Old Mutual On The Money
Old Mutual On The Money
Actor Ronnie Nyakale Talks About Yizo-Yizo Fame, Debt, Financial Mistakes and Life After Generations
Fame doesn’t guarantee fortune, and the pressure to “look successful” can sometimes stand in the way of real financial freedom. Legendary actor Ronnie Nyakale opens up to our Group Head of Financial Education, John Manyike, about the expectations placed on celebs, and why he believes no job should be considered ‘off limits’ – even when you’re famous.
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John Manyike [00:07]
Welcome to Old Mutual’s On The Money Show. As usual I’m not alone, but today we’ve got someone special. If you know Papa Action in the 90’s you’ll know what I’m talking about. How are you doing?
Ronnie Nyakale [00:21]
I’m good and you?
John Manyike [00:22]
Today you look like Ramaphosa, you know when I saw you today, I said is this the president? But are you well though?
Ronnie Nyakale [00:32]
Ah, no you know there are different people to meet, so now in the bible then they say God is close to meekness. So now going out to meet people out there you need to be presentable. Now through your podcast I’m coming to meet these people that are coming to watch your show. Meaning that I’ve visited these people through you. They shouldn’t always see me in All Stars and a hat.
John Manyike [01:38]
Ok tell us, people know you as Papa Action, they know you as Cosmo, I don’t know on Black Diamond what they were calling you but I mean you are known with many names but of course from a Mzansi perspective you’re commonly known as Papa Action or Cosmo. Who is Papa Action? Who is, who is Ronnie?
Ronnie Nyakale [01:57]
Ya, first of all, sanbonani, dumelang before I get into it, I think I forgot to say hello to the viewers. Thanks for the question. This is Ronnie that you’re talking to right now, this is not a character, this is not Papa Action, this is not Cosmo, this is not Ding-Dong or Sylvester, but I don’t have a problem with people calling me those names because I showed myself to them through my work. Now I believe that sitting with you sharing ideas, now you are interviewing Ronnie Nyakale you see? Not Papa Action. Now I’m going to answer you as Ronnie Nyakale would. Who’s Ronnie Nyakale?
John Manyike [03:01]
Where is Ronnie from?
Ronnie Nyakale [03:04]
Look I was born in Chiawelo, I grew up in Phiri, coming back to Chiawelo when I was five years old. I’ve been in between Phiri and Chiawelo. So growing up I’ve been to different places. I’ve been to Pench, I’ve been to Praktiseer, I’ve been to Lydenburg Mashishini. The journey that I took being brought up, so I’ve been to different schools then finally, from Lydenburg Mashishini, where my mum was born, then I came back to Joburg after Matric. So Ronnie is an actor by profession and Papa Action is a character, Cosmo is a character. These were jobs that made me to be a brand today, so I portray those roles telling a story. A story of a writer through a character then owning the words to win the hearts of the people. Because my journey is, if I get a role, in isiZulu we say that a person abuses themselves. I go to an extent of wanting to find a way of stealing the hearts of viewers, if I can achieve that, I’m good. Ronnie is a very humble guy but the best people to answer that question are the people that would say Ronnie, if you want to know who Ronnie is, I believe that the people that raised me are the best people to tell you that story of who Ronnie is.
John Manyike [05:20]
So tell me, your passion for acting, where did you discover that you’ve got a passion for acting? Is it something that was visible in school already? How did it come about, who spotted this thing?
Ronnie Nyakale [05:32]
It’s the love. Passion comes after the love. You love what you do, you commit yourself to that, then passion will show itself.
John Manyike [05:49]
But when did you discover?
Ronnie Nyakale [05:51]
I won’t say it comes from school or wherever no, its within me, its, you know when God gives you a talent for playing football the passion will show itself along with the love as you’re playing on the field. Passion is somehow related to commitment you see?
John Manyike [06:14]
What I’m interested in understanding from you is you see when you’re in school, you grow and become a teenager and so on, there comes a point where you start to discover that no man this thing I can do. I’ve got this. What age more or less where you becoming aware that I like this thing?
