Community Radio Station Radio Khwezi Celebrates its Highest Number of Award Wins At the 2024 South African Radio Awards as It Turns 30.
Radio Khwezi, its humble beginnings in 1995, is celebrating a remarkable 30 years on air as a community radio station. So, it was with some surprise and great pride in our dedicated presenters and producers, that Radio Khwezi celebrated an unprecedented 19 nominations at this year’s South African Radio Awards. Thus, with faith in the quality of our quality content programming, our programs manager, Saziso Dlamini attended the Sandton event on 30 November 2024. He should probably have attended with someone else as well as the awards kept piling up, and he could barely hold them all.
Delightfully, we won the Community Project Award for Ikhwezi Lizakuwe, a programme initiated few years ago in which we literally bring the station to our listeners. Radio Khwezi covers vast, and mostly very rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal. With our new Outside Broadcast (OB) van, we can travel to these areas and hold special events in conjunction with local businesses, NGO’s, government operations etc, to bring relevant topics to communities, along with giveaways and opening special opportunities in disadvantaged areas.
We are particularly proud of our Station Manager’s Choice Award for our Sales and Marketing Manager, Phakamani Mkhwanazi, who has been at the station since 2008. Phaka, as we know him, has built up his profile through the years, going from a technical assistant to presenter and producer, to actor in numerous dramas, our acclaimed poet and well-known advertising voice and programming manager and now Sales and Marketing Manager. In between all of this, he has earned himself a diploma in Law. He can still be heard on the airwaves and is a beloved staple of Khwezi and we are all so proud of our Phaka.
Saziso Dlamini won a well-deserved award yet again for the Nighttime Show since 2012. This program is a diverse mix of well-researched content aimed at informing audiences’ home from work about issues that affect them in their community, along with expert help and advice from relevant sources, along with light-hearted talk and entertainment and music.
And for the 2nd consecutive year, Saziso has again shown his mettle in winning the award for the Afternoon Drive Presenter. It’s no easy task to come up with interesting and inspiring talk and content that will keep the listening audience not only listening, but growing and loyal – but Saziso has managed to do so with his infectious laugh, humour and his willingness to go above and beyond to find content relevant to the audience he serves. This includes phone-in programs which keep both listeners and especially presenters and their guests on their toes and engaged with the wide variety of topics he continuously manages to find.
We are very proud of Thembelani Buthelezi’s News and Actuality Show Award. Any news show is difficult to receive and is a prestigious honour, and Thembelani deserves it wholeheartedly. Along with the small team that help him and the community members that we encourage to send us local breaking news, Thembelani is able to keep Radio Khwezi’s News and Actuality Show current and in particular, relevant to local community events that affect our listeners. This is done with great sensitivity, and we have programs and helplines to follow up on particularly distressing events where we feel we have the contacts or the resources to help out. Thembelani is a champ, and we are so proud of her achievements.
And finally, winning the Community Radio Station of the Year is a massive honour. This is the second time we have won this award, and it still takes our breath away. It is especially relevant to us now as we begin celebrating 30 years of being on air. We want to thank The South African Radio Awards for recognizing our hard work, and our efforts to serve our community. We thank each one of our staff, volunteers and supporting clients who have been pillars of strength to us. We thank our loyal, loving listeners for their unwavering support and involvement. We are so grateful to be part of KwaSizabantu Mission, that founded us, that carries us in prayer and that cheers us on every day. But most of all, we thank God who has carried us, prospered us when sometimes all seemed lost and who continues to bless His work.
