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A walking encyclopedia of sport, a master's graduate from the university of life ... Putco Mafani pays tribute to his idol, veteran broadcaster Dumile Mateza, who passed away this week.
For me, the story of Dumile Mateza becomes a combination of emotions and inspiration because it starts, when I was still a student in the early 1980s in the then Transkei.
The people who inspired me to be a broadcaster were TV personalities such as Dumile, Kansas Mchunu, Lunga Williams and Noxolo Grootboom.
I saw those people each day and I was like:
This because I saw it through people such as Dumile.
Not only was he a TV or media personality, but he excelled in what he did.
I think he was unique in the sense that he was good at research. Dumile was untouchable when it came to this.
Whenever he touched on a subject, whether it was an international team playing Bafana Bafana or a particular big-name player landing in South Africa, he would go beyond just the statistics and give some good off-the-pitch information as well.
READ: Things most people don’t know about late veteran broadcaster Dumile Mateza
As a commentator, he’d talk you through everything you needed to know about a particular sportsperson.
During a dead-ball moment in soccer, he wouldn’t waste the stoppage time – he’d talk extensively about a particular team.
When Dumile used to cover boxing tournaments at the Orient Theatre in East London, part of his preparation was to learn the touring boxers’ national anthems.
I remember in one tournament featuring a boxer from Colombia in the main bout, the CD containing the fighter’s national anthem would not play and the organisers didn’t have an alternative plan.
I am told, Dumile stood up and sang both the South African and Colombian anthems! That was incredible.
‘Research’ and ‘preparation’ are the two words that defined his work.
Who can forget Dumile’s commentary of the 1995 Rugby World Cup final between the Springboks and the All Blacks? And hardly a few months after that, the Afcon final between Bafana Bafana and Tunisia in 1996?
Even if it was a Rugby World Cup, he’d commentate the swing of a ball from a scrum half to the wing, the whole movement, in all three languages – isiXhosa, English and Afrikaans!
And because of that, he found a way into the hearts of millions of sports lovers. People would marvel at this man who spoke so many languages.
And he used that to become the unique and powerful commentator he was.
Dumile was eloquent in all the sporting codes – football, rugby, cricket, boxing, tennis, golf, athletics, swimming...
READ: Tim Spirit | Afcon bloopers: CAF can do better
He also jealously guarded his notes and statistics because he prepared so thoroughly. You’d never mess around in his presence, even if you were a co-commentator.
If you were a co-commentator and you messed up the names of players or pronounced them wrong, he’d correct you on the spot.
He was one of the SABC’s first black sports presenters and commentators in 1980.
He was a self-taught broadcaster, which took a lot of discipline, as Dumile demonstrated. To me, he was a master’s graduate from the university of life.
He was more than just a colleague, we were family.
And for those of us on radio and TV today, the way to remember Mateza is to respect the viewers and the listeners, and to never come to the studio half-prepared or even blank. That would be an insult.
We broadcasters should remember and honour Dumile’s legacy of preparation and research.
However, it’s bad, particularly as Africans, that we only celebrate our people after they have passed away.
Lala ngoxolo, Nala!
Mafani is a radio personality and a former Kaizer Chiefs public relations officer. He was speaking to Daniel Mothowagae
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