Ronnie Nyakale [06:39]
Theres a book here that I see is titled Accounting and Basic Financial Literacy, I register it so to your question I’ll come back to you on that. My acting started way back as in lower primary. The stories about Moses, Jesus Christ that we grew up on, the biblical stories so from one standard to the other. If I remember very well the only standard where I didn’t act was when I got to higher primary standard three, there’s wanted was a school in Mapetla called Sedibathuto, I don’t remember but standard four to different schools I got there and acted, standard five until Matric. So there was a point where I was in Lydenburg Mashishini where I wanted to do Romeo and Juliet, I was in Matric and the writers, it was ready, it was a script of Romeo and Juliet. So I wanted to act it . I wanted us to act it but now there was a problem in school because there was competition between different youth from the township so there was one secondary and we would meet up at the school. So there were youth from Lutheran, youth from Roman Catholic, and all of these youth don’t get along because we were competing and I wanted to do Romeo and Juliet and they failed me because I couldn’t bring them together. But I was under Lutheran youth but I would go to other churches and run workshops and whilst I was running a workshop they’d give me a role and I’d act it. Then there comes a concert, they’re coming to present their work, here comes my youth, they see me with other youth. So they could’ve gotten upset or whatever but it was my love. I have never in a single moment seen acting as a way of competition. Through me before I was wise, before I was introduced to the Market Theatre where now the Market Theatre gave me an explanation of my life, that this thing is not about competition, its about cultural exchange, so I did that long before when I was still at school. I grew up with this thing.
John Manyike [09:33]
You’re making curious when you say that in church and youth you used to play all these roles. So if you had a biblical character, what role was that? Who did you play, Moses?
Ronnie Nyakale [09:49]
Yes I remember when I was in primary yes. If it was not standard one somewhere there. Not standard two. Standard one or grade two, I played Moses then. But I don’t recall the roles I played in primary but most of them were biblical stories.
John Manyike [10:14]
Now I want to ask you the next question and this is about when you started getting into acting professionally. How did you land the Yizo-Yizo role?
Ronnie Nyakale [10:23]
Oh ok, there was a show at the market theatre, it was directed by Thulani Didi and that laid the platform to become professional at the Market Theatre. So there was this evening where after the show Tebogo came, he approached me so he said he wants to come to the township with the aim that he wants to run auditions for T.V, something like that. Then by then I was already a facilitator, I’m not sure if I was a facilitator at Market but facilitating I had started when I was in school. We had a group, I come from Positive Arts Society, so there was a younger version, junior of the Positive Arts Society. We had one in Senaoane, there was this lady called Chunku and Thulani, that had a group of kids. Then there was a group run by Ernest, Ntokozo in Zola and other groups around so we combined them then Tebogo came. Because remember I was aware that he was coming to run auditions. So now by then I didn’t have the love of T.V and I was not interested. I was not, not at all. Then my aim was to help kids pass the audition. So I was helping them. Tebogo saw me on stage with the guys and he came to see me again, so he asked me to come inside and I said I’m not interested in it. Then he came for the second time and I said I was not interested T.V was not my thing. So the next time when he came he came with a script and said look and read Chesters part. And I was in and I was interested and knew I was in. He was with Angus and I made them part of the scene of the audition, involving them in a part where there was an altercation. They thought I would just act it out but I involved them. So that’s how I got to audition for Yizo-Yizo. Then we got call backs as Chester because I auditioned for Chester. Then finally, because there were a lot of call backs and I didn’t understand why they were calling us back so much but on the last day they asked if I could switch so they could see. I looked at Papa Actions part and agreed with Chester who was played by Ernest, we grew up together so fame came along at a point where we already knew each other so hence I said we were at Hols Majita together, so we auditioned and they said not this was it. This is what we wanted. Then I became worried, no why? I liked the role of Chester. But there were certain things qualities missing that Chester had that they wanted and I didn’t have them and Ntokozo had them. So they so no, you’re very hard core, take Papa Action and you take Chester.
