{"id":296752,"date":"2026-05-04T16:15:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T14:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/cityvision\/creatives-given-a-platform-at-comic-con-cape-town\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T18:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T16:14:12","slug":"creatives-given-a-platform-at-comic-con-cape-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/cityvision\/creatives-given-a-platform-at-comic-con-cape-town\/","title":{"rendered":"GALLERIES | Creatives given a platform at Comic Con Cape Town"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Influencer Sibu Mpanza, formerly from Mandalay, was the host at the Telkom gaming stand activation at Comic Con Cape Town<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Johannesburg resident chatted to TygerBurger<\/em> at the event and told us about his rise to television presenting fame and his roots in Mitchells Plain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I grew up in Mandalay. I grew up going to church in Khayelitsha and going shopping in the Town Centre with my mom,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sibu
Sibu Mpanza<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Background<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mpanza’s presenting career started almost by accident when he discovered YouTube as a student at the University of Cape Town (UCT). While skipping class one day, he sat down in a computer lab and came across a creator talking directly to a camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I said, ‘What is that? What do you mean, welcome to my channel? I thought YouTube is just a platform where you dump random videos\u2019,” he recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was 2014, and the concept was far from mainstream. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Today in 2026 \u2014 completely normal \u2014 but in 2014, very few people knew or understood what that was.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two weeks after that discovery, he uploaded his first video \u2014 and waited. Nobody watched it. He then ran around the computer lab urging classmates to click the link. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That day, I got my first five views and it completely changed my life.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, he created current affairs content covering race, class and gender, and gradually built an audience. By 2017, he felt ready to take the leap. With one year left of a social work degree, he dropped out of UCT and moved to Johannesburg to pursue content creation full time. Work with brands followed, and eventually so did radio and, later, television. He now hosts Telkom vs Gaming<\/em> show on SABC every Friday at 15:00.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We talk all things gaming, eSports, the love of gaming, but also the competitive side where you can make it a career, make some money,” he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ ALSO:<\/strong> Comic Con Cape Town plans to move to bigger venue next year<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perseverance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mpanza was fortunate to have entered the influencer space when it was still new, and his audience grew steadily to 60 000 subscribers \u2014 with around 200 000 viewers a month. He acknowledges, however, that people starting out today face a much steeper battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I always tell people who are starting, they always think there’s so many of us, I don’t think I can do this anymore,” he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His advice to would-be influencers, though, is straightforward: just keep going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Just keep going because people come in, they think it’s not a lot of work, then they realise, yoh, every day I have to come up with an idea. I have to talk to people. I have to project my voice. I have to do this and that. So anytime somebody says to me, Sibu, I wanna become a YouTuber, I say do it, but you need to respect it. It’s more work than you think.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Family support<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mpanza adds that the families of aspiring influencers may not always understand what they are doing or be fully behind them. In his own case, however, his mother stood by him \u2014 even when others were sceptical about his choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before moving to Johannesburg, he had entered a competition called Break the Net, where creators uploaded weekly videos and competed for views. His mother saw the attention that brought him, and that shifted her thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“So by the time I told her I’d like to drop out of school and pursue this full time, she kind of understood. She was like, I see there’s something going on here. I don’t understand it, but I love you enough to say, I see there’s something going on. She gave me her last little bonus she gets in December.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that money, he moved to Johannesburg, lived on a couch for a few months, and slowly worked his way up \u2014 earning R2 000, then R3 000, enough to cover the rent, before landing a radio job and, a year later, a television job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he broke the news to his mother that he would be on SABC, her reaction was telling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“She said, \u2018Oh, so you are working in Jo’burg. I said, \u2018How? Mama, what did you think I was doing there the whole time?\u2019 But I think there’s something about traditional media that the older generation is like, \u2018I understand this. I get it because I grew up watching Generations<\/em>. So, when I see people on TV or on the news, okay, it’s a real job now\u2019.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitchells Plain cosplayers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Muhsinah
Muhsinah Hendricks of Tafelsig is Draculaura.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Chico
Chico Smith from Eastridge is Pinkie Pie.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"cosplayer
Courtney Truter of Mitchells Plain cosplays as La Murte from Book of Life.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"cosplayers\"
Haley O’Connor of Portland Mitchells Plain, dressed as Frankie Stein from Monster High, Leah May of Strandfontein, dressed as Reze the Bomb Demon of Chainsaw Man and Iseabel Stoltz-Loubscher from Malmesbury is dressed as Rapunzel from Tangled.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Comic Con Cape Town 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Just like Mpanza, Cape Town’s beloved pop culture festival has officially outgrown its home. Comic Con Cape Town, which has been running in the city since 2018, had 36 000 visitors this year \u2014 the biggest turnout the Cape Town edition has ever seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organisers plan to move the event next year to CTICC1, a larger, single-level space across the road from the current venue. Organiser Carol Weaving, managing director of RX Africa, announced the move at a press briefing ahead of the four-day event which kicked off on Thursday 30 April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We’ve now outgrown this venue and we’re going to be moving across the road to CTICC1, which is bigger and we have more space,” said Weaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The four-day programme was packed with cosplay competitions, tabletop and board gaming, anime, collectibles, cards, toys and after-dark events, including a coffee-and-comics session, a comedy evening on Friday and sets by DJ Elliott. A cosplay championship rounds out the highlights. The event ran until Sunday 3 May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More cosplayers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n