Robert Marawa back on radio
A year after his controversial exit from Metro FM, Robert Marawa is back behind the mike. He speaks to YOU about his dramatic return
THE public broadcaster announced he was back and the internet went into meltdown. They’d won, his fans said – all that pressure they’d put on the powers that be had worked and their favourite sports presenter was back on air.
It’s been nearly a year of radio silence for veteran TV and radio personality Robert Marawa, who was fired from Metro FM in July 2017.
The decision was taken due to behindthe-scenes in-fighting: three weeks before his axing Robert (45) had refused to return to his sports show in solidarity with his producer, Beverly Maphangwa, whom he believed had been unfairly suspended after playing clips on air that included commentary from pay channel SuperSport.
After a public spat, the SABC took Robert off-air. But now he’s back. In a candid interview just days after the SABC announced his return, he says he doesn’t regret what happened.
“I took a firm stand in support of my producer and I’d do so over and over again because you’ve got to stand up for certain principles.”
He’s sorting out the details of whether he’ll work with the same support staff he had before being fired, he adds.
Robert is grateful to the listeners who petitioned for his return.
“The listener is my boss. They formed forums and there were people who signed a petition and went to the parliamentary portfolio committee and demanded my return.
“People rallied because they knew
what had happened was wrong and there was no legal merit for what had happened.”
His colleagues in the entertainment and broadcast industry also stood by him, Robert adds.
“People like [DJ] Lulo Café and [Metro FM presenter] Wilson B Nkosi. Wilson was the biggest weekly requester of me to come back. He kept on saying, ‘Whatever it is, whatever it takes, please come back’. ”
Broadcasters Ismail Abrahams and Rams Mabote also threw their weight behind him, urging him to return to radio.
Now their wish has been granted as Robert will be back on the airwaves in August, hosting a simulcast sports show on Metro FM and Radio 2000 – on Mondays to Fridays from 6-7pm.
BEING off-air gave Robert a chance to master his craft and spend time with his son, Awande (6), and the rest of his loved ones. “I got to listen to other radio stations at different times. I last listened to Metro FM on 15 June 2017 so if I was driving I’d get to listen to a lot of music. It also gave me a lot of time.
“My son was going to big school – he’s in Grade 1 – so I was waking up and taking him to school and fetching him in the afternoon. It just helped me to catch up with him, do homework and hang out.”
While he was off-air, his show went through five presenters, including Udo Carelse and Thomas Mlambo.
He doesn’t hold any grudges against any of the sportscasters who took over, Robert says – although if, like him, they’d “lost their jobs via dubious reasons” he’d have consulted them before taking over. “But everything is cool.” Negotiations for his return have been in the pipeline for months, he says, and during that time there was no shortage of offers.
Two days after he left Metro FM he was approached by Tbo Touch to host a slot on Touch Central, the online radio station Touch launched with fellow radio presenter Gareth Cliff.
“I still have a copy of Touch’s contract at home,” he says. “I took him out to lunch and I said to him, ‘The kind of people I’m trying to reach out to would be a waste on your platform’.”
He also had an offer from Gautengbased radio station Power987, but it wasn’t the right fit for him either.
Then in April, Radio 2000’s management revealed its new line-up – and it included him. Fans were beside themselves but the station jumped the gun, Robert says.
“It was an incomplete conversation. I hadn’t signed a contract. It was just mischief-making on some people’s part.”
And now the announcer, who was born in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal, is back at the SABC on a three-year contract believed to be worth R5,5 million.
Although Robert won’t confirm how much he’ll be paid, he says, “If it were [true] it’s nowhere near what the highest-paid sports person in the SABC building earns. Not by far.”
IN JUNE and July, Robert will be swamped covering the 2018 Fifa World Cup for SuperSport, but that won’t get in the way of a huge birthday celebration he has planned for little Awande. “18 July is the day I really look forward to because that’s his birthday – on the same day as Madiba’s,” he says. “So we’ll do our 67 minutes and then we focus on his 67 hours from there onwards.”
His son has really changed his life, he says.
“You start looking at yourself through another human being. I was the only boy in the family of three sisters so I never really had a brother – I started that journey with my nephew, my eldest sister Nomvula’s son, and it’s continued with Awande. It brings dynamism into my life.”
His relationship with Awande’s mother, actress Zoe Mthiyane (37) , suffered a rocky few years. In 2015 she wrote an open letter to Robert on her Facebook page, accusing him of being an absent father. She also requested he pay R29 900 a month in child support.
But things have improved between them – in March Zoe told YOU’s sister magazine Drum that they’re doing well in co-parenting their son.
Once they understood their roles, Robert adds, it became a beautiful association.
So is there a special woman in his life now? Yes, he says: his mother, Phumlile Lynette (81). “There’s one lucky lady – she gave birth to me!”
‘I took a firm stand in support of my producer and I’d do it again’