Dan Moyane — I Dont’t Want To Die Unknown

what's your dream what's your goal what's your motivation what's important to you what's your passion what can you do to change the world this is what's involved conversations with thought leaders and change makers from around the world hear stories of hope and inspiration to help motivate people like you to live your life find your passion passion and live your dream together we can all bring positive change to our world now here's your host David Watts and once again it is what's involved that is so good to have you along with us I got a great guest on this on this episode and I've been so looking forward to having a chat with him and and I said to him earlier on just before we went on there I said you know I'm sure I have met you because we both sort of walked in similar halls but I feel like I've known him for a very long time who is he he is none other than Dan Moyani hello Dan hello David how are you I'm exceptionally well and as I said I'm excited to chat to you because you know first and foremost to a lot of South Africans you may be known most as most well-known as a radio presenter but there's a whole bunch more to you and one of the things is the book that you've recently launched it's called I don't want to die unknown and then just underneath that we need to listen to our inner voice so yeah and then there's so much in this book I mean when I read it you know and I thought to myself if a radio presenter turns to writing it could be dodgy but you're not a radio presenter first and foremost so let's go right back to the beginning and and talk to me about Dan Moyani where were you born talk to me about childhood I need to know the story of Dan I know you are you say you're excited I have been nervous about being on the other side of this equation that you and I have been used to for so many years as people who worked in the media but I really am grateful for the opportunity you've given me David to have this conversation I literally do not take it there for granted I really appreciate it and the story of our lives all of us including yours unique stories and they all go across a number of years different circumstances different environments and there's a lot of detail that we go through and we experience in in our lives so sometimes it's very difficult in a few minutes to really put it out there and express it very clearly I'll try and do my best even in the book that I published last year in November that's 2021 November I don't want to die unknown we need to listen to our inner voice it contains some moments that came to mind and came to the fore when I was busy with the project I was born and bred in White City Jababu in Soweto in 1959 in a neighborhood that was very tough I mean White City Jababu has a nickname which I don't know where it came from and as I was growing up it's called Kansas City which is after the American City Kansas I have no clue why the people locally at the time on the ground decided to name it that I don't want to lie to you I'm sure there's a good reason you know Soetans are very good at giving nicknames to places and people and life and the township lingo is very rich with that kind of language so growing up in Kansas as we used to call it White City Jababu in Soweto in them in the 60s was not easy tough neighborhood gangsters around like you see in many townships every today in South Africa and and and and tough neighborhoods and I guess many cities in the world have got those neighborhoods that you know are very tough neighborhoods for various reasons and and on the ground you'll find gangs and and so I grew up in that kind of an environment but fortunately I had two parents my mom and my dad who were Christian very staunch Christians and my father having been a mine worker later on a laborer my mom was a domestic worker and later on a last job she worked at at a crash in in in in lambda day in Johannesburg my father's last job was a laborer at foreign to work school at foreign to high school in Auckland Park in Johannesburg they brought me up very strictly and to appreciate certain values and main value was education so while I was roaming the streets and running around and thankfully David I never joined any gang although there were attempts to force me into into into again now and again that was their life in the in the in the in the in the neighborhood those days I focus on my books and I was lucky to have good friends from school and and of course being involved in church as a youngster even at some point I was I became a church youth leader towards the 70s that sort of assisted me to keep my head focused straight on on education so I did my part there I grew up in the streets kicking the soccer ball and playing football and falling in love with Morocco so I was dig 15 at a time not a great brand today to be associated with but they've done very well those days it was all under pirates and solos long before Kaiser Chiefs named I know you support chiefs I am a big-time pirate supporter I support just about across the board if you can name a sports team that has been losing consistently over the last little while I probably support them and pirates is right up there no comment I don't want to be in trouble with Dr. Evan Cosa while you were there sorry Dan let's let's just just have a look because you say and and I'm going to ask you this question that that studying and books were important to you and obviously your your religious sort of upbringing and your outlook so did your parents go as so many parents across the board did I know I was born