12 Nov 2020

Duma FM’s weekly afternoon drive presenter Tumisang Mothei aka Tsonono uncle chops has emerged the winner of this year’s Narrator Project 2020 competition which was organised by Nature Environment Wildlife Filmakers (NEWF).

In an interview with BOPA, Mothei said he was elated to have emerged a victor in the hotly contested competition, after successfully participating in the fourth edition of NEWF Congress which was held virtually from October 25 to November 1.

Mothei who is also the station’s programmes manager said the objectives of the competition among others was to inspire discussion driven by natural resource conservation within the African context, create a path to conservation through film as well as promote voice over artists.

He said a competition of that nature encouraged Africans to use their voices to tell the world about the richness of their culture and resources found in their continent.

“We continue to import voice over artists from outside the country to use on
documentaries, advertisement and promotional videos, with little to no consideration of the pool of untapped talent that we have here. We need Africans to tell the story about
Africa, to charm the world about Africa’s wealth,”he added.

Mothei said people like Sir David Attenborough had carved their niche in the industry, saying it was high time voice artists took the baton and show case their talents.

“This win goes beyond my day-to-day profession as a radio broadcaster, it is a win for storytellers and orator of our history”, said Mothei.

By winning the narration project competition, Mothei highlighted that he would be given an opportunity to have his voice featured on a National Geographic’s renowned Safari Live programme as well as training and mentorship from NEWF team to develop his voice.

The competition which was held for the second time, had attracted at least 65 participants across Africa and five finalists were selected to attend the NEWF2020 Congress where final voting took place.

Of those five, three were South African, while two were from Botswana.

Participants were competing for a share of R15 000 in cash, with the overall winner featuring on Safari Live and receiving R10 000 while first run-up got R3 000 and second run-up R2000. ENDS