The London Paralympics helped to ‘define ability over and above disability’, its organising chief, Sebastian Coe, said recently. TV personality Masingita Masunga is a shining example of what he means.
Johannesburg – Within five minutes of our sitting down at an alfresco eatery in Sandton, a fan walks up to Masingita Masunga. He recognises her from her TV talk show Masingita With Confidence, broadcast on Soweto TV, and greets her as though he knows her well. She is friendly and full of smiles, shaking his hand.
“Is he a friend?” I ask. “No, but he watches my show,” she replies, her speech stilted, mouthed with difficulty but with unwavering confidence.
That she was born with cerebral palsy – the tragic consequence of a lack of oxygen during her birth at a clinic in rural Giyani – is completely incidental, to Masunga at least. At 33, she’s as accomplished and self-assured as any of her contemporaries.
She presents her own TV show, manages her own media company, Masingita Masunga Media, and is also an inspirational speaker at schools and churches, most recently, at the Disability Conference held at the Sandton Convention . For 10 years, she was the chief executive officer of the Miss Confidence Beauty Pageant, the only beauty pageant for people with physical disabilities.
Her hand gestures are slightly unco-ordinated at times (cerebral palsy affects parts of the brain that control muscle movements), but that doesn’t prevent her driving, alone, all over Joburg. None of it came easily, though. In fact, getting a driving licence was one of Masunga’s greatest challenges. “It took me eight years to master the skill of driving,” she laughs.
She also failed matric twice at her high school in Tshwane, “because of my handwriting”.
Breaking social taboos and changing attitudes towards people with disabilities – even with the help of events like the London Paralympics – is no easy task. The statistics say it all. Of the five million disabled people in SA, less than one percent (50 000 people) have a proper job, according to the South African Disability Alliance.
Read more: Unquenchable spirit meets disabled body