when was I born 67 to two years before you and my parents were very very I suppose these days you might say they came from the wrong side of the truck because we weren't wealthy at all and to them I needed to go to school study hard and become either a banker a doctor a lawyer or an accountant so you can imagine their dismay when I said I wanted to be a radio announcer yeah anyway you if you were born in 1967 I'm eight years older than you what what what what what happened was because my parents never went to school my father growing up in the village and my mom growing up in the in the townships they my father was very clear that the minimum he expected from the minimum was to get my metric he never even had he used to say to me I don't even understand that one you you the first one in this family in my line of family to get the metrics so there was a minimum and then later on as I did well at school I did my best at school I love math I love science and knowing what I know today about myself I should have chosen history and drama and as you are smarter than me David because you knew very early on that you wanted to be in this in this field of media journalism I grew up wanting to be a pediatrician growing up to wanting to be a doctor that is a kind of inference because around me my uncle's my parents and this guy's smarty like he's doing well in maths and science yeah he's gonna become dr. Moyana so I used to fancy myself who dressed in this white coat with the stethoscope hanging over my shoulders and walking down the corridors of Baragwanov Hospital I had an aunt and time they were used to work there she was a matron at Baragwanov Hospital so each time we went to visit her when she was at work with my mom out here the speakers be you know booming are they dr. Watts you needed in this section dr.

Watts please and I used to say I one day they're gonna say dr. Moyana you needed spray so that was it so there was an inference at home getting the trick the minimum but also get a good education and go for a career that will be viewed as prestigious as you call it said being a doctor being a lawyer building an accountant being an engineer but but but many of those careers as you well know they were not really open to black South Africans at the time because of the segregated system of education under apartheid those many years ago so you had to choose very carefully so I was going to be pursuing medical profession that was a dream at the time all right but then obviously that couldn't happen and I think even to today you know we we sort of almost discount the life that you'd lead in in those times and you talk about education and going to school but even that wasn't easy and the level of education which was kind of a little a little different so you know I take my hat off to to people like yourselves and I've had the privilege of speaking to too many South Africans that despite everything have managed to go on and to create a life and a legacy so hats off to you then when we come back I'd like to move on a little bit because you didn't stay in South Africa for a while due to one or two little things and you decided it was time to move along so when we come back we're gonna chat more about that my special guest is Dan Moiani author of I don't want to die unknown we need to listen to our inner voice this is what's involved we're back in a bit you're listening to what's involved with David Watts have you been to our website check it out www.what'sinvolved.com and while you're there click on the coffee mug icon and buy David a cup of coffee he'll love it and we're back what's involved there is my guest is Dan Moiani and we're talking about his book I don't want to die unknown we need to listen to our inner voice so just before the break we said to Dan I said I'd like to find out because there was one or two small issues and they caused Dan to decide maybe South Africa wasn't the best place to be talk to me about that Dan well growing up in Soweto in the 60s there was no way you'd avoid if you were young as I've said being aware be aware not not being asked to join a gang but aware of the gangs around you of the need to protect yourself you know there's a lot of violence the difference between now and then is that those days there were fewer guns and stuff and the and the and the sources of the time use knives and other sharp objects so one was exposed to that the second thing you will you grew up being aware at some point that you live in a country where there's two countries you have the black country and go the white country and then somewhere in between other people would fall into this so you'd have Indian townships you know color townships and with a black township my mom was colored my mom was born in Neisner of Cape Malay father and half a son half Dutch mother my father longer he's a central home in in central Mozambique and he came to South Africa 1929 1980 as a 16 year old to work in the mines and he settled in Limpopo in the Sibasa area before he moved to Johannesburg as a young teenager he had no choice because his father had died and as the eldest son he had to come to South Africa so you were aware of the labor relations you were aware of migrant labor you become aware as you grow up and the other thing you become aware of is that there's racism in the country I mean I was called the K word and I write about it in the book when I was young and I was playing with this with this man with this boy rather whose parents my mom was a domestic worker for she used to iron wash clothes and iron for that home and and one day he just