New York, Here I Come

Redi Tlhabi has said goodbye to 702 and is heading to America with her family to take up a fellowship

- Gabisile Ngcobo

SHE rushes into the Hyde Park restaurant, giant coffee cup in hand, and apologises for being a few minutes late.

Life has been a whirlwind since she hung up her mic at talk radio station 702 after 12 years on air – everybody’s been wanting a piece of her. “Thank heavens for coffee,” Redi Tlhabi says, taking a sip. “I need two cups back to back before I can start thinking!”

Eyes across the Johannesburg eatery swivel towards her as she settles in. She may be a radio star but after all these years in the game her face is as recognisable as her voice.

The feisty broadcaster’s many fans were heartbroken when she announced she was leaving the station to take up a fellowship in the United States. On her last day, her name trended on Twitter for hours.

Both the EFF and the ANC released statements bidding her farewell and praising her work, while the DA’s Mmusi Maimane sent her a private message.

Her career has been quite a ride, Redi (39) agrees. “I said to my bosses at 702, ‘You know, in all the years I’ve been here I have never woken up and felt like doing something else’.”

And yet, happy as she was, she’d been feeling restless the past two years. “I kept thinking, ‘What else is out there? What else can I do? This can’t be the end of my journey’,” she admits.

Receiving her long-service award in 2015 after 10 years with the station triggered a change in her mindset.

“I was taken aback – the years had gone by so quickly,” Redi explains. “I was freaked out – traumatised! I knew I couldn’t be where I was for another 10 years.”

She could have hung in for a few more years if she were a little younger, she adds. But the big Four-O is looming next year, so Redi started worrying it might be too late to do all the things she wants to do.