Sandisiwe Mbhele

By Sandisiwe Mbhele

UX Content Writer


Kaya FM dumps Unathi Nkayi over ‘breakdown of trust’

The station said it would not speak on the matter going forward or give further details.


Radio station Kaya 959 has confirmed that it has parted ways with midday host Unathi Nkayi.

The station released a statement on Wednesday, confirming that their contract had ended “prematurely”.

“Nkayi’s contract has ended prematurely due to certain conduct that rendered the relationship intolerable going forward. Kaya 959 can confirm that certain incidents had occurred, which resulted in the breakdown of the trust relationship between the two parties.

“The business can further confirm that due process was followed and the decision was therefore made to part ways with Ms Nkayi,” the statement said.

The station said it would not speak on the matter going forward or give further details.

“[It’s] safe to state that Ms Nkayi’s version of events has been carefully considered and unfortunately found wanting,” Kaya 959 said.

Nkayi, who is also an Idols SA judge, hosted the Midday Joy show every weekday from 12pm-3pm. Her replacement will be announced in due course, the station added.

During her sit down interview with The Citizen in August, Nkayi was adamant that men in her industry who had committed “atrocities” should be held accountable.

WATCH: Unathi talks ‘imbokodo’ and hurting abusers by hurting their pockets

The station was at the centre of an internal controversy when former managing director Greg Maloka misdeeds were leaked to on social media. Maloka resigned after allegations of financial misconduct, sexual harassment and creating a toxic work culture at the radio station.

The singer said her method of removing men who had abused their power was through the boardroom and not on social media.

“They need to listen to women and not hire those people. Also, the change is not quick enough. You would never hear me publicly go out and speak about things like that but I am making sure that those kinds of people are not getting hired… If we hit them in their pocket then they will start being held accountable.”

Touching on her altercation with a handsy taxi driver at the time, she said: “I deal with things in the boardroom and things have been dealt with in the boardroom.”

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