called me the K word when we're playing and I didn't even understand where that came from when I engaged my father he then gave me a bit of a lesson about South Africa so I learned very early on what is what so as you grow older then you become involved in community I was in the debating team at school and then you are reading up and I will join the library so you're exposed to information and as you get into high school you then take part in meetings I joined the student Christian movement in 1973 at Mulappo Secondary School attending their meetings but those meetings were more political than religious yes you'd open with a prayer there will be scripture reading but by the end of it we're talking about social justice about the lack of justice or injustice in the country and then one could expose more and more became more politically aware by the time it was 1976 I was at Morris Isense in high school my senior who became a student leader of the time renowned leader at CLC Machinini he was the chairman of our debating team I was part of his team I was highly politicized that by the time in terms of awareness and consciousness and and and then we marched as you know David June 16 marching taking part in the march and one carried on participating student activity little did I know that I had become a person of interest to the South African apartheid security branch and by 1978 many of my colleagues and comrades had either skipped the country had been in detention some of them had disappeared and and and I carried on school doing all levels through a correspondence college because my father said I don't care what you are doing in the streets making petrol bombs munching demonstrating there is you will get your metric so my father was very clear so there was no schooling from 1976 really in so way to of any notable worse from 1976 and 77 78 each time we gather the school the police would rate the schools so we do really didn't have much to learn but then I had to go to town to Johannesburg and wrote at this turret correspondence college and did my old levels the and and that was 1978 two weeks after I wrote my exams my old level exams with the University of London I was raided and I didn't been staying at home all the time because we had been warned back to the security police the security branch we're beginning to look for us I was warned that my name was on a list I did never saw that list I didn't know what they were talking about and I don't know even understand why myself particularly I would be I would be thing that is a person of interest but that was a life because if you were involved in photos if you're taking part in meetings we were making placards and stuff the security branch had its eyes and ears with the Indian bees as we call them people who betrayed us and they came with one of them one early morning 2 a.m. raided my home in February 1979 just two weeks after I wrote my last exam in Brahm Funtane and they interrogated me and my parents and at home they surrounded at home oh I can't remember now how long that took because it was dark when they arrived when they left the Sun was up and and they left me behind thankfully I I was not taken in by them and after that after they left I said to my father I don't want to die I don't think these guys are coming from John Foster I don't know what's gonna happen and they came back but by then I was gone David I decided to leave the country and skip to Mozambique yeah you know it's it's one of those strange things because we often forget and that's why I love having these kind of conversations because this is stuff that needs to be talked about and I'm so glad I'm chatting to you and you've got the book where you you lay out all of this kind of stuff because it must have been absolutely terrifying I mean in those days it was it was bad make no mistake it was bad so you managed to get out and getting to Mozambique what was the difference there because in in my travels and in my visits to Mozambique I found it to be an incredible country very sort of cosmopolitan and and but also when I was going there many years ago you could see signs of the wall there all the time along the the sides of the roads the buildings in Maputo so tell me a little bit about your time in Mozambique yeah remember I'm 19 years old at that time David and I have this dream of becoming a doctor just reaching exams and I still have this thing in my head that when I get across I will pursue my education that was my first my first thought but crossing the border into Mozambique the first thing that still remains with me at the border it's the smell of the in the air you know it's funny I don't know if it's like logical or whatever every place has its own smell you know and and and over the time I would I would miss the smells of Soweto you know when I was there because Mozambique is by the coast Maputo is by the coast so the air is thick with humidity the sea is not far it's like the the saltiness of the sea of a beautiful ocean air is pervading everywhere and I the first thing that struck me was freedom I thought is this what freedom is like because remember as students in South Africa in the 70s we also supported Frélimo there were pro-Frélimo rallies here which were banned which were led at the time by by South African student organization Sasso that was started by the likes of Steve Biko and and others so we were aware that the Frélimo was waging a war of independence against the Portuguese colonial regime so getting in there into a land that was now free remember Mozambique became independent in 1975 now I'm there