As far as South African reality TV stars go, Faith Nketsi is fast establishing herself as the crème of the crop.
Having blossomed in the public eye as a dancer, socialite and social media influencer over the past decade, she has leveraged a career in which she lives her life in front of the camera through her popular reality show, “Have Faith”, which is something she says she always had her eyes on.
She admits: “I have always wanted a reality show, I’m not even gonna sugar coat it. I remember when I got the call I was in disbelief. And sometimes you say you want something but you don’t really believe that it’s gonna happen so when it does actually happen it’s a wow moment.
“The fact that we’ve been running for this long, that’s just the cherry on top,” she said.
After three drama-filled seasons, the 27-year-old recently launched the show’s fourth season, which is currently airing on MTV.
The new season was launched off the back of rumours that Nketsi was expecting, which she confirmed on the eve of the launch for the new season.
Motherhood, she tells me, is something she’s always looked forward to.
“For me, it was so exciting because it’s something that I’ve wanted for a long time.
“Even though I had said that I’d wanted a baby at 27 or 28 and then I changed my mind and I was like, no I actually want it at 32, I think I manifested it for so long that God said I’ll still give you a baby at that age. So I’m super grateful,” she said.
In announcing her pregnancy and the birth of her child on social media a few weeks ago, Nketsi said that she wasn’t aware she was pregnant for the first trimester.
Despite the shock and suddenness of it all, her pregnancy was largely smooth sailing.
“It was amazing.
“I actually didn’t even get sick and I didn’t get nothing I expected like getting heavy, getting tired, all those things. I never got any of those things so I pretty much had a simple pregnancy until the last two weeks when I was heavily pregnant. Before that I had a smooth ride,” she said.
Prior seasons of the reality show have been largely focused on Nketsi, her mom and her brother, along with her roller-coaster love life.
This time around she’s introducing more of her extended family, with her cousins, uncles and her dad all involved.
This season also sees Nketsi digging into more family dynamics including the lobola negotiations while she was preparing to marry wealthy businessman Nzuzo Njilo.
“There’s definitely more family stuff, especially black families and how everything really is, so we really don’t sugar coat anything. With every season I definitely try to make everything better and I definitely try to connect more with people and be more present.
“It’s more about me and starting a new family and growing. I mean, if you compare season one Faith with this season Faith it’s like two different people, but what I love about ‘Have Faith’ is that you really see the growth with every season, it’s not just oh you wake up one day and Faith is pregnant and married. There really is growth and there really is a story,” she said.
Nketsi’s relationship with her brother Kabelo was one of the most fascinating aspects in the first season as she faced some resistance while trying to help him with his drug addiction.
Nowadays though, their relationship is a lot smoother as he’s gotten clean and found his feet in the culinary industry.
“My relationship with my brother is great. Season One he was coming out of drugs and there was a lot of that talk and now I feel he’s matured so much and even with the babies he acts like an uncle.
“He’s also grown in his own way and he’s also married now so it’s great,” Nketsi said.
One of the interesting adventures she’s embarked on was a brief musical career that saw her release a project under DJ Maphorisa’s label New Money Gang in 2019.
While she had fun and enjoyed that entire process, she said she definitely won’t be making music again.
“You know, sometimes you do something without really realising the amount of work behind it. So I was like, ‘Well, yeah I have the attitude, I love hip hop and I wanna be a rapper, so let’s do it’.
“And when you realise the amount of work that goes behind it, I have a newfound respect for artists because it’s just so much work with the performing and then going back to the studio for hours. I was just like ‘no, this is too much’,” she said.
Throughout her journey in the industry, Nketsi has consistently made a point of living by her own rules and being unapologetic about the life she lives despite all the noise.
Her willingness to go through it all in the public eye as openly as she has, has helped her continue to grow in popularity and draw a large audience eager to see what she does next.
“I always say that to like me you have to really be a special type of breed because I’ve obviously had my mistakes within the industry in the public eye.
“I see a lot of people tweeting or saying in my DMs that they’ve grown with me and I get it. From 10 years ago when I came into the industry as a dancer and people not really understanding me to people liking me and growing with me.
“And that’s why I don’t call the people who support me my fans, I feel like that’d be offensive. I call them my riders because I feel like this has been such a roller-coaster,” she said.
Nketsi also believes that over time she has become a completely different person.
“I have really grown in the public eye. I always say that it’ll all make sense at the end and you should never live in a box just to satisfy other people's perception of what a woman should be. I feel like I’ve lived up to that.
“I’ve done everything and I’ve really lived my life without caring what people thought about it and today I can truly settle down and have my little family without having any regrets or short-lived moments,” she said.
“Have Faith” season 4 is currently showing on MTV (DStv channel 130) on Mondays at 9.30pm.