How Sinazo plans to dominate television
THAT you’ve only come to know of her when she joined Real Goboza (RGB) three years ago doesn’t necessarily mean that Sinazo Yolwa is a newcomer to television.
The 28-year-old has paid her dues on TV. In 2011 she was thrown in the deep when she joined Top Billing, the SABC3 glamorous magazine show as a part-time presenter.
The following year, she presented The Link and in 2013 she hosted the third season of So You Think You
Can Dance on SABC1. Now with RGB that she hosts with Phat Joe, she has become part of Saturday evening essential viewing.
Mixing English and Xhosa, Yolwa oozes confidence and originality that makes her likeable. We meet her at Urban Brew Studios in Randburg, northern Johannesburg, to talk about the gossip show’s new look that debuted last week.
The outspoken Yolwa is excited and cannot stop bragging about cooking umgqusho (samp and beans) and beef stew after the interview. She was born in Mbidlana, Tsolo, in the Eastern Cape. She later moved to Cape Town to finish her high school. After that she went to study BCom in accounting at the University of Cape Town. But she would later dump accounting for television, and now believes that her knowledge of balancing numbers has come in handy when it comes to understanding contracts.
Though she has acted in the illfated M-Net drama The Wild, she does not believe that she is a good actress. In fact, she wants to try her luck in radio. She has appeared in a number of commercials.
But her energy is directed at the newlook RGB, which she says is exciting, fresh and interesting. She says after many years RGB had to give the show a facelift because guests were beginning to be reluctant to be featured on the show, afraid of being grilled with questions about their scandals.
“This new look celebrates people but if there are those scandals, we still poke fun at them. Our aim is not to intimidate, but celebrate talent.
“We still have the usual slot where we follow fashion of the Alist celebrities and trendsetters like Queen B (Bonang Matheba), Boity (Boitumelo Thulo), Minnie (Dlamini), and Tamara Dey.”
RGB has been running for 10 years and has had hosts like Kuli Roberts and comedian Trevor Noah who has since gone on to be a TV show host in the US.
As part of the revamp, RGB has added a segment of fashion police dissecting red carpet fashion in the most brutal and honest manner.
Fashion personalities like Babalwa Mneno, Paledi Segapo and Mome Mahlangu will be featured as the police.
“We have realised that our viewers love that discussion about who is wearing it better than the other. We will pick on those outfits that stand out from different events.”
Yolwa understands that presenting on television is a demanding and high-pressure job involving irregular hours, and yet put up a confident and pleasant look whenever appearing on the screen.
She enjoys attending events but her issue is wearing stilettos. She was not trained in presenting, yet she holds her own impressively.
“When I started a few years ago I used to be terrified. Even now I still get nervous. It takes a different person at a different time to get comfortable. But once you get used to it, it’ sa lot of fun.”
As much as Yolwa wants to grow as a presenter and conquer the industry, she wants to venture into producing and directing.
She has already begun working on her ideas and attending different film festivals just to understand how that industry works.
“I want to grow as a presenter and I think I will be on television until kingdom comes. But I also want to venture into production because this is where the money is.
“Last year, I met an international company that wanted to partner with a South African company to tell African stories. I have already been working on those ideas and that keeps me occupied when I am not working.”