four years after so you're still very new you look at I saw young people working hand in hand people of all color backgrounds and stuff and it's in Maputo where I made friends from all over the world I still maintain my friendships with guys from Sweden from Norway from Canada people were there from all over the world and I thought wow black and white and colored and you know this is freedom this is what history is supposed to be alive and I thought well but it was all so so confusing as well because I had I had to fresh in the future I'm still gonna get education so there was excitement when I got there there was a realization that the freedom is possible and we are we have to carry on the struggle and then I wanted to join the ANC I had to look and find the ANC which was not easy David as you can imagine as you said it at times were tough people were suspicious of you when I left South Africa I could not tell anybody that I'm looked after who can I trust I only trusted an angle of mine who's now passed on me so rest in peace uncle Joanne is a joke so so he helped me to leave the country so so but you get into Mozambique you're not known to many people you don't know but somehow using my street smart lessons from so where to I managed to track down a group of South African students who was starting at a random on Johnny University and I happen to recognize one of them in the streets in an area where the student residence was after I've been kicked off that there they are there and and then it was one of the leaders from from this away to student uprising you know some good China who was at malady high when the whole when the whole thing broke up early in 1976 before June 1976 because there was a build up to do 1976 and then we clicked and then I managed then to be able to to to join the ANC there on the ground in Maputo as a young person and that assisted me to have a community but I needed to make a livelihood because I couldn't study David as you can understand I didn't have a piece of paper from anywhere to prove that I had passed my old levels I didn't even know what my results were because I left the country after two weeks after I wrote the exams so I do not know the results and and then with that connection I then got more confident to live there and make a life for myself then I made friends with a white Mozambican journalist Zebatista whom I bumped into at weekly magazine that I worked there after having written a poem about June 76 asking if anybody can translate and publish it the tempo weekly magazine used to publish in twice the back pages some poetry and stuff and this guy then took a liking to me he translated my poem it was published in September 1979 there we became buddies he introduced me to one of Mozambique's veteran journalists Fernando Lima is still busy journalism today in Maputo despite all the challenges and and yeah he then introduced me to Ian Christie a Scots journalist who was the editor of the English magazine for for Mozambique information agency and that's how I entered into the world of media that was not early 1980. Wonderful stuff when we come back let's chat a little bit more about that and then how you came back to South Africa and got into radio because you were and you said it right from the beginning your aim was never to be in radio and and the fact that you ended up there and and have achieved what you've achieved to me is it's just fantastic my guest is Dan Miani we're talking about his book I Don't Want to Die Unknown we need to listen to our inner voice this is What's Involved we'll be back with more from Dan. We'll be right back with more What's Involved David would love to hear from you to leave a voice message visit What's Involved.com and click drop me a voice note. We're back What's Involved my guest is Dan Miani so just before the break you'd started off and you'd started your journalistic career in Mozambique but then Dan what happened because you were there and and you know you you obviously were creating a reputation people were getting to know you take me through that but and how you ended up back here in our beloved South Africa. David remember I think it's important for me when I tell my story to highlight the fact that I did not go into media because I wanted to like you you chose journalism I I went into media because I needed a job it was about livelihoods yes I was part of the ANC South African community lots of people from South Africa and Mozambicans who were together in Maputu so I was looking for a job it was a livelihood thing so I meet Ian Christie I meet Francis Christie and I mentioned their names because they became very close to me over the years and a seasoned journalist coming from Scotland having settled in Tanzania in the early 70s and were sympathetic and expressed their solidarity with the struggle of the people of Mozambique who are independent so I'm introduced to them by Fernando Lima and they said yeah who are you so I tell them beat my story what I've just told them from Soweto blah blah blah they said what do you want I said well I'm looking for a job they said well we can maybe take as an intern of sorts so I became like what they used to call David in the old days in newspapers a copy boy I don't if you remember in newspapers I don't know if what I've never worked in a newspaper myself but where you fish copy and make coffee for the editor like you do all this you run around you go and do this and go and get this I don't know if you remember David yeah listen in my time when I got to believe it or not prime media I was essentially what they