Radio and the star
LESAOANA SEKETE
QUTHING – From the dusty plains of remotest of Lesotho’s villages comes heroes and heroins that eventually become the spine of the media entertainment industry, ‘Zonkebonke Dolleza’ is one of these stars.
In this millennial era, radio and TV industry personality Dolleza, whose real names are Tšelisehang Joseph Nkholise, can pass for an ordinary folk in the street; his listeners and viewers cannot immediately know that he is the man behind the voice that can impact on every person’s life by just listening to him.
Life&Style spoke to the radio personality and motivational speaker, a star with a natural voice for radio. Dolleza hails from the Quthing district in Mount-Moorosi. He studied Broadcasting, Television and Radio at the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology in the year 2012, and he says stardom did not just land on his lap.
“The journey following completion of my studies was an uphill battle, it was just not easy all. I travelled this part of my life’s journey already a father who had to fend for his family…”
Dolleza started off at the fast foods outlet Hungry Lion housed near the Shoprite supermarket the LNDC Mall in the capital city’s CBD, where he lucky bagged a promotion two months into the job.
He left the eatery the following year to pursue his profession with the then Thaha-Khube FM which was then located along the Lancer’s Gap Road at Ha Tšosane at Boitumelo Building. He left the community radio station because of misunderstandings with the radio station’s executives.
“In 2015 I was forced to work in the textile factories at the Thetsane Industrial Area where I was kicked out just after three days on duty. I tried again the following year and sadly for three months. Life was hard, with no promising opportunities.
I saw light at the end of the tunnel in 2017 when I received a job offer to join the Lesotho Broadcasting Services, since then I never looked back,” Dolleza recalled. Radio is the best platform to change people’s lives, it is not for pompous people who look down on others as some of the current crop make it seem, he said.
“Traits are challenged here. Where one comes from, how one grew up and how one handles fame and holds their vision intact. I have made it my sole priority to lend a hand solely to the youth, and I have achieved a lot through that mission.
Through radio I have helped the vulnerable, particularly crippled children, with funding per individual needs,” he added. Dolleza hosts two radio popular programmes on Radio Lesotho – Molikong oa Bacha and Uena u reng?
