A 12-year-old who never let go of her dream and is now a household name.
After two decades of chasing news, Chriselda Lewis is back in the classroom, now chasing assignment deadlines. Wits University was always her dream institution, but her parents could not afford to pay for the fees, so now she is paying her own way.
Born and bred in Mthata, Eastern Cape, where opportunities are scarce, Lewis was fortunate that her primary school came to her rescue.
“I was told that I was a shy kid; however, at the age of 12 years old there was a television scout that came to my school. My teacher selected me to become a children’s show presenter on Transkei Broadcasting Corporation.”
The moment she stood in front of the camera, she knew exactly what she wanted to be: “I liked the lights, I liked the camera, and I thought this is exactly what I’m going to become.”
Lewis completed her undergraduate studies in 2002 at Border Technikon, now known as Walter Sisulu University. After completing her studies, she began her career as an intern at The Sowetan in 2003.
“Working at The Sowetan was very challenging, as it was where I applied everything I had learned in tertiary education. It was also exciting because I had the opportunity to work with veteran journalists who had worked during the apartheid era, such as John Dludlu,” she said.
‘While I may not remember the first story I worked on at The Sowetan, I do remember cracking my first big story in 2004. One of them was the kidnapping and murder of university student Leigh Matthews,” she says.
As her career progressed from The Sowetan, she went on to work at the South African Press Association, followed by Talk Radio 702, then the SABC, where she made her first television appearance on SABC Africa.
In 2023, Lewis won the Journalist of the Year award in the Television: In-Depth/ Features/ Interviews category. Other career highlights include her coverage of the fall of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, the Oscar Pistorius trial and reporting on the earthquake in Türkiye-Syria.
Lewis always wanted to return to school, but never got the opportunity because her work life is demanding:
“As I speak to you, I’m in Bloemfontein to cover the memorial service of the police officers whose bodies were found in the Hennops River. Due to workload and insane working hours, I just never thought I’d find the opportunity to go back to school”.
Lewis says despite having 22 years of experience in her field, it doesn’t hurt to equip herself with better skills so that one day she can be a leader in the newsroom, and to do so, she must equip herself with the necessary qualifications.
But being back in the classroom hasn’t been easy. “If you give me a report I can do it for you, if you want me on TV, I can do it. I’ve moved into a different terrain doing academic writings which is a scary process,” she says.
When asked to share wisdom for aspiring journalists, Chriselda says, “This is not child’s play! Journalism is hard work; it is long hours. You are not going to survive if you don’t love this job. You have to love what you do!”
FEATURED IMAGE: Chriselda Lewis standing outside of the Wits Centre for Journalism. Photo: Dikeledi Ramabula
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