Three Cape Town teenagers have been announced as the final three competitors who will join nine finalists from Pretoria, Johannesburg and Durban to determine which of them has what it takes to be the winner of the nationwide Shield Teens No Sweat Music Fan Challenge.

Shield Teens is offering girls aged between 12 and 18 the chance to learn everything they need to know to become a top Video Jockey. The top three will receive bursaries valued at R50 000, R30 000 and R20 000 to take them further in the VJ industry, and a grand finale will be held in Johannesburg during December to announce the winner. In addition, there are some wonderful prizes up for grabs and as a finalist they immediately qualify for a Samsung state of the art camcorder, which they will use during the workshop phase of the competition.

Kertrice Maitisa, Mbasa Fefe and Thandokazi Sineke auditioned in Cape Town recently, entertained their way into the judges’ hearts and won themselves slots in the VJ workshops that will determine the winner of the competition. The girls made their TV debut on the Shield Teens No Sweat Music Fan Challenge series on Sunday 11 October, when they were introduced as Cape Town’s finalists.

Kertrice Maitisa is a 15-year-old learner at Wynberg Girls’ High School. She’s in Grade 9 and lives in the northern suburbs in Kuils River. Kertrice has a great sense of humour and is mad about a number of current songs, but admitted to being especially wild about the Open Happiness collaborative. She plans on going into the entertainment industry “doing acting – both film and Broadway, dancing and being a choreographer. I’d also like to be a fashion designer and maybe do some singing!”

Sixteen-year-old Mbasa Fefe attends Vela Private School in Umtata, and lives in Hout Bay. The Grade 10 learner plans on becoming a successful businesswoman with her own TV shows and her current favourite song is New Shoes by Beyonce.

At just 14 years of age, Thandokazi Sineke is the youngest finalist in the Shield Teens No Sweat Music Fan Challenge. Thandokazi attends Mondale High School where she’s in Grade 8 and she lives in Khayelitsha. Her favourite song is The Colour of my Love by Celine Dion and she plans on working towards a PhD in accounting to become a chartered accountant, “as this will be the start of my success,” she smiles. “My mom is my role model,” she adds. “I’d like to be like my mom; she’s so caring and looks after underprivileged families who are infected and affected by HIV.”

Judges Lupi Ngcayisa, Shaun Pearce and Vusiwe Ngcobo were extremely impressed with the last group of finalists. Lupi Ngcayisa says he was pleasantly surprised by the enormous talent from Cape Town. “Initially I was convinced KwaZulu-Natal would outshine all the other provinces, but the Cape Town girls proved otherwise. I am confident all the girls who made it to the top 12 will be gracing our television screens in the future.”

Celebrating the launch of Shield Teens Musicfan – the new variant with a great perfume in a stunning turquoise and silver can – The Shield Teens No Sweat Music Fan Search offers 12 finalists the opportunity to workshop with the best of the best in the industry to increase their confidence levels and learn everything they need to know about being a VJ. They’ll learn how to look the part, how to have the confidence and style to carry off being a VJ, how to link from one video to the next, and how to inject gossip as well as insider information into the role. They’ll also get to know people in the industry, meet role models and generally learn from those who are already successful.

The competition is televised on Sundays at 18h05 on e.tv and the winner will be announced on Sunday 6 December.

Ethne Whitley, spokesperson for Shield Teens, says the Shield Teens No Sweat Music Fan Search is the latest in a string of opportunities the brand presents to young girls with the aim of helping them to develop self-confidence and achieve their potential.

“Music is the soundtrack of their lives and Shield Teens is offering talented teenage girls the opportunity of a lifetime,” she says. “The brand is searching for girls who have what it takes to become South Africa’s best VJs.”

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