Thabiso Ntema: Channel Africa
AFRICA @ PLAY WITH
THABISO NTEMA
Channel Africa’s executive producer for sports and presenter talks about
getting relevant sports content for listeners across the continent.
Written by: Machaba Matsapola
B
roadcasting in six
languages (English,
Kiswahili, Portugese,
Chinyanja, Silozi and
French), Channel Africa
is South Africa’s
international shortwave public
broadcast radio station. As a sports
executive producer and presenter,
Thabiso Ntema’s role include
managing sports content for the
station in all six language services
and the main focus is the African
continent. Taking time out of his
hectic schedule to speak to
Frequency Magazine, he describes
his daily duties and says: “My duty is
to make sure that all the sporting
codes which are relevant and big
on the continent are covered ad-
equately; In Portuguese speaking
countries, the number one sport is
basketball, in French and English
speaking regions, the number one
sport is soccer, then in East Africa
it’s athletics whereas in North
Africa handball is the fastest
growing sport.”
The 47-year-old from Mohlakeng
started his radio career with 702 Talk
Radio, then worked for Kaya FM and
ETV before joining Channel Africa.
“When I came to Channel Africa,
there was no sports show with in-
14
depth stories behind the stories we
read in the newspapers; there wasn’t
a platform for a presenter to engage
with the sports administrators and
personalities across the continent,”
shares Ntema. “Africa @ Play is a
concept I came up with for Channel
Africa and have been doing the show for
10 years now; we do interviews in
all regions of the continent.”
“We have foreign correspondents in
all regions and our content is at conti-
nental and global level; we also have
8 sports bulletins from 05h00 am to
20h00 pm every single day,” he adds. As
a young man, Ntema used to play all kinds
of sports hence he is passionate about his
job. “I like watching sports all the time;
when you’re in this position, you’ve got
to love and know about a variety of
sports and the personalities involved,”
he advises. When Ntema was younger, he
used to love listening to radio commen-
tators and presenters on different radio
stations. “I used to listen to Tshidiso Leb-
allo on Radio Sotho (now Lesedi FM),
Aubrey Motloung and the late Cebo
Manyaapelo on Radio Setwana (now
Motsweding FM); I also listened to
international soccer commentators
like John Motson, John Dykes and Jim
Beglin for their in-depth knowledge on
European soccer,” says Ntema.
F R EQ U E N CY M AGA Z I N E S P O RTS I S S U E PA RT 1