GBV AWARDS HONOUR MANKOKO ‘BABY’ MOKHARI: A VOICE THAT TURNS PAIN INTO POWER
- Mpho Dube
- 15 hours ago
- 4 min read
By Mpho Dube, Editor-in-Chief
The Azanian | Truth. Fearless. Unfiltered.
AZANIAFROCOMEDIA – The Catalyst of Impact
She walked onto the stage in champagne tulle and walked off with the nation’s respect. Thobela FM presenter Mankoko ‘Baby’ Mokhari was recently honoured at the 5th National Annual Gender-Based Violence Awards for her sterling work in telling GBV stories that refuse to be silenced.
The award did not just recognise a radio presenter. It recognised a lifeline.
For 30 years Mankoko has been on air. Thirty years of dawns and dusk shifts. Thirty years of being the first voice a broken woman hears when she thinks no one is listening. If Thobela FM is a river, Mankoko is the current that never stops moving. If the radio is a house, she has been the roof for three decades — keeping the rain of shame off survivors while they find shelter.
Time did not make her tired. Time made her deeper. Like an old tree, her roots are in the soil of Limpopo’s pain, and her branches stretch wide enough to hold every listener who needs rest.
Mankoko holds down her space daily on Thobela FM, using her platform to do what too many avoid: speak the truth about GBV, assault, abuse, and the quiet violence that happens behind closed doors. She does not chase headlines. She chases healing.
At the awards, held under the banner “NO!!! TO WOMEN, MEN AND CHILDREN ABUSE”, she stood with microphone in one hand and the GBV trophy in the other. Behind her, banners from Tshwelepatla Rona Welfare Community Organisation reminded everyone why she does this work: for abused women and children, for vulnerable children and orphans, for every family told “together we can make it”.
The Limpopo Department of Transport and Community Safety led by MEC Violet Mathye formally congratulated Mankoko, saying her award is “more than a milestone for the station, it is a milestone for every woman and child whose voice has found courage through your microphone.”
Mathye pointed to the latest crime stats released 27 May 2026. Murder in Limpopo dropped 2.2%. Contact crimes linked to GBVF dropped 5.8%. But sexual offences, assault with intent, and domestic violence remain “worryingly high”. That is why Mankoko’s work matters.
“Day after day on Thobela FM, you create space for difficult conversations. You give survivors dignity when they speak. You educate young men and women that violence is never a sign of strength. You remind our communities that silence protects perpetrators, but truth protects the next victim,” the MEC wrote.
Mankoko was clear when she received the award: “Receiving this award means a great deal to me because it recognizes the hard work, dedication and passion I have invested in raising awareness about Gender-Based Violence. It is not only a personal achievement but also a reminder of the responsibility I have to use my platform to educate, inspire and advocate for positive change.”
Organiser Cynthia Dinalane, Founder of Tshegofatsa Rona Welfare and GBV Ambassador, said media plays a huge role in promoting gender-based stories. Mankoko is proof. She turns statistics into faces, numbers into names, silence into solutions.
The timing cuts deep. As Thobela FM prepares to turn 66, this award adds to the beautiful stories the station has told over the past year. Station voice Mmankwe Sebola called it “a beautiful story” that shows what public broadcasting should be: changing people’s lives, one conversation at a time.
Thirty years of Mankoko on radio, sixty-six years of Thobela FM on air. That is not history. That is legacy. That is proof that when a microphone is held with purpose, it becomes more than equipment. It becomes medicine.
Through her work, Mankoko speaks directly to every woman and child listening in Vhembe, Capricorn, Sekhukhune, Mopani and Waterberg: “The bruises, the fear, the years of silence – they do not define your worth. You are not alone, and you are not to blame. Limpopo has shelters, counselling, police victim-support units, and a 24-hour GBV Command Centre on 0800 428 428. Reporting is not weakness. Leaving is not failure. Living is victory.”
She took pain from her listeners and turned it into power. She took statistics and turned them into solutions. For 30 years she has been proof that one voice, held steady, can outlast a thousand fists.
The trophy is hers. The victory belongs to every survivor who now knows their story deserves to be heard.
The Azanian salutes Mankoko ‘Baby’ Mokhari. Three decades on air. A lifetime of impact. May your voice grow louder, and may our province grow safer because of it.
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