Bon Mabena with David O'Sullivan. Picture: Kaya FM Twitter
Outspoken poet Ntsiki Mazwai took to Twitter over the weekend to express both her confusion and disdain for the decision by Kaya FM on who will be replacing veteran radio host Bob Mabena.
The breakfast slot has gone to another veteran, David O’Sullivan, a name more associated with Radio 702, which he left in 2014 after 19 years.
Mabena left Kaya FM to join the MSG Afrika Group.
Mazwai could simply not see the logic behind giving a white presenter the all-important breakfast show, on a radio station with a predominantly black target audience.
She clarified that she was not questioning O’Sullivan’s skill or experience, merely that black people should have their own voices. She also said, in response to one of her followers, that she could not understand why Kaya FM would want to attract “a white audience” since there were already stations that catered well to white listeners.
The station also came in for some mockery for Jenny Crwys-Williams also being part of the revamped line-up. In their press release, Kaya FM said “Saturday mornings will never be the same as we introduce radio stalwart host Jenny Crwys-Williams. The show will focus on books reviews, podcasts on wine, arts, conservation, history & so much more.”
Mazwai said the station would now be “breeding” more “white blacks” since you “become what you listen to”.
Mazwai said the station was losing the plot and surrendering to “whiteness” when it was meant to be conveying the “black experience”. She also said Kaya FM was playing too much music from the US.
“I assumed if your brand is called khaya then you would do stuff aligned to such,” she wrote.
Another tweet from her suggested that the reason for O’Sullivan’s appointment probably had more to do with the station’s ownership.
She added that it had been a mistake from the start in 2012 to pair Mabena with Kuli Roberts, since they were “two bulls in a kraal”, and Mabena had ended up overpowering Roberts’ on-air personality.
She said that Roberts had always been too good to be a sidekick to anyone.
When one of her followers asked her why she herself wasn’t taking over the job of hosting Mabena’s old show, Mazwai was told that if Khanyi Mbau could do it, then anyone could.
What followed was a slew of criticism of Mbau’s radio skills, and Mazwai joined in by throwing shade of her own, joking that Mbau, like Bonang Matheba, had confidence and charisma in spades, but not much intelligence.
She said both women’s “grey matter content” was “pending” and she accused Mbau of having started the so-called blesser trend of younger woman dating older men purely for material gain.