A show that fits her faith
Fresh start for Kinalma at SABC2
After trying her hand at radio for over 10 years, presenter Kinalma Bashman found love in television.
The new face of Life 24/7 on SABC2 says she is happy to be part of a show that celebrates her faith. “It is a Christian magazine show. I’m a Christian and views on the show are more of what I believe in.”
Bashman, 32, who hails from Port Elizabeth, says she started her career as a radio promo jockey at a casino in the Eastern Cape during her journalism studies.
“We were busy writing a test in class one day when my lecturer wrote something on the board, saying a local casino was looking for jockeys. At that point I didn’t know what a jockey was, so I went to her and inquired about it.”
She went to the auditions and got the job. Soon afterwards she packed up and moved to Johannesburg to join YFM, and that opened doors for her at Tbo Touch’s online radio Touch Central.
Bashman says her fall from the station started when she realised she was not on the right show and producers started to regulate music on her show.
“I am a Christian and a lot of things at the station were far from what I believe in. For example, when the Somizi [Mhlongo] and [the] Grace Bible Church thing (Somizi left a service after a visiting pastor criticised gays) happened, and I’m a Grace Bible Church member, I felt my opinions were too different.”
She says the incident was the first of her falling outs with management. When they reshuffled the line-up, she was left out.
Once that door closed, the TV doors opened.