John Manyike [15:51]
And it’s true, I mean you were hard core and I think you and Chester actually pulled that thing together, yes there were other actors but you were the stars of the show. Obviously Yizo-Yizo blew up and you mentioned that you knew each other before the fame. So I want to know that when you became famous, how did that change your life when you became famous?
Ronnie Nyakale [16:17]
First of all, I went to drama school then I graduated from drama school without the knowledge that acting comes with fame you see? So now at the time when I was acting, yes I was familiar with it but fame wasn’t in my head you see? I don’t remember any single day growing up, famous people where people we saw on TV. People we saw in the cinema so I never saw myself as a famous person whilst growing up until I graduated. So now when Yizo-Yizo was about to come they tried to prepare me (JM 17:33) For fame? RN [17:33] Yes. That listen, you are going to be famous. That was a lady that came to the market to meet with Vanessa then Vanessa sat down with me and said I was going to be famous and its not just fame. And I took it lightly. Fame? Ok. So now finally when fame came, I felt it was too much, it was a burden. The love that I got out there from the people out there was too big. But now it took a toll.
John Manyike [18:38]
How was fame taking a toll?
Ronnie Nyakale [18:39]
It disturbed me even in my acting career. There was this day, I didn’t have a car, I was rehearsing Standing in the Sun and I got delayed for about two to three hours. When I got off the taxi at Noord, now they call it MTN. I would get off the taxi and take another taxi and people were happy to see me. I was trying to get a way out and the taxi drivers, the older men would say to me, Papa Action, people like you, don’t do that. So I grew up knowing that a grown up was a grown up so I couldn’t argue with them so I got delayed. It wasn’t intentional, its like going to the bank. Right now you’re late have a minute left and you’re at the mall and someone wants to take a photo, once you stop, the security guard closes the doors. Then there was this day again, I was kidnapped, it was a day after the 24th September a holiday we were at Glen, the following day I took a taxi and they said we saw you with your friends somewhere in the Glen so today you’re going with us. They called people, their friends at the rank. They took my phone, called their girlfriends and bought alcohol. We went to a park in Lenz they wanted to chill with me. So I wasn’t ok but I ended up being ok.
John Manyike [21:29]
So you weren’t able to get to work on time to do your acting?
Ronnie Nyakale [21:33]
Those were just a few incidents. Fame distanced me from taverns. I last went to a tavern in the days of Yizo-Yizo. There would be someone drunk and excited to see me and hug me those type of things. I don’t know how to explain it but it disturbed me. A drunk person has strength and you could feel that they had strength.
John Manyike [22:24]
And that time they want to kiss you too because they were drunk.
Ronnie Nyakale [22:28]
Yes that’s what I’m talking about, that’s what I’ve experienced. So I think and I’m grateful that being at the Market Theatre Precinct for two years taught me life without teaching me that there was this side to it. So there were things that I sacrificed myself of because of fame. You sacrifice yourself of the ladies, there were things that required principles that now these are the boundaries I live with and boundaries that I write down and I quote from the side of the ladies that your celebrity must not cause you to grab every woman. This is what I told myself, that Ronnie, don’t let your celebrity status grab every woman at every turn because you’ll end up with someone who is sick or how many abortions they’ve had then tomorrow you say you were bewitched yet no it’s the amount of people you took to bed. That’s when I’m breaking it down, not completely but basically it says that your fame should not make you grab every woman. Yes they are there and you may see them surrounding me but I always make sure.
John Manyike [24:23]
So I want to understand that fame that we are talking about, did you at any point feel that it’s putting you under pressure to spend money on certain things that you didn’t want to spend on. Of course there was an issue of you not having a car and public transport created other challenges because it delays you because people got star studded. But did that pressure put pressure on you to end up buying things you didn’t want to buy because of the pressure, even from family?
Ronnie Nyakale [24:56]
Help me understand you well.
