Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - September 23, 2007
Bienne Huisman

The 25-year-old beauty from Port Shepstone in KwaZulu- Natal broke her silence after being treated by a doctor for a severe bout of flu this week.

Mavundla is a crowd favourite in the hit reality TV show, which attracted thousands of hopeful singers to auditions around the country and drew 500 000 votes from viewers last week. She has lived with HIV for the past eight years, telling only close family and friends.

"I'd rather be open with everyone than have people gossip behind my back," she said of her decision to reveal her status this week.

Her announcement was greeted with sympathy - and anger - from the 11 other female finalists who live with her in the "Idols house", in the run up to tonight's show, which will see five of the girls voted out.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Times, Mavundla spoke emotionally of her wild partying days, a near-death experience after failing to take her medication and the tragic loss of her baby four months ago.

The songbird appeared fragile, wrapped in a big woollen gown while sitting on her bed and toying with a book on brides when the Sunday Times visited her on Wednesday. But when she looked up, her eyes were filled with fire.

"My doctor said I must see it as a human being inside me," she said. "That's how I control it. I talk to it every day. I say: 'Listen, I'm going to get up today and I'm going to do this and that, and you're not going to hold me back.'I'm not going to die earlier than I'm supposed to. I keep on telling myself that. It's a bumpy road but I'm okay. Yes, I want to get married one day. I'd like that," she said.

Mavundla - born to Busi, a domestic worker, and Victor, who worked in a furniture store - grew up singing to family members and church elders in Port Shepstone. She impressed even the razor-tongued judge, Randall Abrahams, at an Idols audition in Margate in July. "She'll be in the Top 10," Abrahams predicted at the time.

The youngster has since made her way into the show's top 24 contestants and this week moved into the Idols house in Savoy Estate, Johannesburg, with the other female finalists. Inside the house, her antiretroviral medication now shares space with plates of sushi and leftover pasta in the fridge.

Mavundla shared her status with her housemates on Wednesday and emotions flared when an Aids counsellor spoke to the girls on Thursday.

Belinda Cherry, 25, a beautician from Pietermaritzburg, was alarmed after having shared a drink and straw with Mavundla. "I bit myself on Saturday and shared a drink with Tender on Sunday morning. Now, I was put into a situation that I had no control over ... And that makes me f***ing angry!" raged Cherry.

A counsellor, Sheila Macakela, from Community Aids Response consoled her. "You have every right to say this. I see fear in you [as] a result of a lack of knowledge. You cannot get HIV from sharing a cup or straw. Only if there were open, bleeding wounds in both your mouths at the time."

Other contestants leapt to Mavundla's defence. "Tender has lived with this for long now... I'm sure she's got her facts straight on how it spreads," said Generations actress Caroline Borole.

M-Net's head of original productions, Carl Fischer, said Mavundla's health would be closely monitored. "We support Tender in every way. We think it's courageous of her to publicly declare the fact that she's HIV- positive."

Wearing a low-cut top and a broad smile while getting over her flu, Mavundla said she felt in "tip-top" shape. "My treatment has built a barrier around the virus. As long as I take my medicine every 12 hours I will be healthy," she said.

Mavundla has come a long way since her wild teenage years, when she dropped out of school in Port Shepstone to pursue music in Johannesburg, after winning the Jam Alley talent competition in 1997.

Promises of a record deal fell flat and she ended up donning heels and partying at the notorious Club Razzmatazz in Hillbrow where she met and offended the late kwaito star Lebo Mathosa.

"We were dancing. Both of us were wearing little miniskirts and stilettos. I was a real diva and I suppose I kinda shook my booty hotter than hers. I upstaged her and she didn't like it," recalled Mavundla, laughing.

Mavundla became ill in 2001 and was diagnosed with TB, then HIV. Initially she continued partying, neglecting to take antiretrovirals. But three years ago she turned her life around.

Her health plunged again in May this year after she gave birth to a baby girl, Destiny, three months early.

"I wanted to leave my mom a memory of me ... Well, she came out early. She lived for nine days, and then she died. But hey, it was the best week of my life. I've got videos of her."

Diane van Dyk, head of Walton's Stationery in Port Shepstone where Mavundla works, encouraged her to enter Idols after hearing her sing. Customers and staff regularly watch the show together, cheering her on, she said. "Sometimes it's not just about winning. It's about being a champion in a much greater sense. Tender is brave enough to be an example to many people," said Van Dyk.

M-Net could not predict how Mavundla's revelations would influence her chances in the show.

"The viewing public decide who goes to the next round and we never know how they will decide to vote," said Fischer.

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