Tau ya Limpopo mesmerises radio listeners

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Tau ya Limpopo has a rich voice which, whenever he speaks among people, makes people turn around to see who is speaking. This very voice has earned him a space at Makhado FM.

His journey into radio was fuelled by an incessant passion to succeed and reach his dreams. “My love for radio started as I listened to Phalaphala FM and Capricorn FM,” he said. “On Capricorn FM, I loved the way in which the late Fanele Sebeko presented his shows and kept listeners' ears glued to their radios. He had real talent and amazing skills which were infectious to any person who aspired to be on radio.”

He had to endure ridicule at school from other pupils who said he had the hoarse voice of an old man. “They said I would get nowhere, because of my voice, since people would think that I was an old man,” he remembered. “But then I had this other special teacher, Mr Maiwashe, who has since passed away. He pulled me to his office and assured me that I had an amazing voice that was suitable for radio. He advised me to build on my voice.”

A resident at Madodonga village in the Kutama area, Tau ya Limpopo joined a developmental youth programme at Makhado, where he amazed his colleagues and acquaintances alike with his unique voice. “At a later stage, Mr Sello Mathonsi heard my voice and told me to stop waiting for the radio stations to create a space for me,” he said. “He suggested I should approach them with an idea to do voice-overs for their adverts as a start-up for me.”

Tau ya Limpopo was lucky enough when Makhado FM bought his idea and had him do advert voice-overs. His voice was amazing, and it became popular with listeners who had always looked forward to listening to his new adverts. “After six months, I was given a stand-in slot for a presenter who was away for some time,” he said. “When that presenter came back, the management created another space for her, and I had to keep that slot.”

Today he presents Sunrise at 06:00 to 09:00 on Saturday, and RnB Hits at 09:00 to12:00 on Sunday.

“Radio cannot be radio without all the beautiful voices behind the microphone - we are the radio,” said Tau ya Limpopo, whose real name is Givenus Machaba.

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.