Woman on top: Mahlatse Mahlase

Media24 Digital Media’s Political Editor MAHLATSE MAHLASE, 38, has travelled around the world to tell people’s stories

With charisma and poise Mahlatse Mahlase smiles when she talks about her journey in journalism. A former SABC news reporter and now Political Editor for Media24 Digital, she’s one of the leaders when it comes to breaking the news to audiences, and keeping us updated about what is going on around the world. Her job is also about unpacking what some of the political developments mean. She enjoys working on digital platforms and being at the centre of breaking news. She says: “I’m stoked about it. I think News24 is the fastestgrowing online media. Everybody has the app on their phones and it’s responding to the new ways people are reading news. They don’t want to wait for the top of the hour, they just want to go on their phones and keep up with the latest news.” Mahlatse is also the chairperson of the South African National Editors Forum (Sanef ), a role that puts her at the forefront in the fight for the rights of journalists to do their work freely without intimidation. She takes this role very seriously. “It’s a very important institution because the main objective is to ensure media freedom is respected, and that the industry also applies ethics. It’s humbling to be part of the institution that’s fighting for journalists to be able to do their work. It means a lot to me, especially because I’ve been to countries where journalists are not allowed to practise freely. They’re killed or disappear, and are put in prisons for exposing the truth for the investigative work they’re doing, or for expressing an opinion a regime doesn’t like. We need institutions like Sanef to fight for media freedom and to work in collaboration with continental editors forums to continue to push and fight back,” explains the journo.

So how did her journey as a journalist start? “I’ve always wanted to be a journalist. Many people say I talk too much, so I guess that’s the start. I was always curious. Growing up, my grandfather bought newspapers and I read them. I was actively-engaged with social issues of our youth group at church. We’d have debates and discussions about issues affecting the youth, such as teenage pregnancies, career development, being a young person in South Africa and the challenges we were facing as young people,” she recalls.

But her first love was radio. She had her first encounter with radio when she was in middle school coming from a trip from the Kruger National Park. They were interviewed on Thobela FM about their experience, and she was intrigued. This propelled her to join SABC Radio when she completed her studies. She loves the power the medium has. “Many South Africans still find their news source is mostly radio. It reaches out to the most rural of places. When people don’t have television or electricity,

‘Journalism might be a business in the US, it might be a business in Europe but in Africa journalism is a fight .’

radio is their number one source of news. When I started out I reported in English and Sepedi, giving people news in the language they speak. For me, that was a big thing because we live in a country that embraces different languages,” she says.

Mahlatse hails from Seshego (Polokwane) and is the eldest and only girl. She has two brothers and they were all raised by her mother, a hard-working woman with a PhD and a lecturer at the University of the North.

Mahlatse graduated with a diploma in journalism from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and completed a BTech degree with the Tshwane University of Technology. She started as an intern for the public broadcaster in 1998. In 2000 she got an offer to work as a freelance producer for Tim Modise’s PM Live show on SAFM. In 2005, she left to become the BBC’s South African correspondent.

But in 2007, Mahlatse returned to the SABC and worked as a foreign correspondent in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Kenya for two years. She says: “That was probably one of the most exciting but also challenging times of my career. At the time, Congo was still trying to recover from the civil war. My stories carried a lot of pain – girl children being raped, women fleeing the war with children on their backs. It was tough.” She returned home in 2010 when the SABC’s Kenya bureau closed down.

She had barely touched home soil when she was sent to cover yet another horrendous story. “The 2010 Haiti earthquake devastation was one of my biggest career assignments. We arrived a week after the earthquake and there were still bodies around the city. I got to do stories about young children who had to have their legs amputated, it was quite traumatic. That’s one experience that will stay with me for a very long time. I had seen dead bodies in my travels but not as many as I saw in Haiti. It changes your perspective, humbles you and you learn to appreciate the little things you have in life,” she adds. She continues: “When we came back a lot of people associated us with the tragedy, it had touched so many lives. We became part of the campaign to raise funds for the people of Haiti, and because people had seen the story through our reporting, they could connect even though it was people so far away from them. I was humbled by the support and humanity that came from people wanting to help,” she explains.

Upon her return Mahlatse resumed her duties as specialist reporter. She then joined the political team and was appointed deputy political editor for radio news at the SABC in 2013. Asked why the move from human interest to political reporting, she says: “There are very few aspects of our lives in SA that are not political. From controversies around HIV and AIDS to housing and water pollution, in this country, everything involves politics. From the politics of gender, access and inequality, they’re all aspects of our lives.”

She says one quote that stays in mind is ‘Journalism might be a business in the US, it might be a business in Europe but in Africa journalism is a fight’. In summarising her own journalism experience Mahlatse says: “It’s built my character and taken me to places. Our contribution as journalists is to tell people’s stories, this might not make a difference immediately, but people are hearing, and it gives those whose stories you are telling hope.”

So, when she takes time off from the world of news, how does she unwind? “I have good conversations with friends over a bottle of wine. I’ve also learned to make time for myself. I love the outdoors so I go hiking to take in the beauty of this country. Travelling has exposed me to a continent I didn’t know was so beautiful,” she says. Mahlatse has a lovely tattoo of headphones sitting on the map of Africa, which she explains as her listening to the continent.

Known to many as Mahlatse Gallens (she tied the knot last year), Mahlatse Mahlase is a force to be reckoned with in media, and politicians who’ve been grilled by this dynamite know she doesn’t play.