John Manyike [25:07]
You see fame right, when you become famous and people have expectations that you can’t just be famous but you’re taking taxis. Now you’re under pressure to buy a car because I’m famous. Or the clothes you’re wearing is not representing the role, then you want to go and buy expensive things because there’s pressure that you need to live a particular type of lifestyle. Where you under any pressure, did you experience any kind of pressure financially?
Ronnie Nyakale [25:35]
That came about when the pressure came from taking taxis because I was fine but the reactions of the parents in the taxis didn’t sit well with me. A mother would get into the taxi someone would make her aware of who was sitting in the back and when she saw me would be disgusted. From Chiawelo to Pritchard where it turned going upward, all the parents in the taxi would reprimand her saying no! He’s an actor all the way until I got off. She swore at me and said I hate his he’s disgusting so if it went according to her, all the other parents would have acted the same, what would have become of me? That pressure in the taxis. So this thing led to being pressurized that now I wanted to be private. But I didn’t have enough money put together but there was some money I had then sat with Tebogo and told him of the challenges I faced.
John Manyike [27:40]
There were no Uber and Bolt during those times
Ronnie Nyakale [27: 42]
No during those times were maxi taxis. And maxi during those times from SABC to my home was four hundred. We’re talking about 1997 I once took a maxi taxi from SABC to my house at four hundred. But now 2025 you take a Bolt from SABC to Chiawelo its hundred and fifty. I ask myself but I don’t understand. Its economics, accounting that we’ll talk about. Then Tebogo, I think I had six thousand, I saw a Beetle and was short of two thousand. Tebogo didn’t waste time, he heard me explaining and liked that fact that I had some savings and gave me two thousand. Straight to Fordsburg I was with my friend Donny, we saw it and paid for it.
John Manyike [29:01]
How much did you buy it for?
Ronnie Nyakale [29:02]
I didn’t have a licence and I bought the car not knowing how to drive, it was the pressure. I learnt how to drive with my car.
John Manyike [29:14]
How much was that Volkswagen?
Ronnie Nyakale [29:16]
It was eight thousand. A beautiful strong car, I got a good one.
John Manyike [29:23]
At least you got it cash.
Ronnie Nyakale [29:28]
Cash yes. Almost all my cars I’ve bought cash. Its only the one, my first brand new car that I bought on credit, but the others that people know me to have from the beetle to the Polo, from Polo to Polo Playa. Then after the Polo Playa I had an Audi. All of them were cash. So when I bought the Polo TSI then I got it on credit because it was a lot of money. The run arounds I bought cash.
John Manyike [30:14]
So the Polo was expensive, how was it affecting your finances, affordability? Your lifestyle financially.
Ronnie Nyakale [30:22]
How?
John Manyike [30:27]
So you said that you didn’t buy the Polo cash, so I’m asking if it put any pressure on you financially, because you were paying off the credit.
Ronnie Nyakale: [30:33]
A lot. Because I asked them to upgrade it. Leather seats, radio, sunroof and the like. On paper it was two hundred and fifty with the upgrades but after six years of paying it off you’ve spent half a million. And I bought the car not having been ready to buy the car, but I bought it so it took me back, that’s where I saw that you know what, buying a car is like buying a house. You need to come with a strong deposit. You see those things where you qualify? (JM 31:51 It’s a trap) RN [31:51] I’m a victim of you qualify. I’m a victim and I don’t want to say or be shy about it because tomorrow if people do what I did, they’ll have the very same experience. So I’m a victim of You qualify, twice. You qualify to buy a car, you qualify at the bank for a loan. You qualify for a loan, that’s not life. Once a lady with a smile at the bank says you qualify, tell her that she doesn’t love you because she’s putting you into debt. You can see how much is coming into my account but you’re putting me into debt that I won’t be able to get out of. You’ll never come out. Bank loans? You will only come out having paid and when you look back, the bank has taken your money. So I’m a victim of that. I got myself into debt with my first earnings from Generations. From my first earnings, I hadn’t even bought a pair of pants. Because I was brought up by my grandmother in Phiri. She passed away whilst I was still in school and they didn’t bring me home for the funeral. So in the holidays my aunt took me to her gravesite. So ever since, my father, my aunt, my grandmothers children, didn’t erect a tombstone for her. So I wanted to get her a tombstone.
