Since 1994, South Africa has been enjoying democracy and most apartheid laws of discrimination were abolished. Most group of people started to be recognized for their race, choice of religion and choice of gender if they changed their genders.
Today, we have a lot of people who came out as gays and transgenders including some of our favourite celebrities.
In this post we will focus on 10 Celebrities Who changed their genders.
Number 1: Gogo Tyra Manzini- a transgender woman
Media personality and businesswoman Tyra Sindane best known as Gogo Manzini, is a transgender woman who was born as a man but now identifies as a woman. She went through several surgeries and beauty procedures to make herself a beautiful woman. Some of the beauty procedures they went through include lip and face fillers, then skin-lightening procedures. In December 2024, Zimoja reported that she was scheduled to go through Brazilian butt lifting procedure as well.
Number 2: Yaya Mavundla – a man who identifies as a woman
Multi-award winning transgender activist and reality television star Yaya Mavundla is a man who transitioned into a woman. According to Yaya, she grew up in a small town of Kranskop in KwaZulu-Natal where she never met a single transgender or queer person. So, now that she is an adult who has seen the struggle of queer people around her she has become an activist who defend the rights of transgender people. She also do her transgender activism as a fashion designer.
Number 3: Thishiwe Ziqubu – a woman identifing as a man
Actor Thishiwe Ziqubu was born a woman before he allegedly realized that he is a man. He started dating other woman as a man and was very open about it. Ziqubu who dated fellow actress Mandisa Nduna believe that gay people don’t come out as gays since straight people don’t need to come out. In 2023 he wrote on social media that most people misgender him for a woman. In his own words he said, “Please don’t call me girl or actress. I’m trans and I am an actor. When someone confronted him about explaining her gender so much, she replied saying, “I get misgendered a lot and I need to correct it.”
Number 4: Muzi Zuma – a man who identifies as a woman
Muzi Zuma who is also known as Lee-Roy Jason is a transgender woman based in Johannesburg. She was born as a man before realizing that she was born into gender she doesn’t like and decided to came open as gay. She was also part of the Miss Gay South Africa contestant because she identifies as both gay and transgender woman. She also embrace his feminine side and feel androgynous. Zuma also identifies as non-binary and gender fluid.
Number 5: Lehlogonolo Machaba – a man who identifies as woman
Beauty pageant contestant Lehlogonolo Machaba is also a transgender woman who was born as a man. Seeing the struggle of most transgender woman Lehlogonolo decided to become a transgender activist to defend and stand for the rights of such. Back in high school, Lehlogonolo displayed interest in modelling but as a trans woman who was born a boy, he had to conceal his identity until the time was right. Later on he came out as transgender woman and have participated in Miss South Africa beauty pageant competition. In which she managed to reach the top 30 of the competition making history among the LGBT community.
Number 6: Tholang Motsumi – a man who identifies as a woman
Reality television star and actress Tholang Motsumi was born a boy but realized that she is a girl. It became clear to her parents, teachers and friends that he was queer but they would cuss at him in disgust and denial of what she was. In 2009 to 2010 Tholang started going to clinic looking for hormones that would help her transition from a boy to a girl in terms of body features. But nurses would deny her those homonal pills and injections. She finally got them and began her transition. Though she still have her boy genitals, she is happy to be called woman and to be cast in future films as an actress.
Number 7: Gabe Gabriel – a woman transitioned into a man
If you know the difference in male and female names you will know that Gabe is a female name but Gabe Gabriel believes he was born to be a man not woman. Indeed Gabe was born a woman but later realized he is a man and started transitioning into a man. He is in the process of gender reassignement to change their gender. He had a lot of explaining to his parents that the gender he was assigned at birth was wrong, he was not their daughter but their son. And eventually they understood with the help of his siblings and friends. Gabe Gabriel is a writer, director and actor by profession.
Number 8: Selbyonce Mkhize- identify as gay
Actor and radio personality Selby Mkhize was believed to be transgender woman just like the others we have shown you, but in recent years he clarified that he is not a trans. I think most people get confused by his feminine clothes and his chest which appears like female breast. In his own explanation to correct the misconception he said that he is gay not a trans woman and the chest which appears like breast was as a result of weight loss. He thought of transitioning into a woman but later changed his mind and claims he enjoys being gay rather than a trans woman.
Number 9: Innocent Matijane – born a man but almost transitioned
Another celebrity who almost transitioned from a man to a woman is reality television star Inno Matijane. He was born as a man but thought and believed that he is woman trapped in a male’s body. So, he started transitioning into a woman going through initial procedures but later on he realized that its not what he wanted. According to him in most recent reports of 2024, he became a Christian and he had to repent from such evil thoughts. So, now he identifies as a man because he is a repentant Christian.
Number 10: Elle Rose Van Der Burg – born as a man now a woman
Model and fashion designer Elle Rose Van Der Burg was born a man or boy but later transitioned into a woman after noticing what they deemed as their true gender. She started modeling when she was 15 years old before she comes to terms with her true gender. She believes transgender people are not well represented, understood and protected in South Africa and they do their best to represent themselves through the world of fashion and modelling.
