By Nomali Cele
Mbali Dhlamini is a journalist, reporter and newsreader at Kaya 959. In recent years, she’s also become a lively contributing personality on the Friday breakfast show, Good Friday With Skhumba and Ndumiso. Her contributions to the show include her signature packages, which are comic wraps and takes on the week’s trending current affairs stories. She’s recently started an ongoing storytelling segment, titled Kwesukesukela. Her funny and relatable contributions, as well as quiz moments, have become integral to the very fabric of the show. You can’t say Good Friday With Skhumba and Ndumiso without hearing “Nami ngikhona!”
Last week, the first lady of Friday breakfast was the guest of honour for a Blom Blom interview. Over the two years that Skhumba and Ndumiso have cohosted Good Friday, Blom Blom has grown into a beloved feature for both the guests and the audience. The duo has hosted everyone from music legends Doc Shebeleza and Rebecca Malope to political forces including Fikile Mbalula and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.
[BLOM BLOM] We kick starting Women’s month by celebrating one of our own, someone you love as much as we do.
Ladies and Gents, Boys and Girls… Zakithi @Mbali_Dhlamini on #BlomBlom with @skhumbi and @NdumisoNgcobo #GoodFridayOnKaya #22YearsOfKaya pic.twitter.com/wMFheabWfT
— Kaya 959 Music (@KayaFMMusic) August 2, 2019
The first thing she admitted when she got on the microphone for the interview was how nervous she was. “Usually I give people facts I have compiled,” Dhlamini said, referring to her work as a journalist and reporter. The last born of five children, Mbali Dhlamini was born at Baragwanath Hospital and grew up around Soweto.
Ever wondered what Dhlamini was like as a child? She shared that she was a teacher’s pet in primary school and very close with a teacher who took notice of and nurtured her gifts for public speaking. She took pride in excelling at school and her cultural activities, revelling in her trophies and certificates.
[WATCH] @Mbali_Dhlamini talks about her childhood and growing up eDlamini, Soweto #GoodFridayonKaya pic.twitter.com/MNrx9MG3wP
— Kaya 959 Music (@KayaFMMusic) August 2, 2019
After sharing a traumatic experience from her childhood, Dhlamini emphasised that she doesn’t do it to gain sympathy but rather as a way to empower others because if she could survive that and thrive, what are other capable of surviving? “I did not want it to define me anymore. It is what has happened to me but it is not who I am,” Dhlamini told her colleagues.
“I have gone through things that most people would not survive, why do I need to hide that?”
Image by Shoeshoe Qhu
As with every Blom Blom interview, Skhumba closed the conversation with Mbali asking her how she would like to be remembered one day. “She was a lover of life,” Mbali Dhlamini responded. “She embraced the flaws, she embraced the challenges and she just wanted to live.”
Listen to Mbali Dhlamini’s full Blom Blom interview below
READ: Mshoza on Blom Blom
Featured image by Rapa
