Motshidisi Mohono, first lady of rugby
Becoming a sports anchor might not have been her goal, but it seems it’s the job Motshidisi Mohono was made for
LIKE a scrumhalf setting the direction of the game – that’s how she played her part in South Africa’s Rugby World Cup triumph. While the Boks were creating fireworks on the f ield, Motshidisi Mohono was making history as the first woman to anchor the discussion during a Rugby World Cup final on a local channel. Hardcore rugby fans couldn’t get enough of her. Throughout the tournament Twitter was abuzz about her impressive knowledge of the sport and how confident she was sitting in DStv’s SuperSport studio, steering the conversation among rugby heavyweights such as John Smit, Naas Botha and brothers Odwa and Akona Ndungane. “I’m just elated I could be part of that story on that particular day, that particular final,” she says. “The most historic final probably in Rugby World Cup history, certainly South African rugby history, and I’m blessed to have been a part of it.” But Motshidisi (30) is the first to admit that if you’d told her during her teens that one day she’d be hailed as “the first lady of rugby” she’s likely to have thought you were pulling her leg. “In high school I thought, what is this? Why are 30 people chasing a ball, tackling and hurting one another?” Respected academic Professor Jonathan Jansen was magnanimous in his praise in a column for TimesLive in the euphoric aftermath of the final. “Motshidisi Mohono was simply outstanding with her knowledge of rugby, her calm excitement and her ability to manage a group of men who actually played the game at one stage in their careers. “I never thought I’d see such a transformation on the set of a masculine and male chauvinist rugby culture.”
HER entry into the world of sport reporting definitely wasn’t intentional. “I stumbled on it,” Motshidisi says. Although as a learner at Marais Viljoen High School in Alberton, Gauteng, Motshidisi showed a
talent for hockey and netball, she never dreamt sport would become her life.
“It was just fun to play a team sport,” she says. “I had passion for it but it wasn’t like one day I wanted to report on it.”
After leaving school she studied accounting at the University of Johannesburg and worked for the varsity radio station, UJFM, which is when the broadcasting bug really bit. Instead of getting a job as an accountant she was hired as a news reporter for national youth radio station YFM in 2008.
Although her job was primarily focused on news, over weekends she had to report on sport so she made a point of being clued up about what was going on. “I can’t misinform [the listeners], so I really got absorbed in it.”
In 2011, Motshidisi auditioned for Lady Rugga, SuperSport’s competition to find its first female rugby presenter to cover the Rugby World Cup. Although she was pipped at the post by Elma Smit, bosses were so impressed they offered her a job.
She recalls her first time on live TV: “It was for SuperSport Super Fan back in 2011 during the world cup. I was brandnew to television so it did take a while to get used to.”
And over the past eight years she’s made her mark, anchoring major rugby tournaments such as the Rugby Championship, Super Rugby and the Boks’ end-of-year tours in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
She was also in the hot seat when former Bok Ashwin Willemse stormed out of a live broadcast last year, claiming Botha and former Bok coach Nick Mallett had patronised him and discriminated against him.
It was an awkward situation but she drew praise afterwards for the calm way in which she’d managed the incident. In light of all this, nobody was too surprised when she was crowned sports journalist of the year at last year’s SA Sports Awards.
While she’s enjoying the recognition she’s the first to acknowledge there were many other greats before her who left the door ajar to make it easier for women to enter the male-dominated field of sports reporting. She mentions Carol Tshabalala, Vaylen Kirtley, Lebo Motsoeli and Cynthia Tshaka.
“I’m coming in on the back of their hard work. I can imagine it was probably 10 times harder for them than it is now for me,” she says.
Her male colleagues have also helped to make her path easier, offering constructive criticism, which she actively courts, Motshidisi says.
“Constructive criticism is important for personal growth. I ask my directors and producers after the show and we chat about what was good, what didn’t work, what we can improve on.
“Everyone should be open to that kind of critique. When you can grow from it, then you should take it.”
SHE was delighted when in September she found out SuperSport bosses had picked her as their Rugby World Cup anchor. “I was absolutely elated. It made all the hard work so worth it – to sit in that chair.”
Her family were over the moon when she told them the news. “They were excited – they all knew what it meant to me and how hard I’d worked for it.”
Sadly her father, Kenny (77), never got to witness this proud moment. Just before the tournament kicked off, he lost his four-year battle with prostate cancer.
“I would’ve done the opening match as well as the New Zealand/South Africa game but after the passing of my dad I took a while just to be with my family and to mourn him,” Motshidisi says.
Her parents played a huge role in getting her to where she is today, she adds.
For several years her dad raised her and her siblings, Vuyelwa (39), Lefa (29) and Jwalane (27), while their mother, Maphuthi (58), worked as a nurse in Saudi Arabia.
“He had a big influence on my life because he was always there and he just took over and handled things,” she says. Although her mom was away often, she made her presence felt in other ways.
“She does everything in her power to save people. She’s a healer – that’s her calling,” she says. “In her actions my mom always taught me to do what you love.”
Having learnt so much from her parents, Motshidisi hopes she can inspire others, particularly women.
“I remember last year when I won sports journalist of the year, I posted on my Instagram that it’s great to be the first but I want to be the first of many,” she says.
“Because it helps nothing if it’s just me – there’s no continuity and no legacy in that. You have to always be taking people along with you.”
‘Criticism is important for personal growth’