The most intriguing thing about rating women on South African TV? Well, the fact that it’s being done. A special edition of men in the media? I don’t think so. If a man breaks balls to make his point or reach his goal he’s ‘talented’, a ‘go-getter’ or ‘powerful’. If a woman uses the very same skills, she’s ‘pushy’, a ‘bitch’ or a ‘pain’. It comes down to sex – and therein lies the very un-PC punch. Annoying.
The South African talent pool is small, its training pond shallow. Beyond tertiary education, radio, Summit TV and SABC Africa, there are precious few natural training grounds for television personalities, which is why beauty queens, radio presenters, people with good contacts – and even competition winners – take to the South African airwaves with wild abandon.
Yet, when South African talent is good, it excels – a lot of it stemming from the local need to multi-task. I bet you’ll find virtually each and every one of my Top 10 can put on camera-ready make-up, offer input into scripting and camera angles, along with adding real production value to the set. And a few of them could probably even do so simultaneously.
Still, there were a few challenges in choosing my Top 10. The first was the selection process. Straight-up: there wasn’t one. I stuck to English-medium personalities, across a cross-section of news, lifestyle and talk show formats. It’s a subjective list, chosen perhaps by top-of-mind popularity more than anything else.
I’ve avoided accents and pronunciation – although they’re factors to consider for those with global aspirations. Firstly, I’m a mumbler myself and could use at least a decade of intensive training at The Voice Clinic. Secondly, it’s old news. Even the BBC has moved beyond the socio-cultural constraints of Received Pronunciation (RP). Besides, more than a few personalities in my Top 10 work the cameras with English as a second language – and, as long as I can understand what they’re saying, I’m happy. If the information is conveyed with interpretive comprehension and the all-elusive X-factor, I’m even happier.
Ditto clothing. Most TV personalities are at the mercy of their sponsors. Not everyone can be dressed in Stoned Cherrie (and not everyone should). But, to dissect a Hip Hop or Jenni Button from a Malcolm Klûk or Hilton Weiner would drive us all to drink, maybe even injection. My only complaint might be the use of super-chunky jewellery and wild print fabrics by some late night news readers (none on my list) – many look like dressed-up supermarket till-workers ready to jol at the Bloemfontein Holiday Inn.
They’d certainly never crack CNN or the BBC (well, certainly not if I were in charge). But a disproportionate number of, admittedly better-dressed, South Africans do. Think Tumi Makgabo, Graeme Joffee, Anand Naidoo and Nadia Bilchik – all of whom cracked space on CNN. Journalist and author Adam Levin first noted the trend in Style magazine a few years back, interviewing a CNN big wig who said something like, “Unlike Australians, South African newsreaders have neutral, global-friendly accents”. Shew! Izit?!
The Top 10 (in alpha-order, by first name):
Personality: Basetsana ‘Bassie’ Kumalo
Platform: Top Billing
Credentials: Miss South Africa 1994, now trading as a well-connected, high-flying businessperson.
General vibe: Shiny, polished, poised. And busy, busy, busy.
What’s up? Large and in-charge, she even co-owns Tswelopele Productions, the company that produces Top Billing for the SABC, while publishing a complementary magazine by the same name.
What’s down? Oy vey, pass the Red Bull – as a concept Kumalo is exhausting. Volunteer worker, chairperson of a communications company, MC, model, business entrepreneur, former Miss SA, mates with Madiba & Co, journalist, presenter and wife. Why not just take over the country? Actually, now that I think about it, Kumalo probably would make a great president in a few years.
Personality: Bronwyn Nielsen
Platform: Business newsreader, Summit TV
Credentials: Strong business news background, with a stint on the e.tv news team before rejoining Summit. Also produces and sometimes presents Carte Blanche.
General vibe: Serious and brainy, with a coolish demeanour.
What’s up? Calm, cool and professional – Nielsen delivers the goods with well-practised precision.
What’s down? Nielsen’s strengths are her weaknesses. Her calm, cool and professional demeanour projects a lack of on-air personality or warmth in ‘reel life’. Ironic, as in ‘real life’ Nielsen has been noted as a well-respected, and deeply caring, community volunteer.
Personality: Debora Patta
Platform: 3rd Degree and editor-in-chief, e.tv news
Credentials: Award-winning journalist with a hard news 702 Talk Radio background (eight years) before joining e.tv for its 1998 launch.
General vibe: Guests sometimes squirm. The audience sometimes squirms. Patta never squirms. Her publicity shots, complete with a ‘don’t eff-with-me’ folded arms pose, would keep body language analysts busy for weeks.
What’s up? Patta is plugged-in, with a seemingly immense knowledge and understanding of South Africa’s socio-political landscape. Her hard-hitting style turns some off – I think it’s a ‘plus’. Of course, from what I understand, both our families are from the south of Italy, where ‘hard-hitting’ can take on an entirely different meaning. One might argue that Patta’s on-air ‘victims’ are getting off lightly. Trust me.
What’s down? Seriously? Patta can be too hard-hitting, sometimes verging on ‘aggressive’ when ‘assertive’ would suffice.