John Manyike [34:13]
But there was a debt you had to pay.
Ronnie Nyakale [34:13]
I hadn’t bought pants with my earnings from Yizo-Yizo, from Generations. Then it happened that my grandmother’s house needed to be fixed. There was a fault and the house burned then in getting the house fixed is where the You Qualify started. When they said I qualified, I took thinking it wasn’t major. Theres a danger when you’re in the peak of the limelight, those are the juicy days. You don’t think about the rainy days, winter time. You think I’ll do it. So I’m repairing the house, I’m organizing the cultural ceremony and on the other side I’m paying off the car which I’m going to present to them on the day of the ceremony. I’m young, even though I was passed 30 but you know what I could see that Generations was paying well so I’d be able to pay everything off. But loans, no matter what it seems like they’re never ending. Sometimes you forget to pay, it’s interest. So I advise my siblings, when they start working, don’t take a loan. As your elder, I can’t do anything for you and not to my best ability. Learn from me, when they say you qualify, stay away from it. Save and spend from your savings.
John Manyike [36:40]
So you saying save and spend, so you must have your savings and don’t rush to credit so you must have balance.
Ronnie Nyakale: [36:42]
The mistake I made was that I didn’t save. When it came in, I spent and spent and spent and if I had been wise to save enough then do the ceremony for my grandmother. But I thought that since I qualified, a hundred or seventy thousand, bring it here! I was overdoing it, ceilings, tiling just going crazy. I asked for permission from my family to do that for my paternal grandmother and my mother and aunt agreed so I renovated my grandmothers house on credit.
John Manyike [37:41]
So in hindsight, when they said that you qualified and you got into it, when you look back what could you have done differently?
Ronnie Nyakale [37:50]
Stay away. Who do you need me to advise?
John Manyike [38:00]
Anyone, generally. There are people who qualify for loans.
Ronnie Nyakale [38:06]
Ok I wanted to break it down because there’s my generation and then there’s people who are just entering into the field now. Because my generation is already in debt. We are victims of the banks.
John Manyike [38:26]
You’re referring to artists?
Ronnie Nyakale [38:26]
Yes my generation. But now we can pass the knowledge to the new generation that is starting to work right now that we are struggling as the elders. So the best advice I can give is save. Save from what you earn. Save money. Spend from your savings. I don’t know how to put it, you earn and save, you save, you save. Perhaps you want to renovate your house, so when you have enough, you take from the same savings and renovate the house with that. Don’t get into debt to renovate, you’re getting into debt and you’ll never go anywhere. You can start by renovating then hold off on buying furniture. Once you loan for furniture just because you qualify, there’s an income coming in, they see it at the bank that there’s money coming in, there’s always money coming in. They see that this person qualifies and earns well, perhaps lets say they earn more than forty after deductions they see that this person earns well. They haven’t got expenses for private schools, they see your history and that you can make payments so they offer you more.
John Manyike [40:14]
So tell me, looking at all these experiences, what would you say were your financial regrets?
Ronnie Nyakale [40:23]
My regrets are spending without saving. That will always be my regret and that will always be what I pass to whoever surrounds me that boy, boy don’t even attempt it, just because you’re working you want to buy a sneaker by taking a loan. Leave loans alone, it doesn't work you see? I’m in pain because of loans. I only finished paying off my loans last year. Imagine how long it’s been? Ten years since working on Generations and I only finished early last year, no year before last in December. Last year was twenty four? Yes last year January was when I finished paying them off and then relaxed you see? So, in life not everything is about money. Not everything is about money. A person leaves their job and another person sees that as a mistake you understand? But that person has a mission. But we have the tendency to rush to judge and blame. If a person was to die right now, they would want to blame. You are hospitalized they’ll want to blame it on something, we are that way. So now, I found myself working because I was in debt. I wanted to see myself elsewhere, I wanted to challenge myself and see myself elsewhere so I work. I go to work because of debt. Each and every month I have to pay off debt. So now when I finished paying them off, that’s when I had the courage to leave my job and challenge myself. I could go out and try other things that were above what I had wanted.
