ROAD RUNNING
what they’ve gone through, and a little bit of their
background, you can’t fully appreciate what they’ve
been able to do. I must say, I love telling stories, and I
like hearing people’s stories.
At ease in front of the SABC cameras
MA: It sounds like you’ve developed a good
balance in your work, between presenting,
producing and writing.
VK: Definitely, and that’s why I feel so grateful for
the work that I do, because I get an opportunity to do
all of those things. I get the opportunity to have more
in-depth interviews with The Ladies Club, whereas
on Morning Live our slots are limited, because it is a
current affairs show, so more often than not I’m doing
quick news bulletins. Then with the disability sports
programme, I get to write scripts, and there’s great
opportunity for storytelling with a mixture of human
elements, as well as what’s current and newsworthy.
But there’s nothing like live events, something that’s
unfolding right in front of you, and then the journalist
and storyteller in me really comes to the fore.
MA: I assume you have to watch a lot of sports
to keep up to speed with what’s going on around
the world, in order to put together a daily news
package?
VK: It’s not a case of “have to” watch sport,
through high school, and leadership positions at
my school, including the Johannesburg Junior City
Council, where I was part of the communications
portfolio.
MA: In terms of working in the running
community, an early memory of you was when
you were the roving reporter on the Comrades
Marathon route, stopping runners for a quick word
on camera. How did that come about?
VK: So I actually started working on a junior sports
programme for the SABC when I was in high school,
and in my last year of high school, I also got involved
in a disability sports programme. From there I started
getting involved with other events and they put me on
the road running production, and I think it was 2005
when I was part of that Comrades production team
for the first time. I remember one of the people said to
me, this is live, so don’t mess up tomorrow, because
there will be millions of people watching. I was so
young then, just 18.
MA: How did your career progress from there
us about your various roles in TV.
VK: Okay, so currently I am the producer and
presenter of the sports on Morning Live, from Monday
to Friday, We’ve got five-minute bulletins each
hour for the three-hour show, which is broadcast
on SABC2 and on the DSTV channel 44, which is
broadcast across Africa. I also do scripting and
voiceovers for a disability sports programme, and as I
said earlier, I have been covering disabled sport since
I that junior sports programme, so it’s wonderful that
I’m still involved in disability sports.
I also do scripting and voiceovers for a magazine
programme, and I co-anchor a weekly women’s
sports talk show called The Ladies Club, with Lebo
Motsoeli. That’s fantastic, because we only have
one or maximum two guests in a half-hour show.
That gives us an opportunity to actually get to know
people a lot better, and to focus on the significance
of their achievements, because if you don’t know
because I actually want to, because I love watching
sport. I mean, my TV is mainly on sports, and I
actually have to force myself to watch a movie or
a series now and again. Otherwise, if it’s not live
sport, it’s a sport documentary, because there are so
many fascinating stories out there – and when you’re
passionate about something, it’s not really work. So,
for example, if I report that there is a massive boxing
fight coming up on Saturday night, I also want to
watch it. I mean, if people are getting excited about
it, I’ll get equally excited about it. I want to see that
person go for that record attempt for a half or a full
marathon. When you are involved in people’s stories,
you’re so just as excited about it, so you want to know
how it goes, especially when you get to know people.
You want to know how they are doing. Oh, and my
daughter doesn’t watch sports with me, because she
says I scream at the TV too much!
MA: Speaking of watching TV with your daughter,
I read that you recently discovered a series that
Early news duty
for Morning Live
to becoming the anchor of the running event
broadcasts?
and so I played that road reporter role for a couple
of years, and on a couple of different races, because
back then the SABC used to cover quite a lot of road
running events. And then I started doing voiceovers,
and I did a short period on a road running programme
- I think it was sponsored by Nedbank – while still
being part of the team covering races. I then ran the
Comrades, fulfilling a childhood dream, and the year
after that, they asked me to take over from Cynthia
Chaka as anchor of all the road running productions.
I was just so excited to have gotten that kind of
opportunity, and of course, I grabbed it with both
hands. Thankfully, they obviously think that I did an
okay job, and I’m still doing the job now.
MA: Besides anchoring the live broadcasts of
races, you also appear on morning TV. Please tell
10
Jeppe Marathon | 9 February 2020
VK: I think my colleagues thought I did a good job,