Television Legend: My Faith is Always at the Centre

Known to millions of South Africans as a popular news anchor on SABC TV, Thabile Mbhele is also a devout Catholic. She spoke to Daluxolo Moloantoa about her faith, family, career and future.

Until quite recently, Thabile Mbhele (née Maphanga) was a regular face on SACBC, presenting the evening news. Leaving the national broadcaster last year has opened new doors for the member of Phiri parish in Soweto.

Born and raised in Bulwer in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, Thabile was the first of four children of two teachers. In her younger years, she and her siblings were reared under the watchful eye of their paternal grandmother, who instilled in the children a strong and unwavering Catholic faith.

“My grandmother taught me all I knew about being a devout Catholic from an early age,” Thabile tells The Southern Cross. “I remember how she made sure we all attended Mass every Sunday, without fail. We would walk a long distance to church, regardless of the weather. I remember the excitement in the air for us children leading up to our confirmation, when we would see the bishop for the first time in our lives. My grandmother was my catechist.” Thabile was confirmed by the late Bishop Paul Themba Mngoma of Mariannhill.

One of the lessons her grandmother taught was that it’s not enough to just be a church member; one must be active in church too. “Look around you. There will always be something that needs to be done. Find it and get involved, and do not just be a bench warmer,” her grandmother would say. This came in handy for Thabile when she moved to Pelham in Pietermaritzburg in 1992 for high school. At the local parish of St Vincent she became an altar server and an active member of the parish youth group.

After high school she made another move, to begin her journalism studies at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). There she completed a national diploma in journalism and a bachelor of technology degree. After her studies she worked for a production company in Durban before joining the country’s largest radio station, the SABC’s Zulu-language Ukhozi FM, as a newsreader. Later she was appointed general news reporter in the SABC’s Durban office.

In Durban, Thabile joined the Emmanuel Cathedral Youth Association. “I can safely say that, apart from my grandmother, this youth group groomed me to become the Catholic that I am today. It transformed my life, and those of my peers. It was a lively and very powerful youth group that did everything, including fun activities, prayer groups, and various fundraising activities.”

She later moved to the SABC’s head office in Johannesburg, first to work as a reporter, and soon taking over the health desk. Then came the big break when she became SABC TV 1’s prime-time Zulu news anchor, presenting the 19:00 bulletin to the largest daily TV news audience in South Africa for more than 13 years.

Finding love at church

In the City of Gold, she found a new spiritual home for herself at St Peter Claver church in Pimville, Soweto, where she became, naturally enough, a proclaimer of the Word. More than that, Thabile found a new life at the church when she met her future husband, Sibusiso Mbhele, during the Stations of the Cross. The couple married in December 2014. The Mbhele family now attends Holy Rosary church in Phiri, also in Soweto, where the former news anchor is also a lector.

Part of her work as a senior health reporter involved international travel to cover health conferences. “One of the first things I’d do when I got to a country was to look for a local Catholic parish. I’d go in, have my prayers, and just marvel at the beauty of each church or cathedral. After that I would always come out feeling like I could conquer the world.” She celebrated her 30th birthday with a trip to Rome, with the Vatican as a highlight.

Thabile spent 20 years working at the SABC. “I loved the balance between radio and television news. I relished the independence and the creativity of telling radio stories as well as the team effort that goes into putting a TV news bulletin together. It is an intense process which involves so many people — from the news production team, to wardrobe, to makeup, to the studio crew, and so on. It is a mammoth production that happens every single day of the week,” she explains.

Thabile scooped four awards while working at the SABC: Radio News Journalist of the Year, Discovery Health Journalist of the Year, Tourism Journalist of the Year, and Community Builder of the Year.

Daswa highlight

For all her career accolades, she rates her television coverage of the beatification of Bl Benedict Daswa in 2015 as the highlight of her journalism career. “Among the numerous top stories I covered over the years, I must say covering the beatification in Limpopo province — and being afforded the opportunity to travel to the event with my then four-month-old daughter Abusiswe and my husband — remains one the most special and most memorable assignments. My head of news at the SABC at the time, Angie Kapelianis, knew what it would mean for me, and she made it happen,” she remembers.

In March 2021 the SABC announced the retrenchment of 600 employees. These included Thabile. But she is not bitter. “My retrenchment was a blessing in disguise. I was on maternity leave when I was retrenched, so this gave me more time at home with my newborn son. I also got to be present for my daughter who had just started Grade 1.

My time at home also gave me sufficient time to think about my future, what I wanted to do — and what not to do — career-wise going forward. One thing I knew for sure was that I no longer wanted to be part of a newsroom. The long and irregular hours were no longer suitable for me. I got a lot of offers to be a news anchor elsewhere, and I turned them all down,” she says.

“I’ve done some freelance writing work, but at my own pace. I applied for jobs that I felt would be suitable for me as a mother with a growing family. My husband travels a lot, so we need at least one of us to be present at home with the kids. After five months at home, I finally got a most suitable post in the City of Johannesburg municipality. I work as a deputy-director for communications and stakeholder management in the city’s Department of Housing.”

At the Church’s service

Thabile continues to volunteer her journalism skills in the Church. “During my time as a member of the Catholic Women’s League, I became its de facto news correspondent, covering the organisation’s events at various parishes in Johannesburg, and posting about them on the organisation’s social media platforms. I also published the articles in the Archdiocesan News. Currently I am a part of the team that produces the Zulu Mass service on Radio Veritas, which is broadcast every Sunday at 18:00.” Lately she has also read the news on the Catholic radio station.

Thabile’s spirituality has had a great impact on her life as an individual, and in her family life. “My Catholic faith has definitely made me more disciplined in different aspects of my life. It has led me to make more mature decisions about my life and my family. Needless to say, it has also brought me closer to my God, and continues to push me towards listening to his guidance. The lockdown forced me to seek God more and to be clear about what works and what does not work for me and for my family.”

Prayer partner

Having a life partner with a similar faith background is another blessing, she says. “He is my prayer partner. The decisions we make about our family come from a strong and committed common spiritual foundation,” she notes. As a couple, one of their greatest joys is to see the family’s seven-year-old daughter learning her Catholic prayers at this early age, a practice which evokes childhood memories for Thabile.

Staying true to herself as a Catholic is a constant in her life. It’s a belief that she urges young Catholics to adopt. “Never be ashamed to live your Catholic faith, wherever you are. People may not understand you in the beginning, but they will accept you later in life,” she advises. “For over 13 years, when I went into the studio to read the news, I’d say a quiet prayer before every bulletin. Non-Catholics would ask what it was and why I said it. Not once was I ashamed to explain it, and thereby I proclaimed my Catholic faith.”

She believes that Catholic professionals have a great role to play in the life and advancement of the Church. “Their skills and talents are needed at various levels in the Church. There’s a huge need for career guidance for young people in the Church, and we have no shortage of professionals from various fields. If they could share with the younger ones, the Church would be so much richer,” she says.

“For me, it’s more than just making a financial contribution. We need all hands on deck and warm bodies to participate in church activities. Professionals need to bring interesting and innovative ideas to the Church.”

This article was published in the April 2022 issue of The Southern Cross magazine