Redi Thlapi (nee Direko) is a South African journalist, producer, television and radio presenter known for hosting a variety of news programmes on the SABC and the eNews Channel on DStv.

She has been a broadcast journalist for 11 years, and has worked in both television and radio. Her career started as a reporter at Network Radio News, after which she moved to Kaya FM, a Gauteng radio station.

She has an Honours degree in Political Economy and English Literature and has been a radio and TV journalist since the mid-nineties, with four of these spent as a current affairs anchor at SABC News and SABC Africa.

She was one of the main anchors for the 2004 general election and inauguration coverage, and also presented SABC3's premiere current affairs show, News Hour, which was replaced with Interface.

She also anchors a daily talk show on 702 and 567 Cape Talk.

Between 2006 and 2008 she presented the legal rights daytime talk show Rights & Recourse on SABC3.

In February 2008 it was announced by e.tv that Redi would be one of the co-anchors of the satellite pay channel's 24-hour news programme, eNews, with Jeremy Maggs. The channel launched in the second half of 2008 and Redi anchored the Primetime news bulletin until May 2009.

She left the channel on 10 May 2009 citing work overload as the reason. Saying in an interview: "I left because of a heavy work load. It had become increasingly difficult to juggle my two jobs and everything else that I have to do in between."

"It was a very difficult decision because I love current affairs, I love television and being part of the eNews channel was a great experience and opportunity. But working all the time does affect one's quality of life and I needed to achieve a comfortable balance and the best way to do that was to scale down."

She has also produced a much-talked-about documentary on President Thabo Mbeki. She is also studying a Masters in Literature.

When she's not studying, presenting radio or TV show, Redi reads extensively and runs half marathons.

She began hosting her own talk show - simply titled "Redi" - on DStv's Mzansi Magic channel on 13 July, 2010. It was the first locally-produced show to air on Mzansi Magic, which debuted the day before.

Redi got engaged to medical practitioner Brian Tlhapi on Valentine's Day 2010. The couple married on Sunday 12 September 2010, in Mulbarton.

Source:

• whoswhosa
• tvsa

Page Created: 11 January 2011