John Manyike [43:04]
Let’s talk about the good news, I’m glad you mentioned it. Lets talk about the good news. As much as you explained the issues with debt and all that, theres good news; you decided that not that you were giving up on acting completely, but you wanted to start your own thing. Maybe lets talk about your new chapter in life because for me, that is exciting because here you’re focusing on yourself and your dreams. So maybe can you tell us about this new chapter in your life?
Ronnie Nyakale [43:31]
When you talking new chapter, you mean life after Generations?
John Manyike [43:39]
Yes life after Generations, yes. You’re even taking off your jacket, its starting to heat up now.
Ronnie Nyakale [43:57]
Its starting to heat up now, its heating up. You know there’s will. Your will or the will of a higher being. I don’t know if you’re hearing me? There's your will and then there’s the will of a higher being you see. So if it were my will, at this time, I would have been working, I got a job that replaces Generations. But things aren’t going according to my will. They go according to a higher will. I’m still waiting for Him to open doors for me. And so patiently, because I know that where He opens, I’m going to make it. I’m kicking, I’m kicking because I’ve learnt that if it is not God's timing, no matter how much you try, you’ll never make it. If it is not His timing. But if it is His timing, no one will close it. So patiently I’m waiting for His timing to open the doors for me and I know that there are writers that are writing for me, there’s a producer somewhere that is asking for money somewhere to accommodate me on their show so that they can pay me as well you see? I know, I know. And I know that the house of Generation to the House of Zwide that I have left, where I enter next I am walking with God. This talent I have been given by Him you see? So life after Generations isn’t good if you aren’t working, it’s not good. This is where I see that they’ve been swallowed, today they are nowhere to be found. They didn’t fight. A lot of them have disappeared. Life after Generations is very challenging because Generations is a big brand, it’s a big production in South African soapies, so it becomes difficult more especially when you’re used to Generations. Ten years and it’s in my blood, when you go out there to audition everything becomes strange.
John Manyike [47:08]
Because it became your home.
Ronnie Nyakale [47:08]
Before Generations, my style of auditioning, I was the person that was told immediately that the role was mine, we see what we are looking for. But since after Generations, I’ve been auditioning but I’m not getting them. So I can see that I need to transform myself and get back Ronnie because Generations has its own style that even when I got House of Zwide it was completely different now maybe I am still auditioning in the same way I did for Generations. Not that I am not auditioning, that’s why I say that if it is not God's timing, no matter how much you fight you’ll never get it.
John Manyike [48:18]
How many auditions have you been to since Generations? Since Generations how many auditions have you been to more or less?
Ronnie Nyakale [48:28]
Do you want me name the production houses? I think more than five.
John Manyike [48:42]
Now this is one thing I’m proud of when I look at you. When I look at you I’m proud that even if challenges come and bring you down, you don’t remain on the floor, you get back up. When I heard that you were doing Bolt, I was proud of you and I still am because I see a man who’s a fighter, I see a man who says I’m not going to live my life according to the narrative of someone else, this is my life and I’m going to make a decision for me, not for someone else. Whether you like it or not but this is my life, this is what I’m proud of. How do you feel about the decision you made to go the Bolt route?
Ronnie Nyakale [49:23]
My brother, you know when you grow up in life you learn from other people so there are people that I know that have qualifications, medicine, law. People that have masters and degrees but where they work, that’s not the jobs they have qualifications for. What they call pride? I’ve seen people go to bed hungry because of pride. They go to sleep pretending to have eaten but they haven’t.
John Manyike [50:21]
Repeat that, maybe they haven’t heard that loud enough. Repeat that again.
