With just R435 in her pocket and home-taught sewing skills, Motherwell entrepreneur Nombuyiselo Zinco left her cashier job without a plan — but her hard work paid off when she got to dress widely respected isiXhosa news reader Noxolo Grootboom for her final show on Tuesday night.
Not shy to take brave steps, Zinco, of Nombuyi Designs, searched social media and contacted people she hoped would be able to connect her to Grootboom.
She then took a 16-hour bus drive to personally deliver the outfit, an umbaco (a traditional isiXhosa dress).
Zinco’s dress will be the last outfit that Grootboom wears for work as she officially retires from the industry after 37 years of hard work.
Grootboom’s last day at work even shifted President Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidential address on developments in the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic by half-an-hour.
The emotional handover earlier on Tuesday afternoon was caught on camera.
In the video, they look at each other as Zinco, who is wearing isiXhosa gear, hands over the white and black skirt, beads and beaded takkies.
“I thought I should take this moment as someone who respects, loves and follows you and as a lover of traditional affairs,” Zinco, 47, tells Grootboom.
“You have been an example to me growing up.
“I thought I should make this gear so that as you retire you are adorned in Nombuyi Designs.”
Zinco said she wanted to hand over the items in person and not to simple courier them.
“I wanted to use this moment to portray how thankful I am,” she said.
Grootboom told The Herald later how much she loved wearing traditional clothing.
“The request to be dressed by a complete stranger was so humbling.
“I am happy and my heart is full,” Grootboom said.
“To take a bus just to deliver an outfit that was not paid for to someone, that is a complete stranger ... I am thankful with my whole heart.
“May God give her more blessings.
“To hear that she started her business with [just] R400, broke my heart.
“But today she took the little that she had and shared it with me by making a dress that will be deeply treasured by me, my children and the whole of SA,” she said.
Grootboom’s final broadcast will air on SABC1 at 7pm. —
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