OK! Magazine UK – 05 August 2019

22

JUDGEMENTDAY

‘ISTILLFEELTHIS

FREEDOMTODAY

WHENIAMDANCING’

SHE’STHENEW‘STRICTLYCOME

DANCING’JUDGEBUT MOTSIMABUSE’S

LIFEHASN’TALWAYSBEENEASY

I

t’s not even back on our screens

yet, but Strictly Come Dancing

is already the talk of the town

thanks to the appointment of a

brand new judge – Motsi Mabuse.

Despite being relatively unknown

to UK audiences, Motsi – who is the

sister of Strictly pro dancer Oti – has

plenty of experience both in front of

and behind the judging panel desk.

The 38 year old is a former South

African and German champion

and is a judge on Strictly Come

Dancing’s German version. Motsi

will replace Dame Darcey Bussell,

who stepped down from her role on

the panel earlier this year.

Having grown up in a poor

South African town during the last

years of apartheid rule, Motsi was

inspired to put on her dancing

shoes after watching white and

black people performing together

during a family holiday. She

then begged her mum Dudu for

lessons, who took

matters into her

own hands by

enlisting a private

teacher for Motsi,

Oti and their

sister Phemelo,

after discovering

there weren’t any

local classes.

Life hasn’t

always been

easy for Motsi,

or her famous

sister. Growing

up the pair were

forced to get

a special bus

to school due

to rules that

stopped them

travelling on

the same public

transport as

white people.

Motsi has

since credited

dancing as

her escape

from the hardship she witnessed

growing up, including regular

rioting and racism. ‘I knew all of a

sudden what it meant to be free.

And I still feel this freedom today

when I am dancing,’ she has said.

Writing about growing up during

the final years of apartheid in her

autobiography Chili In The Flood,

Motsi spoke of witnessing her mum

being the victim of racist abuse

in a supermarket. Dudu told her

daughter afterwards: ‘Never let a

white person convince you that

you have no business in a particular

place just because you are black.’

Dudu was a struggling single

mum to their half-brother Neo,

before meeting Motsi and Oti’s

lawyer dad Peter Mabuse. Neo

struggled to adjust to their more

privileged life, which included

attending private school, and

tragically committed suicide at 18,

when Motsi was just 11 years old.

Sisters

Motsi

and Oti

Mabuse

ok

e

i,

g

y

jy

Motsi thanks her

mum Dudu for her

dancing career