By Remy Raitt and Kristy Hesom
Gumede, now 24, began her journalism career in grade 10 reading headlines at her local community station, Alex FM. “I was actually really pissed off when I started, I wanted to read the news but the station was like ‘woah!’, so I began with the headlines,” she recalls. Within a year she became an English newsreader, a part she played for the next three years.
She seized her next radio stint with even more enthusiasm. “A year before I finished my journalism degree at UJ, I began at YFM,” she says. “I tried approaching the news editor, Zukile Majova. I kept calling the dude, but he wasn’t taking my calls. So, one day, when I was near the offices I just jumped out my taxi, walked to the office, sat at reception and wouldn’t leave until he would speak to me.”
“There was nothing special about me then,” she says, “but he could see how much I wanted it.” She says she flirted with the glamorous side of the station for a spell, but returned to her first love of news when she spearheaded the station’s election show.
“For the elections show, I spoke to the youth, think-heads and politicians who spoke frankly with me,” she says. “Faith Mangope had left, which gave me the opportunity to talk to senior people and the politicians who shape our policies. This pushed me in the right direction, which was priceless.”
Gumede says during her time at YFM, Majova moulded her views on the role a journalist should fill; “even today, I hear his voice before I start projects”.
This year, Mail & Guardian pinned her in their media and film division for her Current Affairs Show on YFM, which she left last month, and her current column in the Sowetan. The column, titled Youth Chat, tackles issues like economic disparities, unemployment and impediments in the education system, all from the angle of an insider. “I write to people and they can relate to me, because youth issues are the issues I face myself,” she says.
Gumede says she is often referred to as a youth activist, but would prefer if people refrained from labelling her. “It worries me when I am boxed in with titles, because with them come expectations. I just want to be able to jump on projects that feel good to me and are in line with my purpose,” she says.
Her purpose is telling stories that matter, something her latest endeavour as producer of eNCA’s CheckPoint accomplishes. The investigative current affairs show has seen Gumede continue her journalism work, just in a new role. “We are producing serious stuff,” she says, “and it is presented as just that.”
Her sojourns into print, TV and commercial radio have all been highly rewarding, yet Gumede says her first love will always be community radio. “At a community radio station everyone knows who you are and holds you accountable, it’s like you’ve got this little ombudsman in the community, especially with the older residents who love radio,” she says. “It’s authentic and you’re able to build real relationships with the community.”
But, like most millennials, she also places great value on social media platforms. “South Africa is in the honeymoon phase and young people are intent to know what democracy should look and smell like. You can see people taking on this role on platforms like Twitter. The ruling party can’t talk at us, rather, we need to have a conversation. That shows advance. And I think it’s great we’re reporting on social platforms, we just have to make sure those posts are credible.”
With role models like CNN anchors Richard Quest and Ashish Thakkar, impact is something she strives for, tackling stories with professionalism beyond her years. “I approach stories by looking at things that challenge what I’ve accepted as normal in Alex, things like corruption and shortages, things that challenge who I am as a person.”
It’s unlikely she’ll stray from the stories that drew her to journalism in the first place, and with aspirations to interview the likes of Elon Musk, Thabo Mbeki, Edward Snowden and Malala Yousafzai, her dreams of becoming a CNN anchor may well be achieved.
Our advice to the international network? Keep an eye out for this feisty South African in your reception area.
For more information, follow Gumede on Twitter.