Former Sowetan editor joins POWER 98.7 as station manager

Johannesburg - South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) Chairman and former Sowetan editor Mpumelelo Mkhabela has joined Gauteng based commercial talk radio station POWER 98.7 as its station manager effective from 1 June 2016.

The station’s founder and chairman Given Mkhari said POWER 98.7’s growth as a thought leader required a content heavy-hitter to lead its product offering.

Mkhari said Mkhabela had a track record of transformative leadership that would be valuable to the station’s positioning as a critical thought leader in the media landscape.

Mkhari added: “Mkhabela is an industry leader with a proven management and editorial track record and we are thrilled that he has chosen POWER 98.7 as a platform to practice his trade.”

According to Mkhabela he’s excited about the challenge: “It’s a wonderful opportunity to contribute to a black-owned media institution that has altered the radio landscape in Africa’s influential commercial region.”

Mkhabela (38) has been a journalist since 1999. He started his career as a junior reporter at City Press. In 2001 he was appointed parliamentary correspondent, a position he held until 2007 when he joined the Sunday Times as senior political writer and later parliamentary bureau chief.

In 2010 he was appointed deputy editor of The Sunday Independent. In 2011 he was appointed editor of the Daily Dispatch before he was transferred to Sowetan as editor. He holds a BA (Hons) in Political Science from the University of Limpopo, Bachelor of Journalism (Hons) from Stellenbosch University and an MA in International Politics from UNISA.