Radio presenter overcomes tragedy to fulfill dreams

Kwanele Madondo of Umzinto teaches youth to push boundaries in order to achieve their goals and better themselves as individuals.

He’s had to do that himself, having experienced tragedy in his life, and pushing through to a brighter future.

He is a radio presenter at Life FM KZN radio station and explains that even though he is living his dream of being on air waves, a few years ago, he could have never seen himself in this position.

Kwanele was considered as one of the ‘populars’ in school.

He was always very talkative, and took part in just about everything, especially soccer, which he loved but admitted he wasn’t very good at it!

He said he enjoyed the concept of being on radio and having his voice heard, ultimately wanting to be a soccer commentator.

“From the time I was in Grade 3, whenever it was break time and if my friends were playing soccer, I’d be on the side of the field shouting their names, entertaining everyone,” he said.

He was adamant that this was where he saw himself after school, but after facing a life-threatening incident when he was in Grade 7, everything changed.

Kwanele was the victim of a house fire.

It claimed the lives of his younger siblings, Olwethu and Aphele and left him physically and emotionally scarred.

He spent three months in hospital and once he was discharged, refused to go back to school because he could not accept himself and was scared of how other children would look at him and his scars.

Kwanele lost his confidence and gave up on himself and his dreams and spent most of his days at home watching TV or listening to the radio – especially Ukhozi FM.

“I listened to Kathide Ngobe, fondly known as Tshatha from Ukhozi FM, who reminded me of how much I loved radio and I started recording my own clips pretending as though I’m a radio presenter,” he said.

“I then heard ‘Sbo the poet’ and started following him on social media and he inspired me to start writing my own poems.”

After eventually going back to school in 2014, he released his first poem to the public, entitled ‘Kwanele ma-Afrika’ (enough is enough we’re all Africans) under the alias Crazy Kid The Poet.

Kwanele was interviewed at numerous radio stations about the ordeal he had been through and was able to share his poems on air.

“In high school, although some children were hard on me and made fun of me because of how I looked. I never gave up because I believed in myself and, in my mind, I knew that my scars were the true definition of my strength,” he said.

Over the years, Kwanele has continued to share his story and poems to educate others on how to overcome such tragedies and better one’s self.

One day, he came across a newspaper article about a new online radio station in Umzinto searching for radio presenters.

He submitted his audition clip and to his surprise, he was selected.

“At first I thought it was a mistake, but when I was actually called for the interview I couldn’t believe that I was finally getting a chance to live my childhood dream, regardless of all the challenges I faced.”

“It’s interesting to see how far I’ve come and that there are now people who actually look up to me, with some even asking me to emcee events. I am now able to be in the same field as the person I looked up to when I had my rough patch.”

Kwanele encourages the youth from his community to keep on pushing to achieve their dreams no matter what curve balls life throws at you.

“Keep wanting to better yourself and don’t ever let anything hold you back.”

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