called a gopher so it was working ridiculous hours just wanting the chance to to talk to somebody and then to get your foot in the door and falling asleep yep yeah so that's exactly what it was and then I said fine so they took me in and then I joined the English service of the Mozambique news agency and remember David at time Mozambique was a one-party state with for a limo being very socialistic so everything was it was state-owned so I joined and that was now in the any part of 79 within a few months Zimbab was independence was was coming in April that year if you many people may not know but zano PF used to broadcast from radio Mozambique studios in Maputo what they used to call radio Timo radio which was the radio freedom or for for the for zano is zano PF in Zimbabwe they were using the same frequencies shortwave frequencies that LM radio used to use the famous old LM radio music radio so when Mozambique became independent in 75 LM radio shut down and then for a limo use those airwaves to to donate or contribute to radio communication for zano PF in Zimbabwe then Sam's independence is coming what to do with those frequencies they for a limo ask Ian Christie who was working in Mozambique music to carry on using those frequencies and set up an English radio service at a time with a sole main aim to counter a party propaganda because South African SABC news was being used to to to broadcast and disseminate a party propaganda so fairly more failed that there was a need to counter that and then and support the struggle for freedom and against apartheid in South Africa so Ian was asked to do that and when he went in April to start that service he was alone and then he took me with the head hunted me said no come with me let's set up this thing this way to you continue being a gopher for us but on radio so I go for it around until about September like for more than nine months I nearly nine months yeah more than nine months I did not write a single story I was just running around and then I started loving that stuff I started loving started writing and started reading and reporting from a junior I was an intern then gofering then I was given a job as a an intern and then junior reporter and all of that so I started working in radio in June 1980 and that was my blessing in disguise because I grabbed that bull by the Honda even I just loved it and then throughout the years by 1985 I had been assessed evaluated even even tasks they had a system where you are on the job training but once a year you get an evaluation and you are not evaluated by your direct editor you are evaluated by another editor plus I was being trained technically so by 1985 I could I could DJ myself I could go on air by myself I could produce and write and stuff and I was training as well by 1985 I was promoted to be the deputy head of the English service of freedom was a big and that's when I came to the attention of BBC well service who then offered me a road as a stringer for focus on Africa which is one of their flagship continental news programmes at the time it was only on radio so from 1985 until 91 I was the BBC correspondent in Mozambique on top of being working as well for radio Mozambique and having that deputy managerial job and when Nelson Mandela was released from prison in February 1990 by President FWD Clark I will be watching this on TV with some South African comrades and everybody tears and joy and stuff I looked at my wife I said I'm going back home so coming back home in 91 was because South Africa was now changing and that was a feeling but I arrived at Yarns Smart's Airport now or Tambo International Airport and I was detained for a few hours interrogated because I then realised indeed my name had been on some list but I was not arrested thankfully I was let go and then I came in home after having been away for 12 years Wow what a journey and I just think when you when you're talking about the being able to read and write and operate the desk we always used to call it flying the desk because we had aspirations of being pilots I'm not sure but in those days that was a that was a lot of work and and specifically if you're working now and pricing the tapes David is pricing the days cut out syllables and oh man it was horrible I asked my youngest son I asked my youngest son the other day I said you know what's a telex machine what's a telex machine I started writing news when we used to use telex not facts telex machines so he says no what is that so I googled for him my show he said what is this thing I said well it was very useful for those days when we used to write stories and send them across the world to the BBC and everybody to the people everybody else so he said well those are the days yeah waiting for those telex machines to go off in the newsroom and they chatted to start yep there's definitely something about it but I mean what impressed me the most is that you were you were in and around in that time and working as I was saying for the BBC and I just remember my introduction and I've never been brilliant at it it's something I never wanted to do but it was something I got told I had to do was news reading and the guy who sort of led me through the news reading I think he's also a long past I was a guy by the name of Jeremy Dawes and he was every last syllable had to be enunciated and pronounced correctly and I used to get smacked on the head so many times and I made mistakes during broadcast and those were the days because I think if we had to do that to to any young news reader today we'd be in serious trouble anyway you know just just