Personality: Doreen Morris
Platform: African Living, The Home Channel
Credentials: A trained teacher, Morris was SA’s first woman of colour on ‘mainstream’ (read ‘white’) TV in the 1980s. She then moved on to M-Net and hosting (and co-owning) the Miss South Africa pageant before taking an extended study break in Australia – she’s now back, presenting a lifestyle programme on DStv channel 55.
General vibe: Glowing, knowing and ever-growing.
What’s up? Morris is like the Madonna of SA television – she keeps coming back, reinvented and better than ever. Morris’s warmth and relaxed presence is tangible.
What’s down? Once African Living wraps, Morris will have to jockey for her place – against much younger contenders – to find her place in the broadcast sun.
Personality: Jo-Ann Strauss
Platform: Pasella, Top Billing
Credentials: Miss South Africa 2000; was presenter on SABC2’s Pasella for four years before joining the Top Billing team.
General vibe: A pretty face with a penchant for lifestyle programming.
What’s up? She gracefully moves through her inserts, obviously enjoying life and representing her country. Although occasionally let down by delivery, Strauss can gracefully and graciously swing between Afrikaans and English – few can.
What’s down? Although lovely to look at, one might argue that Strauss leans towards a one-dimensional on-air personality.
Personality: Joanne Joseph
Platform: SABC3 newsreader
Credentials: Radio news background through Wits, Yfm and Classic FM; then joined SABC Africa before moving into SABC prime time.
General vibe: Slick, polished and professional.
What’s up? A well-grown cucumber – at all times cool – with a practised, friendly demeanour.
What’s down? One might assume she’s from the same TV news production line as her colleague, Mahendra Raghunath – as Joseph is equally direct and can also be tagged ‘expressionless’. Her straight-talking mannerisms keep her firmly in her newsreader’s chair with little change of facial expression beyond her practised newsreader smile.
Personality: Leanne Manas
Platform: Morning Live, SABC3
Credentials: Former 702 news anchor before joining Summit TV as newsreader. She then moved to the SABC where she hosted business programmes and then replaced Michelle Garforth as Vuyo Mbuli’s SA-PC white woman balancing act.
General vibe: Husky-voice, sparkling eyes and a slick low-key style that says ‘I’m prepping for CNN’.
What’s up? Able to remain cool in hot situations. Feeder transmission on the blink? Not a problem – Manas’s twinkling eyes and slight smile simply ditch the glitch without a hitch.
What’s down? Quite a few women could easily do her job, but Manas could do an even better job with the right programme, one that few other women could. In that sense, her brain and soft-hard news skills mix are wasted on morning television.
Personality: Lerato Mbele
Platform: SABC3 10pm newsreader and In the Public Interest presenter
Credentials: Early broadcasting days were at SAfm before moving to SABC Africa, followed by a Master’s at the University of London and a move into prime time’s waiting room, the 10pm news and current affairs.
General vibe: Polished, with a career to watch.
What’s up? She glows. She knows. And takes no prisoners. Her seeming depth of experience defies her youth.
What’s down? As with all strong women who carve out success in a man’s world, Mbele is either loved or loathed. To some, her cut-to-the-kill interview style suggests she’s a graduate of the Debora Patta School of Charm (which, subjectively, can be seen as a good thing). To others, she’s a breath of fresh air – creating much-needed credibility for the public broadcaster, where truly vigorous (read vein-popping) debate is rarely seen.
Personality: Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu
Platform: 3Talk, SABC3
Credentials: 702 Talk Radio, with extensive experience in the talk show format.
General vibe: Warm, empathetic and knowledgeable. South Africa’s on-air interpretation of Oprah, Maholwana-Sangqu keeps SABC3 prime time alive between the soaps, successfully doing what Felicia Mabuza-Suttle always wanted to do.
What’s up? Maholwana-Sangqu hosts one of TV’s few live phone-in programmes, so she has to think on her feet. Her training as a talk show host on 702 shines through and it’s a format she’s successfully transferred to television – something few, besides Jenny Crwys-Williams, could probably handle.
What’s down? Maholwana-Sangqu’s ongoing battle with her bathroom scale, occasionally explored in an Oprah-esque self-depreciating manner, is far out-weighed by her warm, inviting personality.
Personality: Sally Burdett
Platform: e.tv newsreader
Credentials: Radio (SAfm), TV (SABC prime time news anchor) and print (Fairlady consumer editor), Burdett has worked in broadcasting since 1989.
General vibe: Modern, professional, super-efficient multi-tasking mother.
What’s up? It’s one thing to provide content for radio, TV and print. But it’s altogether another thing when one has the depth to interpret one’s reading for the benefit of one’s viewers – Burdett is one of the few on TV who seems to actually understand what she’s reading.
What’s down? Burdett still needs to somehow break through that final millimetre of camera lens and get just oh-so-slightly closer to the viewer. There’s still a perceptible distance. Having none myself, I will not mention her hairstyle.
Source: JR Talotta, based on a two-week study of one middle-class adult residing in Sandton, Johannesburg.
Josef Talotta is co-founder of BrandDrive, a Johannesburg-based communications consultancy and is an award-winning columnist.