Giving a voice to Algoa country's unsung heroes

Jeff Moloi

The Mthatha-born broadcaster and lecturer hosts at least one and sometimes two guests in the studio during his Algoa FM weekday show between 7-10pm.

Unsung heroes he has interviewed include Mavo Solomon, “an engineer who left his plush job at Eskom to move back to the Eastern Cape so he could teach maths to kids in township schools in Queenstown and Port Elizabeth.

“Then there was Mzamo Dlamini from the Amadiba Crisis Committee sharing their often desperate fight to hold on to their land on the Wild Coast which is under threat from mining giants who want to dig up titanium in Xholobeni.

“I particularly enjoyed talking to Cynthia Jele, the author of the book Happiness is a Four Letter Word, which has been adapted into one of the most-watched South African films.

“I would like to do more of these types of interviews,” he says.

Another notable interview was with Michelle Hattingh, who went to school in Port Elizabeth. She was raped on the very day that she delivered her psychology honours paper about rape.

Hattingh recently released a book: “I am the girl who was raped’’.

Jeff has also had a first-hand experience of what it’s like to be a rock star when Mi Casa was in the Algoa FM Hemingways studio.

“Women were climbing all over our glass windows just to catch a glimpse of Jay Something while we were talking to him,” says Moloi.

The growing appeal of Jeff’s interviews demonstrates an appetite for good conversation paired with street-smart radio experience, says Algoa FM Operations Director Alfie Jay.

“Working with content executive, Carol-Anne Kelleher and technical producer Graham Roberts, Jeff has added a whole new dimension to early evening radio in the Eastern Cape and Garden Route,” he says.

In addition to hosting his weekday evening shows, Moloi lectures Broadcasting and Broadcast Journalism at the East London Campus of Walter Sisulu University.