a quick one before you go for your break quick one when I wrote my first story I was very proud of it so I wrote my first story Ian Chris had given me a copy from AFP a chance France press so I write my story on the type writer typewriter didn't it then I give it to him he reads this he looks at across the newsroom it cramples it up he says you call this a new story this is an essay can you write me a new story across across the newsroom try and do that today anyway listen when we come back we're gonna be wrapping it up with Dan our time is almost up but I want to move on to once he's back in South Africa the 702 days and where he is now this is what's involved my guest is Dan Moyani author of I don't want to die unknown we need to listen to our inner voice back with Dan in just a while this is what's involved don't forget to subscribe and leave a review more next and we're back what's involved it is wrapping it up with my special guest Dan Moyani so Dan you know when I think about 702 I remember I was I was doing National Service in 85 86 which in and of itself was was a horrific time for so many of us and a continuation of the horror and there was no real end in sight at that stage but then 702 launched as this music radio station and I remember where we were at our camp we were not allowed to listen to 702 if it was radio 702 at those days because it was so subversive so of course what did I do I waited until nighttime and it was great for medium wave frequencies and I used to listen to this subversive radio station and they were just so different so fresh and then the time came and they changed to a talk format and everybody said it'll never work you guys will never be successful South Africa cannot deal with a talk radio station how did you come to be on 702 okay 20 years on radio Mozambique's English service as I've explained from 1980 or 11 years to 91 sorry 11 years including as well springing to the deep from 1985 to 1981 one day 1990 I get a call and this lady says hi my name is Davey Heywitz I'm phoning from radio 702 in Johannesburg our normal correspondent is away and he's given us your name and one of our editors has had you reporting on Mozambique for the BBC would like a crossing with you this afternoon on the latest attack by Renamo rebels in northern northwestern province of Teti they've attacked a commercial convoy from South Africa of trucks and boots on its way to Malawi would you be able to tell us about this I said okay who is radio 702 she's not where I privately owned because when I left the country and said into nine there was no radio 702 in South Africa so she explained who they were so I said okay fine I'll call me back in few minutes I'll put the phone down I phoned a couple of people I said this and this and this and they said no check I spoke to Ian Christie as well my editor at the time he said yeah no he doesn't know he's got his head about it but I phoned a guy who's their correspondent a friend of mine cow how my he was overseas at the time he says to me I know Dan he said it's an independent station don't worry you can you can talk to them it's fine it's fine fine I said okay let me check then I phoned the beep I said beep and I spoke to Robin white he was an editor at the time at the BBC at Bush House in London he says to me no Dan fine it's a local station down there Johannesburg it's okay but they're just needing some help don't worry they're not competing with us they beep don't worry you can go ahead so they call back I said fine I'll do it that's how I got to know 702 1990 and I come back home when I come back home very briefly a day which my father was was retired and he was very ill my mom had just been retrenched my sister was working as a casual cashier for checkers not shop like checker the old checkers the green and yellow checkers the old days so so so I come back home and I'm the eldest son and my father says oh welcome back we're gonna need you to help us here with some livelihoods because we're I'm now retired and my retirement is the money I get is little and your mom has just been retrenched as well not your sister we need your help so what so I said fine so when I came back my my plan which had been put into motion was to go and do a master's in political science at the University of the Western Cape which had been done and approved and stuff had been sorted and thankfully I got help from from dr. Bob Davis and I was gonna work with the likes of him and professor Peter Vail but my father says we need your help so I said I need a job so I said where to go to so I went with my father to 702 I knocked on the door because I had done one or two crossings for them I wanted to meet them then I met Mike Mike Williams he was the head he was the editor in the newsroom and then I told him I'm back home and you guys have used me in the any any gig available so now we don't have anything like what are that so I kept on knocking on the door then they gave me a 12-week freelance contract starting from August 1991 that's how I got into into seven or two and after a few months they offered me a full-time I got in as a duty editor as you said flying that news desk and working with reporters and then by 1994 I was assistant news editor at 702 95 they then offered me the morning show to co-host with John Robbie and and that's when most of of 702 lands as we call it and we go to know me and the rest of South Africa right up to that social moment at Ellie's Park at the final of the rugby rugby World Cup that's also an incredible story your own version of shows the loser but I'm not going to dive