Ferran Torres waited 62 minutes for his chance. Kaya Breakfast listeners shared how long they’ve been waiting for theirs.
By Katlego Sekhu
On Sunday evening, Ferran Torres came off the Spanish bench in the 62nd minute. In additional time after the 90, he scored. Torres was not in the starting line up. Nobody expected the headlines to carry his name. But when the call came, he was ready.
That single moment became the spark for one of the most personal conversations on Kaya Breakfast, as DJ Fresh, Thato Mataboge and Mpho Maboi asked the Kaya audience a question that resonated across Johannesburg and beyond: what is the one thing you have been waiting for?
The bench is not a punishment. It is a position.
DJ Fresh opened up about a chapter most people never knew. Before Radio 92 and before Y97, he spent five years sending demos out, far and wide, to stations across the country. He kept a box of cassettes, one for every station that never called back.
Mbali’s version of the bench looked different but felt the same. She wanted to be a TV news anchor for the longest time. Her name would appear on the weekend roster, then quietly disappear, moved to cover another story instead.
The wait stretched on until she had her daughter and made peace with letting the dream go. That is when the opportunity finally arrived.
Johannesburg answered the call
The voice notes came in fast, and they told a story bigger than football.
A branch manager who has stepped up three times in four years, only to watch head office bring someone in from outside every time.
A backyard mechanic whose work outperforms the workshops his customers used to pay, still waiting for the one contract that takes a chance on him.
A woman who has sung at weddings and funerals every weekend for years, entered Idols three times, and never made it past the queue, but has not put her mic down.
And then there was Anele, who wrote a children’s book five years ago and has kept it in a drawer ever since, stuck in the same trap every unpublished author knows: publishers want a following, and you cannot build a following without being published.
The team’s message was simple and direct. Self-publish. Do not wait for permission that may never come.
To hear the full discussion, listen to the Kaya Breakfast podcast.
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