Inspired: Anorth Mabunda posing outside the Rhodes Journalism Department.
Most Journalism students aspire to reporters, sports journalists, magazine journalists, investigative journalists. However, few aspire to be press ombudsmen – arguably the toughest job in the media.
Twenty-four year old Anorth Mabunda is an exception. He attributes his desire to be an ombudsman to the values he learnt in his childhood.
The tall, lanky Mabunda describes his childhood in Tzaneen as challenging. His parents divorced when he was nine and he feels that this greatly affected his childhood. “What I would change about my childhood would be to have both of my parents in one household,” he said.
He believes that growing with an abusive stepmom made him critical and pessimistic but it ultimately also made him a strong person.
Mabunda, the middle child of three children, wanted to be a lawyer whilst growing up and in his spare time, he enjoyed rapping with his friends. “I would always be freestyling with my friends in the corner,” he adds. He enjoyed socialising but he had no core group of friends while growing up.
He also did karate and he believes this instilled discipline, and focus in him. Despite attending a “ghetto” high school, Mabunda was not swayed by the violence and partying he witnessed from his high school colleagues. “I’ve always had natural ethics. I was not easily affected by what people around were doing around me,” he said.
Key to being an ombudsman is objectivity and a strong sense of right and wrong. Anorth’s inherent values, enthusiasm and strength of character will make him a great ombudsman one day. Watch this space!
