5 Breakfast

19-year-old Jonella Sibiya, a business owner that owns a tuckshop in her hometown village 

She was named in the shadow of a hill before climbing one herself, Learned harmony in rooms built to manufacture British pop futures, Then spent years behind other voices before the foreground finally found her.

What happened on this day in history.

BUZZWORD:  LAY

Each day a buzzword is announced, and 5 questions are asked to a listener, all of which will contain
the buzzword.

This morning on Game On: Woza Weekend, Xoli is joined by Proteas wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta; fresh off a major honour at the Cricket South Africa Awards.

Sinalo has just received the Makhaya Ntini: Power of Cricket Award, an award that recognises players whose journeys speak to perseverance, humility, resilience and the transformative power of cricket. And for Sinalo, this one is deeply personal, because Makhaya Ntini is also the reason she first picked up a cricket bat.

Her story stretches from East London to the Proteas, across all three formats, with Sinalo becoming one of South African cricket’s most respected athletes; a wicketkeeper, batter, World Cup finalist, and someone whose impact now goes far beyond the boundary through her SJ10 Foundation, where she mentors and uplifts young people through sport.

So this is a conversation about cricket, yes; but also about resilience, representation, Women’s Month, bouncing back, and what it means to use sport to open doors for the next generation.

She was given a heavenly name because of an elephant, Learned to disappear first through ballet, then beneath somebody else’s face, And eventually won gold while wearing a nose history remembered better than hers.