10 Interesting Facts You May Not Have Known About The Late Bob Mabena
10 Interesting Facts You May Not Have Known About The Late Bob Mabena. The year 2020 keeps getting worse. So far we have lost quite a number of our personalities. The likes of veteran TV host and actress Vinoliah Mashego, actors Sipho Ngema, Charles Maja and Jovan Muthray, veteran actresses, Candy Moloi and May Twala are just some of the stars we recently lost.
The latest one to meet his untimely death is Bob Mabena. The veteran broadcaster sadly passed away on Monday at the age of 51 from cardiac arrest. By the time of his death, Mabena was working at MSG Afrika as station manager of POWER 98.7 and hosted the POWER Breakfast Show with Faith Mangope.
Learn more about him from the 19 facts below;
1. Bob Mabena’s first job was a stock taker at OK Bazaars on Van der Walt Street (now Lilian Ngoyi) in central Pretoria.
2. He started his music career at a club called Tserama in his hometown of Atteridgeville where he became a DJ. It became so much of a distraction that he missed two papers for his matric.
3. The veteran radio host started his Radio career in 1989 at Radio Bop when he was just 19 years. He landed the coveted afternoon drive show on the station, and so began his conquest of the entertainment space.
4. After spending three years at Radio Bop, he was recruited by the founding Station Manager of Radio Metro, Koos Radebe.
5. For over three decades of his career, Mabena has worked for Highveld Stereo, Kaya FM, Power FM among other major and established media houses.
6. Mabena’s stint at Radio Metro brought with it more national exposure in the form of, major TV shows like Surf Pick a Box game show and the hugely popular Studio Mix with Melanie Son (now Bala).
7. Mabena was also a businessman of note. He owned popular Newtown restaurant Capello’s with his cousin and former Bafana goalkeeper Brian Baloyi before it went bankrupt.
8. He was married to business woman Zandi Nzalo for nearly 20 years and divorced her in 2009. Mabena then got engaged former SABC 1 presenter Zandi Nhlapo. The two later separated but have a child together.
9. Mabena married his wife Eucharist Hadebe in 2015 after dating for two years. The couple had their firstborn baby boy in 2016
10. Bob is survived by his wife, Eucharist and seven children.
