Maureen Nkandu

Maureen Nkandu.

Maureen Nkandu is a Zambian international journalist and communications expert. She began her career at the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) aged 18. She is daughter of veteran journalist and lecturer, Faxon Nkandu, a former News Editor of the Times of Zambia.

Early life

Maureen was born in Lusaka to Faxon Nkandu and Grace Chakulunta. She was influenced by her father Faxon Nkandu, former News Editor of the Times of Zambia, and one of very few African journalists to cover the Vietnam War. Out of all of his children, she was the one who showed the most interest in his work. She was nicknamed a reporter both at home and at school because she frequently told on her peers and siblings whenever they did something wrong. At age 11, Maureen read a speech on behalf of all Commonwealth children to the Queen of England and other British and Zambian government leaders at the 1979 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Lusaka.

Education

She started nursery school at Kilimani Primary School in Nairobi, Kenya, where her father worked as communications director for the All Africa Conference of Churches. She later attended Northmead and Woodlands primary schools briefly, then Lusaka Girls Primary School, and later Leopards Hill Secondary School.

At age 17, after completing high school, she walked into the then Zambia Broadcasting Service (now ZNBC) to plead for a job but they could not hire her because of her age and inexperience. Because she was persistent, she was put in a pool of about ten candidates. All the others at the interview were journalism college graduates who laughed off her chances. Little did they know that she had been practicing for the job in front of the mirror for five years and they were all stunned when she got the job.

Professional career

Maureen began her broadcasting career at the age of 18 as a continuity presenter at ZNBC in 1986 -- all the while begging her bosses to let her do the news which was the preserve of 'the veterans' at the station. Then one day the news presenter did not show up on time and she asked them to let her read the news which they reluctantly allowed her to. The news was watched by virtually everyone in the country including President Kenneth Kaunda. When she concluded the take, her director was ecstatic with her performance. Having noticed her evident talent, the station invested in Maureen by sending her for formal training.

After resigning from ZNBC, Maureen later to joined BOP (Bophuthatswana) television as an executive producer and presenter where she became their lead TV anchor of the flagship programme, Panorama, for which she won a Marang award. BOP TV was one of the first commercial television stations in Africa in 1984. Bophuthatswana was a self-governing homeland within South Africa during the apartheid era.

“It’s also worth mentioning that moving to BOP TV was quite timely. I would have resigned from ZNBC, anyway, due to the rampant sexual harassment I was going through from some of my bosses,” she reveals. After studying for her master’s degree, she worked for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) as chief international correspondent and TV news anchor. It was through her elaborate work as a roving reporter, covering civil war and conflicts, elections, humanitarian and developmental issues that Maureen was head-hunted by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 2001 to work as their Africa specialist and presenter of the flagship programme, Focus on Africa. Yes, in case you are marvelling, BBC is a past and present phenomenon. It is the first and largest national broadcasting network in the world headquartered in London. Six years later, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) appointed Maureen as regional communications adviser for east and southern Africa. And after nearly four years at the UNDP, Maureen was again head-hunted in 2012, by the African Union’s NEPAD agency as head of communications. In December 2014, she came back home to Zambia, where she is working for the World Bank as a senior communications expert.

Personal life

Later in her teenage life, Maureen met and got engaged to Zambia's soccer legend and former Football Association of Zambia president, Kalusha Bwalya who was based in Belgium at that time. Together they had a daughter, Tamela, but their relationship did not last long. She was in her teens and he was 23; they were young and the public attention also put a strain on them.

Maureen has three children.

Capture in Congo DR

t's 1998 in the outskirts of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The commandant, who is now heavily intoxicated with drugs and cheap liquor, grabs Maureen Nkandu by the arm and tells her that he is ready to have a 'good time' with her. Victor, the cameraman, is in tears. He pleads with their aggressor to let her go claiming that Maureen has a terrible disease that makes her shake and sweat all the time. Miraculously, he backs down but minutes later they are locked up in a damp dark cell littered with human faeces.

"I was working for the SABC and had gone to interview Laurent Kabila at the height of the civil war following a rebellion in the east," Maureen recalls as we sit poolside at her Sunninghill residence. "We happened to catch on camera some of his security forces beating up innocent people which is what landed us in trouble."

That evening, the SABC reported on the evening news that its crew was missing in Kinshasa. Shortly after, the BBC picked up the story and before long, it became international news which led to their eventual release and repatriation.

Maureen was head hunted in 1993 by BOP TV in the former Bophutatswana in South Africa for their flagship programme Panorama. She did the show for a year before heading to the University of Wales to pursue a Masters degree in Journalism. Afterwards she travelled around Europe, doing freelance work for Radio Netherlands International and later lecturing part time at the Danish School of Journalism.

"On completing my studies I joined the public relations department at MNET and did some field reporting for Carte Blanche. In 1997 I joined the SABC where I used to read the 5p.m. news and later became quite involved in covering stories on the rest of the African continent."

While in Zambia and at BOP, Maureen had won various journalism awards and her fearless reporting at the SABC attracted more praise and recognition. The BBC Africa Service noticed her work and offered her a position as presenter and producer of the flagship Focus on Africa programme.

She returned to South Africa in 2007, citing fatigue from the western lifestyle.

"I felt that I had a greater role to play on my continent by being here and not in London."

Maureen returned to the SABC, when she reported on the volatile elections in Kenya in December 2007. She brought out the key political and social aspects of the tension in Kenya, while also showcasing how the violence and all the flawed processes impacted on the people there.

She then decided it was time to hang up the notebook and microphone and took up a senior position at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as communications adviser for east and southern Africa, a role she served in until May 2012 when she joined the NEPAD Agency of the African Union as Head of Communications.

"I enjoy living in South Africa because it is a mixed basket of life. The diversity is amazing and a great lesson to the rest of the world on how so many different people can co-exist. The cosmopolitan place that Johannesburg is makes it a great city, although there are still a lot of challenges to overcome. I travel regularly to Zambia for work and to visit my family."

In spite of having interviewed many influential individuals including sitting African presidents, her hallmarks were when the stories she brought to the fore had resonance, when they had an impact on people's lives and the information that she reported helped them make better decisions. She believes this is still the case with her communications responsibilities at international organisations.

"I have been blessed all my life to achieve that which I set out for. That is God's great plan for me. Without mincing my words, I see myself in the highest office on the land, be it nationally in Zambia or in an international organisation. I am keen on servant leadership and not the prestige of these positions. I think I could really effect change, being an African woman who has travelled and lived around the world and has had first-hand experience in issues of poverty, under-development, human rights violations, prejudice, opulence and dictatorship. I believe I have a greater understanding of the fundamental issues to serve at the highest level of leadership."

Maureen confesses that she has a few profound regrets which she will reveal in a book about her life that she hopes to pen at the appropriate moment.

External links

• Zambia Daily Mail
• The African Professional