Ronnie Nyakale [50:23]
Let me say it in isiZulu. You see when a person goes to bed hungry due to pride, self-centeredness? Out in the world they pretend as though they’ve eaten but they haven’t. They’re starving. Pride. Then they go to their mother at home, returning as though they’ve done shopping yet they’ve gone to take groceries from back home. Pride. So now no one in South Africa, engineers and doctors included even the President, no one is getting paid according to their worth no one. After democracy we didn’t educate ourselves on renumeration. Understand me well, we didn’t educate ourselves so now we’re lacking somewhere and in that lack, salaries has its own need. Salaries have needs to be met in the house. So that’s where you find a person having to have an extra job on the side so that they don’t affect the salary.
John Manyike [52:05]
That’s right. Ok before we close, I have the last two questions. The second last question I’m going back to the decision you made. I love that you brought up pride. That there are people that tell themselves that they wont do certain jobs because it doesn’t meet some standard and they are going hungry. I want to know how do you feel about the decision you made that this is your new life until further notice, this is my new life, I’m going to drive and I’m going to make money.
Ronnie Nyakale [52:42]
I’ll reserve your question your question on how did I make the decision by responding this way; you will starve my brother just because you’re worried about what people will say. Your child will go to school hungry just because of your concern of what people will say you see? So when I took the decision to rank, I wanted to have extra cash so that I could do my personal things. Extra cash that would help me pay off my debts. I’m a disgrace, people feel sorry for me I got myself into debt so I have to hustle. When I do my calculations my income isn’t enough anymore. So I have to get money that will help me finish off my debts so that when I’m with my friends I can maintain myself. On the streets I can maintain myself. But I’m not touching my salary. So this thing has driven me, it’s given me drive to the extent that you’re laughing that I’m doing Bolt but look at how far I’m going. I laugh last. Now I sell fruit and vegetables, I’m going onto a business level to explore. I’ll even sell burgers. You are looking at the fact that I’m a celebrity, but you can’t satisfy the expectations of the people, that’s a problem we have. Artists have this thing where they want to satisfy the expectations of society. Society has the expectation that we are rich because we’ve been on T.V I don’t know if you get me? We choose which jobs we want to take on because we are celebrities. We are choosy. You understand that? I don’t do that. I don’t, I don’t, I’ll try to find a way. If it means that I have to sell on the train, I will get onto a train and sell. Because why? I know that the people I encounter, know me and like me and they come with love. Whomever I meet in South Africa, people love me.
John Manyike [55:34]
Ok last question, I want you to speak to our listeners and viewers
Ronnie Nyakale [55:38]
You want to?
John Manyike [55:39]
I want you to speak to our viewers and listeners of this podcast and share with them a word of encouragement, that in life when it comes to money what should your motto be, when it comes to finances? Your principles.
Ronnie Nyakale [55:51]
Motto? The motto goes with what I said earlier, spend enough and save. Spend enough, no I mean save enough so to spend. Save so to spend. Get rid of loans that’s not life. Save and spend. That’s the best way of enjoying life, enjoying your money. I have a sibling, my younger brother Sibusiso who lives this way. Whatever that he spends is from his savings or from his salary not what I did of getting into debt. So I love that and I’m proud that my brother didn’t make the same mistake. What if we had both made the same mistake of getting loans? And I make sure, to tell him that I’m still recovering from debt because we are close. The motto is more of saying, save, save and spend. Don’t let it be the case of saving for a month or fifteen days then you use your money. That’s not saving. You’re getting paid, you divert your money from where it is into savings. You see how the app allows you to transfer your money? You put it into savings, but after fifteen days, twenty days you dip into it, that’s not saving. Save, save, save, save and spend.
John Manyike [58:12]
No I hear you, Ta Ronnie, thank you so much my brother, we learned so much and what you were talking about is real so we thank you for taking us into your confidence and sharing your journey about what your career and also how to handle money, so to On The Money followers, if you listened to the talk, my talk with Ta Ronnie, you’ll understand that if you don’t save and you like debt one day you’ll meet your end. Let’s close it.