MAMELODI TAXI DRIVER TURNED SABC RADIO SENSATION

By Sylvester Raraza

Twitter: @Sylvester_tut

Email: sylvesterraraza@gmail.com

David Mashabela at a panel discussion | Image: David Mashabela via Instagram

His is a story of a typical black child: he grew up in a township northeast of Pretoria in Apartheid South Africa, single parent home and living hand to mouth. David Mashabela remembers his childhood days in the 1980s. He is Pedi by birth – Bapedi are a Southern African ethnic group that speak Sepedi, but despite being brought up in a Bapedi household, his early learning years began at a Setswana-speaking Primary School in Mamelodi. So, he never got the chance to learn in his mother tongue because the only available school and the closest to his home, at the time, taught in Setswana.

PW Botha (Prime Minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and State President between 1984 to 1989), declared a countrywide state of emergency because of internal resistance to Apartheid and international pressure. David has vivid memories of seeing White Afrikaner South African Defence Force (SADF) soldiers stationed in Mamelodi, who were probably sent there to quell possible political unrest that had visited other South African townships in the mid-1980s. He also remembers periods of an atmosphere filled with tension and uncertainty, because of the country’s politics.

But David Mashabela is of the view that townships were a lot safer in the 80s than now, he further says that townships are more violent today than when he was growing up. Of course, he is alive to the fact that there were criminal elements that existed during that time, but according to him, these criminals mostly operated in White districts – the affluent and suburban areas. His point is premised on South Africa’s recent increased and unexplained violent crimes and shootings, especially at taverns in parts of the country.

David Mashabela’s teenage years were spent as a pupil at the Vlakfontein Secondary School, and he became one of the top performing leaners in his class, after quitting his love of playing soccer in Primary School. When he had an intense passion for playing soccer, his academic performance dipped to a level that saw him being one of the worst performers in his class. He soon realized that he must drop everything and focus on his schoolwork to excel academically, and he did. He matriculated in 1992.

He went on to enroll for a Bachelor of Administration degree at the University of Durban Westville (now UKZN). One of his favorite subjects in high school was economics – perhaps his chosen university course was influenced by that. But another factor that made him move to KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) for his studies, is that his elder brother was already a student at the University of Durban Westville. The thinking was that it would be easy for him to adapt to an environment that his brother would guide him through, rather than go to a university where he knew nobody.

The University of Durban Westville was one of the fortunate tertiary institutions that had a campus radio station, so that also played a part in David’s decision to go study in KZN. His adoration for radio was sparked already during his early years in Mamelodi, by listening to veterans like Grant Shakoane. Hence KZN was top of mind to David, he could do what people he looked up to did, which was speak into a microphone and get people listening. He earned a slot on campus radio, after months of annoying the station manager by asking for a chance on the station, the station manager finally gave in and allowed him to host his own show. He graduated from university in 1995.

After graduating from university, David Mashabela joined the unemployed graduate population of South Africa. Nobody told him that graduating from university did not guarantee you employment, he learned the hard way. He describes that period as one of the most crucial and defining moments of his life.

David Mashabela | Image: David Mashabela via Instagram

Fresh from university, a young David had to do something to earn a living. Luckily for him, he had a friend who was a student the University of Witwatersrand (Wits), and the friend’s bursary paid well enough to buy a taxi that David used to drive commuters in Mamelodi around. While driving a taxi, cutting people’s hair, hosting little Chisa Nyama gatherings and other small business ventures, David furthered his studies at Damelin – he studied marketing. He did four (4) years of hustling and studying and earning more qualifications – he drove a taxi for 2 years and had a 2-year stint as an employee at ABSA. He then went on to join an advertising agency called Saatchi and Saatchi.

David Mashabela was always a radio lover, from when he was a little kasi boy in Mamelodi to his campus radio days, radio has always been his zest. The time he spent at Saatchi and Saatchi never took his love for radio away, and by this time he had been writing columns for himself. A friend of David’s suggested that he take some of his writing to a publication, and by sheer will on David’s part, he found himself next to an entertainment Editor at the City Press.

They liked the columns that he had been writing for himself, so a deal was struck that he would write columns for the City Press for 3 months – without pay, to ascertain whether he would be able sharpen his pen even more and keep the writing momentum going. He did. David was a weekly columnist for the City Press and he spent three years at the publication. His writing skills caught the attention of a radio boss at the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) Metro FM. Prior to that, David had sent his radio tapes and recordings to Metro FM and calling them to ask for an opportunity to work at the station – he failed to get the gig at Metro FM, “I called them for two years straight”, David told me. He had given up.

The then Metro FM Station Manager, Romeo Kumalo, seemed to have been reading David’s columns in the City Press because David mostly wrote about radio. “He (Romeo) called me for a meeting once and wanted my opinion on something that he was doing”, recalls David. “He clearly thought my opinions were worth something. And now I was in front of the station manager, I asked him for a job.” Romeo Kumalo hired David Mashabela 4 months later. Despite being an on-air broadcaster himself, his journey at Metro FM started with him producing a breakfast show for Just Ice – who had invited David into the studio at campus radio in Durban.

David Mashabela spent 6 years at Metro FM producing the breakfast and afternoon drive time shows, and the time he spent at Metro FM helped him gain sound engineering and other radio skills, which he used to produce radio adverts at the public broadcaster. He ultimately got appointed as the Creative Director of the SABC’s Radio Sales division. The time David spent at SABC Radio Sales made him understand African Language radio, he built relationships with these radio stations both at management level and on-air talent.

David Mashabela’s career has been on an upward trajectory, he is now the Director and Executive Producer of #TelkomMonateVibes on S1. He also obtained a master’s in business degree (MBA), with a thesis on “How Government Communication can have an effect on unemployment in Gauteng.” David is also the Founder and Managing Director of Mashabela Creatives, a company he had registered in 1993 as a student and started its full-time operations in 2009.

David Mashabela at King David Studios | Image: David Mashabela via Instagram

David Mashabela hosts his own podcast from his Randburg offices, from where he has interviewed his childhood radio heroes, business leaders, government officials, artists, and many other interesting public figures. King David Studios – from where his podcast is recorded from, flaunts state-of-the-art studio equipment that enables him to produce quality visuals for his viewers and clean audio for the podcast’s listeners. The King David Podcast YouTube channel is sitting at more than two (2) million of views.

Through his Mashabela Creatives company, David consults for big corporate entities, he produces advertisements, does graphic designing work, events production, media production and many other things. One of David’s early clients at Mashabela Creatives was the National Lotteries operator of South Africa, where he recorded the famous “thatha ama chance, thatha ama millions” advert. Before the Covid-19 pandemic struck the world, David’s company sponsored an annual merit awards ceremony at Vlakfontein Secondary School in Mamelodi, where he completed his grade 12 in 1992.

More than two decades in the broadcast industry, David Mashabela says radio still gives him a sense of nervousness. “I still worry about the radio link, and if I am saying the words right.” He says he will continue doing radio, for as long as he can speak. “I wrote on my vision board that I want to do radio for the next ten (10) years”, says David. David Mashabela currently hosts a weekly show called ‘The Royal Playground’ on the SABC’s Radio2000, between 12:00 p.m. to 15:00 p.m.

{LISTEN} Here is a link to my conversation with David Mashabela: https://soundcloud.com/sylvester-raraza/david-mashabela-on-growing-up?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing