Veli broadcasts her mother tongue far and wide

KaNyamazane born radio and TV personality, Veli Fransica Zwane Mkwanazi, continues to represent the SiSwati language on national screens.

With years of experience in broadcast media, she remains humble. Her advice to young people in the media industry is to stay grounded. “Do not forget that you are not the story and in this way you will stay focused and neither popularity nor power will capture you,” she said.

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Mkwanazi believes that loving and knowing her mother tongue has opened many doors for her.

“I have always loved languages. Growing up my dream was to be a lawyer, but due to financial constraints I ended studying education, psychology and sociology. My aim was to be an educational psychologist because I love children and adore me,” she said.

She taught at Lekazi Primary School for a year before joining SABC as a news presenter for the then Radio Swazi, now Ligwalagwala FM.

Her passion and dedication saw her growing from strength to strength in the industry. “I worked as a news presenter, then an executive producer for Letiphuma Embiteni, a producer on SAFM’s PM Live show which was co-produced with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), presented by Tim Modise,” she said.

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In 1999, Mkwanazi was an exchange producer for the BCC’s Focus on Africa, in London. Upon her return she became an assignment editor for both radio and TV in the SABC offices in the City of Mbombela. She migrated in 2004 to work at the Pretoria office. In 2006 she was part of the launch of the fully fledged SABC TV news 30-minute Siswati bulletin.

” It was such an honour to be appointed an executive producer of that bulletin. I was overjoyed that at last SiSwati was recognised on national TV as one of the official languages in the country. I was also a co-presenter of a Siswati/ Ndebele TV magazine show on SABC 1.

It showcased Mpumalanga Province,” she said. Mkwanazi urges the youth never to stop pursuing their dreams through equipping themselves with more relevant information through education. It can be very frustrating and demoralising for one to work hard to fulfil his or her dreams in a world where favours and connections are the order of the day.

My advice is to soldier on and equip yourself with as much knowledge and education in whatever field and never give up. Your chance will come,” she said.

She advised upcoming presenters to be well informed on current and international news. Her motto is “Half of being smart is knowing what you are dumb about”. Prayer always gets her through in times of challenges. She is inspired by all women who work hard in order to educate their kids, even though they themselves are not educated.

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She would love to interview Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani activist for female education and youngest Nobel Prize laureate. At the age of 15 in 2012 Malala was shot by the Taliban on a bus from school while she was talking to her friends about school work. “When her peers were being married off to older men, young Malala demanded that girls be allowed to receive an education,” she said.