Sechaba G makes the move to TV before turning 30

‘I am at a point

SHE defines herself as a broadcaster, mother and a wife. But there is more to KFM midday show host Sechaba Gqeba.

“I am ambitious, strong and ready to push boundaries,” she said.

Widely known as Sechaba G on radio, the Gauteng-born 29-year-old is making her mark in what she calls a “male-dominated cut-throat” industry.

She has recently been announced as presenter of the new season of Motswako, an evening talk show on SABC 2.

This will be her first television break and already she has a vision of a career incorporating radio and television.

“I want to be that person who is on radio and television, and nailing both,” she said.

With 10 years of radio experience, starting as a news reader at a community radio station in the Vaal, Sechaba G said the TV opportunity had come at the perfect time.

“I am at a point where I am expanding my career in line with the shift that is happening inside,” she said.

Turning 30 in June, Sechaba G said she was learning things about herself she had not been aware of and embracing all her aspects.

“This is what I tell the girls I interact with: be confident in who you are,” she said.

“Confidence is a state of mind. Tell yourself ‘ I will overcome, I am not my circumstances’,” she said, adding that women have twice the difficulty in making it in life compared to men because of gender imbalances in society.

The 19th season of Motswako will tackle such issues when it airs next week.

“This is not to say men cannot be part of the show,” she cautioned. Instead men should listen, empathise and call each other out on bad behaviour and discrimination.

Sechaba G is not without fears. A few years ago, her family was robbed at gunpoint near Khayelitsha while stopping to change a burst tyre. The car they were travelling in hit an object, apparently placed on the road by their attackers.

“We were not physically hurt but that experience traumatised me. To this day, I am paranoid when driving around,”she said.

Her eyes mist when she talks about her son, 5, and her husband.

“I am very protective of my family,” she says.

She believes making it in broadcasting requires the understanding that nothing is permanent and the ability to constantly reinvent oneself.

She looks up to women such as media moguls Carol Bouwer and Khanyi Dhlomo, radio and TV personality Masechaba Ndlovu and her grandmother, Salamina Kaphioa.

While she delights in receiving feedback from her radio fans, Sechaba G is excited to join the world of television and to help give a voice to the voiceless.

noloyiso.mtembu@inl.co.za

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