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The late Alice Chavunduka

Bongani Ndlovu Entertainment Correspondent
THE death of Alison “Alice” Chavunduka over the weekend has robbed Zimbabwe and Southern Africa as a whole of a talented news anchor and a pioneer female presenter.
Alison (46) the first black female news anchor on ZBC and SABC, died in Johannesburg on Sunday, after suffering an epileptic seizure at her home on New Year’s Eve.

She was found unconscious and rushed to hospital where she spent some days in a coma, before her death over the weekend.
Veteran broadcasters from across the board have described her as a template for any budding news reader.

John Gambanga, who was her senior at the time she was at ZBC said Chavunduka was among the finest news readers.
“She was very good. I can compare her to Busi Chindove and Mandy Mundawarara, who were also excellent. Her news reading was flawless and her command for English was good,” he said.

Mundawarara was the first black news presenter for the then Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation.
“The finest broadcaster to ever have come out of Zimbabwe,” is how Terrence Mapurisana described Alice, adding that Sadc had been robbed of a dedicated journalist.

“I worked under her in the early 90s when I was on attachment at Radio 3 at ZBC. She taught me the trade and we have been robbed of an excellent newscaster,” said the ZBC News reporter.

Nhau/Indaba news anchor, Evermore Sandati said Chavunduka’s death was sad as she was hardworking person, dedicated to the journalistic practice.

Alice, who died a week before the date her father died last year, was an inspiration to many women as she broke the glass ceiling in broadcasting.

She was born in Harare and burst onto the airwaves at a tender age of 12, after ZBC recruited her as the country’s youngest presenter of a children’s radio programme.

The programme was aired on the then Radio 1 and Radio 3, and she graduated to news reading six years later.
In 1992, at the age of 23, Alice moved to South Africa and worked for Radio 702, but left after a brief stint. In February 1992, Alice made history by becoming the first black female news anchor on SABC’s TV1 channel and became popular on the morning breakfast show, Good Morning South Africa, as the first black female presenter alongside the likes of veteran news presenters, Jane Hicks and Anand Naidoo.

In her stay in South Africa she was involved in two separate accidents, and the 2010 one caused her to have seizures that resulted in her death on Sunday.

After leaving SABC, she featured as a news presenter for Summit TV on MultiChoice’s DStv and also hosted the Alice Chavunduka Show on 94.7 Highveld Stereo.

She also worked as an M-Net presenter on Studio 53.
The Chavundukas are a family of firsts as her father Professor Gordon Chavunduka who died last year at 82 after a short illness was the first black person to be the dean of social studies at University of Zimbabwe and worked at the institution for 37 years.

After his retirement from the university, Prof Chavunduka served as president of the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association (Zinatha).

Dr Dexter Chavunduka brother to Professor Chavunduka was Zimbabwe’s first black veterinary surgeon.
Prof Chavunduka’s sister Sarah Chavunduka was Zimbabwe’s first black woman to get a university degree. She became the first female chair of Zimbabwe’s five state-owned newspapers: The Herald, Chronicle, Sunday News, The Sunday Mail and Manica Post.

Sarah Chavunduka’s Malawian husband became the first black ambassador to South Africa.
Funeral arrangements are yet to be announced.