into too much a damn bit at the time there was there was still a fair amount of politics within the halls of 702 and prime media and decisions were being made and you left there for a while didn't you yes I did I mean remember at the time I know people it's not it's not that it's not the significance of this it's not about being being being the first but I was told I was a first black South African on on 702 to be doing news and stuff the late Alice Chauvin duke from Zimbabwe had been reading news on that station for some time as a first black female voice on that so there was a lot of rejection I mean I used to get abusive calls from white listeners predominantly and say what am I doing on a white radio station I must go and work for radio Zulu and stuff like that but I had the support of the team but at some point I was pulled off air which was very disappointing and I was told that no no I'm not ready yet having worked in media for the likes of the BBC for over five years and having worked in English radio broadcast since 1980 I mean to be told that you're not ready for radio was unbelievable so I it was driven really by by racial stereotypes sadly in this in this country and a management did not support me is totality some people supported me at 702 as you said there were politics in the corridors and others did not and then and then I left a 792 in 97 when stem cats and the management team decided to make another lineup change which is due to date I don't understand why John Robbie and I had been doing quite a good job on air by 1997 we had settled and and we had become the good the bed and the action of off morning radio in town and coming from different backgrounds and we had done that but anyway I moved on I moved on and and and then three years later 702 came back after me asking me to come back in 99 they offered me the role of station manager then I went back to station manager in 1999 it said it's 702 and that led to me going to the boardroom David as executive chairman of primary broadcasting from 2002 2003 all the way until 2008 and and after that by the time that the state the company had acquired KFM in Cape Town and now we had a stable of four and I had successfully led a team to to apply at ICASA to get 702 from medium wave on to FM because the medium wave as you will know today was dying as a transmission and 702's viability was being was being striking quite a bit we were successful in that in that in that endeavor and then I left the prime it in 2008 and that was the last time I I worked there and went into into private public relations communications work then I was headhunted by momentum and insurance company to be their communication executive assisting them with media relations and I've been contract consulting with them ever since and then in 2009 I was asked by ETV to launch a big debate program and and then I did that and after that I was given the afternoon news shift on at ENCA television station and today I'm doing the afternoon again from 3 to 5 so I've been sort of straddling both worlds or the two worlds of communication meet on one side and and the corporate communication side pretty much since 2009 and for that I'm grateful because David I get bored very easily John Robbie used to joke and say that I've got an attention span of a thing I don't I don't focus on one thing for too long so I've always done more than one thing in my life ever since I started work especially since 1985 yeah I know that feeling I've been told on more than one occasion that I have the attention span of a cabbage so you know as we as we wrap up why why the book I mean you are you know the last person that's you're certainly not going to die unknown I mean South Africa and Africa and indeed across the world a lot of people know exactly who Dan Mariani is or who they believe he is so why the book and what what is our inner voice got to do with it okay the book the book it was it comes at the time of my life when you know during the lockdown you're reflecting about things and I've been meaning to write it since 2015 I actually started writing it in 2015 then I stopped I said ah you know writing about yourself David is one of the hardest things I said ah you know just vanity or what this means this thing you know and then and then 2019 2020 comes and we get hit by this corona virus pandemic all over the world and you know all this stuff that has happened then I'm thinking okay when you engage with people and you look at what people are saying about one another or other people on social media and stuff you realize that people from their own views they'll always do then the narratives that will be given to whatever you've done and I thought to myself and people keep on telling me when they meet mama this is Dan Mariani this is yeah lots of people know but I don't want a situation where my my own story is told by other people and and when I realized this was that my dad and my mom and my sister was also cast may as their souls rest in peace they they they didn't know they have there is a remarkable life stories in their journeys but it was never put down so I'm telling you to my kids and there's must be detail and good stuff that is lost so while I can't let me put it down so it's part memoir at legacy because as I say it was the end of my book to my grandchildren I don't have any now I don't know if I will but that's a metaphoric way of looking at the future to my grandchildren when they read this they need to get something to say ah so this is the guy that people say he was and stuff like that it's important that we tell our