On Monday, the 23rd of October 2017, GQ South Africa and Jameson Select Reserve announced its Top 10 Best Dressed Men of 2017 in South Africa and I was delighted to be on the list amongst nine other young and aspirational social catalysts. Themed “Substance beyond the style realm”, these GQ awards identified their Top 10 gentlemen whose style and refinement signified social impact, self-worth, upward mobility and a South African aspiration embodied by a select few and sought after by many. Putting together such a list will always get The Potato Shed into a heated debate, especially in South Africa where you have more aspirational figures than the country is generally credited for. So, this was a limited selection of the movers and shakers on the African map, men with an increasing global influence whose actions and words can move markets and sway decisions. Influence can be positive or negative. But I feel there are many more positive trends on the African continent than negative, and as such, GQ’s Top 10 Best Dressed Men of 2017 are truly elegant and proudly African.
What is influence and how does one measure it? It will always be hard to agree on a common understanding and meaning of influence. Understandably, this always generates wide debate. How do we determine these people’s influence? And why does it matter that GQ South Africa assemble this list, you may ask. One yardstick the judging panel used was to emphasise that influence is not about popularity and popularity is not always influential. The influencer’s impact on public, social and political discourse, however, is what largely determines GQ’s Top 10 Best Dressed Men of 2017 and their influence. This list comprises a breadth and wealth of fascinating and engaging Africans whose actions and reach, GQ South Africa has determined, significantly impacted and realigned the continents landscape in their fields of endeavour. They contributed in redefining the African narrative in 2017 and GQ South Africa feels they will play a big role in 2018 and beyond – for Africa’s good.
Celebrated and condemned in equal measure, the boom in the creation of celebrity personalities in Africa has always been associated with Americans and Europeans. And as this leaning increasingly continues to make its way sojourns into Africa – some of which are well received – in a world where personalities are actively recruited for enormous fees to front for different causes – it is small wonder that they are also pilloried as self-promoting do-gooders or even as purveyors of a new form of self-righteousness. But, as GQ South Africa reveals – although popular personalities make loud refrains of their good deeds in South Africa, grabbing miles of column inches in the media, genuine compassion and sacrifice for the needy and poignant causes in Africa, the great deeds of GQ’s men are not the preserve of America or Europe only. Deeds by indigenous Africans do not stop at these Top 10 Best Dressed Men with a purpose. Africa is home to many more high net worth social catalysts who are equally committed to making a positive impact in their communities and countries through altruistic causes and benevolent giving, with their own and other means.
GQ’s men have proven that young people, with the right will power can and should participate in plotting the trajectory of their own country. On the triple evils of poverty, inequality and unemployment, there remains little to cheer about. The triplet is growing and South Africa remains one of the most unequal countries in the world. We live in a sick economy. Already, political jostling is taking place in anticipation of the unknown, and the ANC’s 2017 elective conference, which will anoint the next president of the country and presidential candidate for 2019. Names bandied around include former African Union chairperson and former wife of President Zuma, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Lindiwe Sisulu, and the current putative successor and Deputy President of the African National Congress, Cyril Ramaphosa. But all this could be just a silly season of wanton speculation and long visible knives. If the ANC is to survive the seriously eroding electoral support and an assured winter of economic discontent, it will have to come up with some highly imaginative solutions to the social and economic malaise that continues to plague the citizenry, in particular the maginalised majority black population. Otherwise there will be serious consequences from South Africa’s youth who are humming to get a foot in and play a role in the land of their birth. These consequences could in the long run bury the party that liberated South Africa.
GQ’s Top 10 Best Dressed Men of 2017 embody substance beyond the style realm. Their affluence is not material. Their influence is transcendent. They symbolise a call to action for young people to rise up, believe in themselves a little bit more and act to the advancement of their country. More importantly, these men are a symbol of the willingness of young people to lead. It is time the public and private sectors call on them to help plot this country’s trajectory. Congratulations to GQ’s Top 10 Best Dressed Men of 2017: Menzi Mcunu, Matthew Mensah, Anatii, Tristan Du Plessis, Sylvester Chauke, Thato Mmereki, Mthoko ‘Dash’ Makhathini, Siya Kolisi, Atish Jogi and Erik Kruger. May you continue to lead and inspire.