Alexandra’s Simelane wins the 2016 Healthy Kota competition

27 June 2016

 

Meet Cindy Simelane, the maker of the healthiest, tastiest and most nutritious kota (bunny chow) in town.

 

The 25-year-old Alexandra informal food trader was named the winner of Season 2 of the City of Johannesburg’s Healthy Kota Competition at the Pimville Skills Centre in Soweto on Saturday June 25. She beat six other contenders from across Johannesburg to win the bragging rights and the R25 000 first prize.

The competition is part of the City’s Go Jozi Healthy Lifestyle Programme, an initiative championed by Executive Mayor Cllr Parks Tau to encourage Johannesburg residents to eat healthy and engage in physical activity – including walking, running and cycling – to prevent diseases and conditions such as diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure.

Such a lifestyle would help to increase the City’s life expectancy.

Simelane impressed the judges with the variety of meats she used in her healthy kotas and the different and affordable options she would make available to her customers once she introduced the healthy kota option on her menu.

“This is a very happy moment for me,” said Simelane. “The competition was very tough and challenging.”

She said the journey also taught her not to give up even though at times she was not sure what she was going to put in her next healthy kota.

“I’ve been making kotas for five years. Being in an environment with people who share my passion was such a great experience,” said Simelane.

She will use her prize money to buy the necessary equipment to enable her food establishment to make the healthy kota.

“I cannot thank the City enough for giving us the opportunity to showcase what we do best and encourage us to give our customers more healthy choices,” said Simelane.

Member of the Mayoral Committee for Health and Social Development Cllr Nonceba Molwele said she was pleased to see an increasing number of food traders showing interest in making healthy kotas.

“We urge community members to mobilise around the healthy kota so even our kids in school can eat healthy kotas and we can fight obesity," said MMC Molwele.

"We want this to get to a point at which we phase out all the greasy and over-seasoned kotas. The healthy kota will ensure that people spend less time at the clinic.”

She said the competition not only taught kota traders about healthy eating but it also enhanced their business skills.

MMC Molwele said the City had also negotiated with restaurants about offering healthy options on their menus. Competition judge Phila Noah said selecting a winner was a tough ask.

“All the contestants showed great potential. They did their best to make some great dishes but there could only be one winner.

“The judging was not only about today’s end product. We were looking at how the contestants had performed throughout the different stages of the competition. Cindy’s kota was the most nutritious, the presentation was appetising and the taste was excellent. The fact that she had three options to choose from was a cherry on top,” said Noah.