Rhulani Baloyi is a journalist working in both radio and television. TELEVISION: Rhulani co-hosts a daily talk show on SABC1 known as Shift. Shift is a talk show which gives the hosts an opportunity to interact directly with the viewers and share views. The aim of the show is to shift the viewer's mindset through a variety of topics, in-studio guests and an opportunity to call in. The show allows viewers to interact with the hosts in the language of their choice. Rhulani can speak, Tsonga, Venda, Sesotho and IsiZulu. Efficiently. Rhulani has been co-hosting the show since its inception in September 2005. Rhulani is now employed as a News Reader by SABC Radio News. She reads news on Radio 2 000. She is also a compiler for SABC Commercial Radio stations; a job which includes amongst others, compiling news bulletins for radio stations, writing stories and doing radio voice reports. Rhulani launched her media career in March 1996 when she joined the SABC Radio News Department as a journalist. She worked as a general reporter but soon took interest in specializing in crime and court reporting. She covered high profiled stories of serial killers, the Ellis Park Commission of Inquiry and... In 2001 Rhulani had her share of being a crime victim. She and a colleague were mugged at gunpoint while out covering an assignment. The robbers snatched their cellphones as they were busy filing through a story to the newsroom. This experience did not dampen Rhulani's spirits. She has also done television reporting for two years. This visually-impaired woman has traveled to Australia to cover the World Blind Union Conference in 2000 for both radio and television, and in 2001 she traveled to the United States to cover an international conference on visual disabilities and emerging developments in broadcasting and information technology. Rhulani was the talk show presenter of SAFM's Intune, which broadcasts live every Saturday. She was the first presenter of the show, from October 2004 to March 2008.Intune is a youth programme which includes Takalani Sesame and Soul Buddyz, among many others. Rhulani was born and grew up in the province of Limpopo near the small town of Louis Trichard. She is the first of six children, she has two brothers and three sisters. "My late grandfather was my greatest inspiration. He was wise, his actions and words guided me to my success. He held my hand from childhood until his death eight years ago. My lowest moment in life was when my mum passed away five-years ago. Just as I was appreciating having her around, she left us. She was born with partial sight which she lost as a teenager. She attended a school for blind and partially sighted people in Polokwane. Rhulani matriculated at Siloe in 1990. After getting her B.A. and Higher Education Diploma from the University of the Witwatersrand, Rhulani changed tack and became a journalist at the SABC, specialising in many different areas, including crime reporting. The logical next step was to join the previous National Lotteries Operator, Uthingo Management, where she held the position of Internal Communications Manager. At Uthingo one of her many responsibilities was to develop, implement and monitor the company's Internal Communication Strategy.

• published: 29 Aug 2011
• views: 7272