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24 May 2018 Photo Supplied
UFS alumnus wins National Liberty Radio Award - Thabang Moselane
At the Liberty Radio Awards, Thabang Moselane winner in the Night-Time Show category.

“When I started studying at the University of the Free State in 2015, I told myself I would not be an ordinary student. I knew the university offered many opportunities and I intended to take advantage of that,” says Thabang. The young radio personality, Thabang Moselane hails from a small town called Christiana in the North West. He is the recent winner of the Liberty Radio Award in the night-time show category.
 
“I still cannot explain how I felt when I was announced as the winner, happiness is an understatement. Winning this award is a recognition of my talent and efforts to change and impact lives of many people through the medium,” he said. Thabang is a Media Studies and Journalism graduate from the UFS and is currently studying his Honours degree in Film and Visual Media. “The university through Kovsie FM made it possible for me to develop and get experience,” added the award winner.

The UFS alumnus started his career in radio at Kovsie FM and later joined an online publication called The Journalist as a contributing writer. He now works at OFM where he hosts ‘A touch of Thabang’, the award winning show. “The show is quite unusual, it reflects my personality. It is a show for the people, about the people and the conversations are never light-hearted,” he said.
 
Asked what drew him to radio, Thabang said with a chuckle, “I have always wanted to be a psychologist but one morning five years ago, I woke up and told my mother I wanted to be a star. I believe my love for interacting and engaging with people drew me to radio.”
Apart from radio and writing, Thabang is also a motivational speaker, MC at events and an aspiring businessman.

News Archive

Cochlear implant changes Magteld's world
2009-11-06

The microphone is ready for Magteld Smith’s (second from the left) first radio interview after the cochlear implant was switched on by Mr Henk Wolmarans (right) of MedEl. With them are, from the left: Ms Vicki Fourie, Deaf Miss SA, Ms Eunika Smith from the SABC and Prof. Jonathan Jansen.
Photo: Leatitia Pienaar


Magteld Smith gave her first steps towards the world of the hearing when her cochlear implant was switched on in the Universitas Hospital this week.

A whole team was there to share her joy and disbelief and amazement the moment she could hear noises, voices and conversations. Among them were the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof. Jonathan Jansen, and the acting dean of the Faculty of Heath Sciences at the UFS, Prof. Gert van Zyl.

“I can hear my own voice! I haven’t heard it for a long time. My wish is that every deaf child can get something like this,” she said while prodding Prof. Jansen to speak so that she can hear his voice.

Magteld is working at the university's Centre for Health Systems Research and Development and was deaf since birth. She lost her last bit of hearing due to meningitis last year. Her hearing aids could then not assist her to communicate and a cochlear implant was the only option.

A donation by the Austrian company MedEl made the implant possible. Prof. André Claassen, Head of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at the UFS, says MedEl was also instrumental in the establishment of the implant programme at the Universitas Hospital and sponsored the first five implants at a total cost of R1 million.

Prof. Claassen says 27 implants have already been done here, but it came to an abrupt halt due to a lack of funds. Strong hearing aids are expensive and cochlear implants are even more expensive at R200 000 each. People with hearing disabilities must be identified at an early age as the brain’s ability to learn sound and voice diminishes after the age of three.
 

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