With Mother’s Day celebrations rolling in, social media is once again spotlighting a familiar trend: “momfluencers” who turn everyday family moments into content—while trying to keep real life, privacy, and emotional wellbeing intact beyond the sponsored captions and curated hashtags.
For Vourné Kgosinkwe, who is married to Theo Kgosinkwe of Mafikizolo, the appeal is simple: motherhood looks like the ordinary chaos people recognize instantly. She describes it as school drop-offs, the mess, snacks everywhere, and the constant effort to balance a job with “mom life” just to get through the day.
She adds that any money earned from online visibility is secondary. “The income is just a bonus,” she says, emphasizing that her daughter comes first and that she stays alert to the line between sharing and exploiting. If her child doesn’t want to participate, she won’t push it—she also tries to remind her daughter, in ways that fit her age, that her opinion matters when it comes to what is posted. Kgosinkwe says her daughter is outspoken and will tell people directly what she likes and what she doesn’t.
Actress Zola Nombona, who shares a six-year-old son with actor Thomas Gumede, focuses her attention on a different kind of pressure—one that comes with filming and being in front of a camera. For her, the most important part is emotional awareness.
“One of my challenges is the pressure of making sure I never miss any signs of discomfort coming from him during a shoot, or whenever he is in front of the camera,” she says.
Nombona also speaks to the broader reality of parenting, noting that there’s no single rulebook that fits every child or every family. She stresses that even when motherhood looks manageable from the outside, the balancing act is constant. She says she wishes other parents understood the complexity of the role—because while children differ, mothers and fathers differ too, and there is no blueprint for what “right” parenting should look like.
Although she is comfortable sharing parts of her journey, Nombona sets clear boundaries when it comes to safety. In particular, she makes sure she doesn’t reveal her son’s location in real time.
For Tansey Coetzee, a former Miss South Africa winner, having her eight-year-old daughter Peyton featured in her posts is something she says “comes naturally.” Coetzee explains that content has been part of her day-to-day life for years, even though she never intended to build a career as an influencer.
She says she simply shared what felt genuine, and over time her posts began drawing attention. Eventually, brands reached out and offered to pay her to create content for them—an evolution that she describes as the start of her work as a “momfluencer.”
Coetzee also opens up about her pregnancy in a way that shaped how and when she chose to share. She says she kept the pregnancy private for more than seven months for safety reasons, after being diagnosed with stage-4 endometriosis before her motherhood journey began. She describes needing space to process everything privately, and says she only decided to tell her story later because she believed it could bring hope and comfort to others dealing with similar experiences.
She adds that Peyton was “born to shine,” describing her daughter as someone who is naturally at ease in front of the camera and who genuinely enjoys being involved in her life.
When they are not filming, Coetzee says the best days are the ones away from the lens. She and Peyton enjoy school drop-offs and pick-ups, and they say their prayers and sing their favorite songs during car rides. They also spend time outside—painting, shooting hoops, taking long walks—along with cooking dinner, baking, and swimming.
Still, Coetzee admits that motherhood isn’t always easy, particularly when it comes to resting. She says the hardest part is finding time to unwind, explaining that as a single parent there isn’t much “me time,” and her mind is constantly running ahead. She describes feeling overwhelmed at moments, but says that this year she has made a deliberate choice to slow down and schedule at least one day each week for rest—though she jokes that “rest” often means doing everything else and skipping the gym.
Linda Mtoba, an actress and content creator, sometimes shares special mommy-and-me moments online, but she says the shift happened when parenthood began to feel like a business. In her view, there is a line she refuses to cross.
“I didn’t want to make a profit from my child,” Mtoba says, adding that she will always decline opportunities that don’t feel true to her—especially anything she feels is disconnected from her reality. She says she builds her brand on trust, and that people rely on the partnerships she takes because she has earned that faith over time.
She continues that the moment she realized her actions were being treated as monetisation is when she decided she didn’t want to give up the chance to be an authentic parent. She also says she wants to protect her child, explaining that she believes her daughter will eventually become her own person and have the right to decide whether Mtoba should be part of her life—or whether her presence on social media is something she even wants. For now, she says, she is protecting her.
Mtoba notes that while she may look polished on the red carpet, her day-to-day life is much like anyone else’s, filled mainly with school runs, work commitments, and the routine of getting home again.
“It’s very much the typical day most moms, especially working moms, experience,” she says.
