Moloto: Living life without fear
"People who cower in fear never achieve anything because that sense of terror cripples them every time they think of trying something new"
POLOKWANE – The new recruit of the Limpopo government communications machine, Moloko Moloto who speaks on behalf of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture MEC, Onicca Moloi, is one man who never allows fear to stand in his way.
While he admits that in many instances he does experience fear whenever he takes on a new venture in life, this new kid on the block always fights back this negative emotion.
Moloko explains people who cower in fear never achieve anything because that sense of terror cripples them every time they think of trying something new. These people always find reasons why they will not succeed and they worry what others will think of them if they fail. He says this is why the majority of people are held back by fear and not by their inability to excel.
He joined the department in November 2016 after more than a decade as a media practitioner.
The 37-year-old husband and father of four, was born in Flora village in the Moletjie area outside Polokwane. Like many other boys in his village, he grew up herding his grandfather’s livestock and his face beams with a smile when he narrates the nostalgic memories of his childhood. He said for them it was a sense of freedom because out in the bush, they were playful and had no adults telling them what to do and what not to do. Even as a young boy Moloko valued the importance of education.
His mother always told him that he needed to be educated if he wanted to live a good life. “I always knew that education lays a good foundation for everything you want to do and I remember wanting to be a doctor while growing up,” he explains.
He knew that in order to achieve his dreams, he needed to pass mathematics and science with good grades.
“Well, as you are aware, I am not a medical doctor today and this is purely because mathematics was not my strong subject in matric so I had to think of something else,” says the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) law degree dropout.
After dropping out at Wits he tried his hand at studying for a diploma in languages at the Pretoria Technikon, however, this didn’t pan out either. It was around that time that the journalism bug bit him. At first he wanted to become a famous TV presenter but that fantasy disappeared when he joined an in-house radio station in Pretoria as a newsreader in 2003. Here he came to fully appreciate the craft of journalism. He began doubling as a field reporter, covering issues around the capital city. In the same year he joined the South African Airways as a flight attendant, a job which took him to all corners of the world and introduced him to a variety of cultures and traditions.
While he travelled the world, he still volunteered as a Sepedi and English newsreader on Voice of Tembisa community radio station whenever he was back in the country. “By this time I knew for a fact that my heart was in the media industry and I had no doubt that I wanted to be a journalist,” he says.
His big break into mainstream media came when Capricorn FM, Limpopo’s only private radio station, opened its doors in 2007 and Moloko did not think twice when Limpopo’s hottest frequency offered him a position as news reader.
Moloto’s passion for storytelling soon branched into the world of print and in early 2010 he freelanced for the Sunday Independent and The Star newspapers while he still worked for Capricorn FM. It wasn’t long before The Star newspaper recruited him to head its Limpopo offices, a position he would hold for the next five years.
In 2015 he joined Power FM, a Johannesburg talk radio station as a political reporter where he also presented the Capricorn FM Talk as a stand in for Thabiso Kotane. He says this was one of the opportunities he always cherished because when you do such a show you truly must know your story. “One must always get the facts in order because you don’t want to misinform your audience. But at the same time you should also be willing to learn from your listeners,” he explains.
When asked about his role as the MEC’s spokesperson, the political science degree graduate says: “I work with a highly dynamic MEC. I respect the fact that she is brimming with ideas which always keep me on my toes because I am expected to have my finger on the pulse.”
As the media liaison and spokesperson, Moloko writes speeches for the MEC and handles media enquiries for her office.
When asked if he has any ambitions for political office in the future, he answered: “Absolutely not because I am sure there are people who can do better in that aspect. However, I would want to go into human rights advocacy one day, that is where my heart is”.
