Inhloni Crescent! She gave me King Shaka Airport! In life, value people! One person, one beautiful accident, can become your visa to your future!
My son, respect that lady customer who buys your coffee daily! She may be your Thobile! She may be the one who connects you to the big factory!
Stay Close to Your Serendipity!
Many of you meet good people and you disappear after one beer! Since 1998, through 2026 and beyond, we have been close to Thobile and her family! We kept the fire burning! Serendipity dies if you don’t water it! Call! Visit! Remember birthdays! Go to Durban! That is how a one-night dance becomes a subcontract at King Shaka!
So, my sons and daughters, your Hotel Indaba is waiting! Your Thobile is sipping her Windhoek lager somewhere! Your Sithokomere is waiting to make you a Prince!
But you must walk into the room! You must order your four shots neat! You must not dance like a villager!
Because God holds the morning in His hands, and that morning may be tomorrow!
Kifuuta Oracle, The Man Who Met a Zulu Princess in Fourways and Became a Prince in Durban, From Kifuuta Kyotera Buddu to Inhloni Crescent.
