Top radio jocks in special Mother’s Day shout out
Msizi James and Clement Manyathela full of praise for their moms
Radio hotshots and self-proclaimed mama’s boys Msizi James and Clement Manyathela credit their mothers for their successes.
The pair of radio jocks who hosts different shows on Primedia’s 947 and Talk Radio 702, spoke to Sowetan about the influence their mothers had on their careers.
Msizi James, who is on 947 weekdays between 9am and 12pm, said he has two mothers.
Born Msizi James Madinane, his biological mother is Sylvia Hadebe and from the age of five he was raised by American missionary woman Pat Blair in his small hometown of Hillcrest in KwaZulu-Natal.
“They taught me everything I know today, and their joint wisdom has been a guiding light in my life,” Msizi James said.
“My love for music definitely comes from Pat who played such a wide variety of music in the house growing up, from Bob Dylan to Johnny Clegg.
“My sense of humour and love for people comes from Sylvia, who has spent her whole life in public service running her own NGO that takes care of the families in the community Molweni, where she grew up.”
One of Msizi James’s favourite things to do when not on air is to cook Sunday lunch for his fiancée Angela and that comes from watching Sylvia make seven colours.
So how is he celebrating his two moms this Mother’s Day on Sunday?
“Mother’s Day is always such a hard one as neither of them live in Joburg. So via my siblings I always send Sylvia some gifts and call in during lunch,” Msizi responded.
“Pat has since moved back to America. Mother’s Day with her this year will be a very long Zoom call at an ungodly hour.”
Hailing from Vaalbank in Mpumalanga, Manyathela is on 702 in the same time slot as Msizi James. His mother is a retired teacher and has three children – Manyathela is the firstborn.
“My mom is the most important person in my life. We have a great relationship. She is strict, so growing up she used to shout at me and my siblings,” Manyathela said.
“Sometimes she tries to still shout at me at my age but I stop it [laughs]. I am like ‘mama, I am old now, I have my own house. You advise me, you don’t instruct me’.
“I respect her a lot. When she is visiting I am still shy to sleep out or have a glass of wine in front of her.”
Manyathela added that his mom sacrificed a lot for him to study journalism at the University of Pretoria.
“She went into crazy debt to see us through university. Like many other moms, she used to support extended families so we grew up lacking because she had that big responsibility, but we never went to bed hungry,” Manyathela said.
“She saw me on a billboard last year... She didn’t understand what I did to be on a billboard but she told my brother to take pictures of her next to ‘that thing’ and she was proud.”
East Coast Radio jock Carol Ofori is a mother of two. She encouraged mothers to get crafty with their children this Sunday and make homemade gifts.
“I love doing activities with my children and as life gets busy, Mother’s Day is a perfect opportunity to bask in the glory that is family,” Ofori said.