stories and and she knew I achieved a Nigerian writer says until you know the lions you know tell the story of the hunt you know they have historians rather the story the story of the hunt would always glorify the hunter so so you want you want your story to be told by yourself it's important David that you too you tell your story you you put it down and and and and as you said there's so much stuff that has happened in the past that we don't talk about it's not documented for whatever reason there's various things but I felt it was important and the time is now and it's important so that part of the legacy that I leave for anybody is that there was something I shared about my memories of the time I went through if one person I mean if people take one thing out one person takes one thing out that resonates with them from the book for me then I've touched somebody's life and that's fine that's the legacy and I think that is that is incredible and I've often said to sit as well you know if my broadcasting and podcasting makes a difference in one person's life my job is done then I've had a bunch of fun doing it we all know what trying to be in broadcast media is like we always used to have the joke I'm sure you heard it as well at Prime Media's how can you tell the radio presenter at the beach he's the one with all the stab marks in his back John Bex but he passed on recently he gave me advice when I was appointed as a co-host with John Robbie on the morning because he'd done the morning show he was a king of morning radio for a long time and yeah and he gave me advice and one of them he says as soon as that was announced and just imagine anybody's got a knife waiting he put it on your back but he says just be yourself just be who you are doesn't matter what they say what they do just enjoy the ride kid he said and just be who you are yeah he was an absolute legend and tragic to hear of his passing not to not too long ago as we as we wrap it up today one of the things that's always struck me about you and I think it's it's one of the reasons that I wanted to chat with you is you're an incredible storyteller and you add so much life and vibrancy and color to to your stories and as you said there's your story there's many many people stories that that need to be told because at the moment where we are in our country is not where any of us thought we were going to be back in 1994 so then in terms of the legacy in terms of Dan Miani what's next for you I in my mind I am known as you said what for you know it's not about my ego it can be otherwise it's been a waste what has driven me all the time is to make a difference so and I've realized this I I gave an interview in the 90s to a journalist Maureen Isaacson she was writing for the tonight supplement of the star newspaper those days and in it as young as I was in my early fifties I spoke about making a difference I understand that better today than I did then when I expressed it for the first time in public so my sense now is the next chapter for me has to be a life of significance I know who I am today better than I did yesterday David I need to be who I am to the best of my ability be that to the best of my ability for the benefit of others so that I need to when people look at me my grandchildren somebody's gonna talk about me one day when I'm gone they should look but he lived the life of significance it was a significant guy not a rich guy a wealthy guy a moneyed guy a guy who did this no no we had many awards he lived the life of significance with a significant guy he was inspirational and and and he was creative you know in his way in terms of expressive and storytelling as you said just now thanks for giving me that feedback and he confirmed what I think and and and he educated us he touched us in ways as a mentor as a as a coach or somebody that's really what is next in my chapter in my chapter is to live a life of significance for the rest of my life wonderful wonderful stuff and and I have no doubts you will Dan and I hope we get to chat again sometime and who knows maybe we can even sit down have a cup of coffee or something like that the book is available in all good bookstores is it available online as well yes it is on Amazon it's available online as well and what I'm mulling about David is - should I do an audio recording of my book you know with my voice I don't know now that you've just told me that I'm a good storyteller colorful I'm thinking oh man I should read my book and get it recorded then I think that would be a brilliant a brilliant idea yeah cuz I love Amazon's sort of sister company or part of Amazon is audible and and if I could listen to your story as an audible in the audio book I think it would be fantastic so go out knock him dead Dan thank you very much David thank you thank you it's been absolutely wonderful it wraps it up I get the book because it's not only the story of Dan's life but it's his observances and the things that he's seen and done that just tell such a great story the title is I don't want to die unknown we need to listen to our inner voice by Dan moyani get the book you will not regret it it wraps it up for this edition of what's involved to each and every one of you look after yourselves take care and thank you for listening thanks for listening to what's involved we hope this episode inspires you to find your passion and live your dream don't forget to rate review and share the podcast and to see what's happening what's going on and what's coming follow what's involved on Facebook and Twitter at what's involved thanks again for listening