"I am like born again". This was Penny Penny’s comment last Monday, following the new developments in his life when his star seems to be waxing on all fronts.

The Limpopo musician based in Giyani, where he is a ward councillor for the Giyani municipality, is on cloud nine after several things seem to be going right in his life. The musician has signed a ground-breaking deal with a United States-based recording company to have his music released worldwide. The musician, also known as Shaka Bundu because of his best-seller CD of the same name released in 1994, has signed a two-year deal with Awesome Tapes to have his recordings re-recorded in the US.

The head of the company, Mr Brian Shimkovitz, confirmed the deal. “A few years ago, my friend gave me a copy of his CD Shaka Bundu and I was blown away by the music. I listened to it a lot and have played it often during the Awesome Tapes from Africa DJ sets that I do around the US, Canada, Australia and Europe. I also posted it on my blog and received an overwhelmingly positive reaction.”

He said it took him a few years to locate Penny Penny's phone number, “but once I spoke with him and learned his story, I realised that working with him would be possible.” He said the reissued version of Shaka Bundu is exactly the same as the version released in SA in 1994, but now it will be available on vinyl, CD, mp3 and limited-edition cassette on every continent. “Record stores from Japan to New Zealand to New York City to Barcelona will be carrying this ground-breaking and historic recording. Hopefully, when the record comes out worldwide, there will be enough interest to get Penny Penny some shows abroad. Either way, his music is now reaching a wider audience,” he said.

Shimkovitz said there are plans to re-release other CDs by this musician.

Going side by side with the world-music acclaim, Penny Penny was also honoured by Munghana Lonene FM at its music awards ceremony on 8 November. On top of that, Penny, who is also a ward councillor for the ANC in the Greater Giyani Municipality, is happy after the municipality advertised a tender to tar a road leading to his ward after he was suspended by the ANC in the Mopani region over the failure to have the road tarred.The disciplinary committee acquitted him on a technicality after it appeared that there had been no complaint from his ward.

Now he is a happy man.

“I did not become a councillor for money, but I am a servant of the people. Now I have achieved my milestone service delivery in the form of electricity for my people, a tarred road and an access road to the Nkuri tribal authority has also been approved,” he said

Greater Giyani municipality spokesperson Steven Mabunda confirmed that the tender for the tar road to Nkuri has been advertised.

Penny Penny is a self-made man who never saw the four walls of a classroom from the inside. But he has worked his way up and he is now a successful man.