Fashion week may have led to Maloka’s firing
Motrale has hit rock bottom at Gauteng youth station YFM following the firing of manager Greg Maloka this week.
Staff at the troubled station have rallied behind Maloka, their long-serving leader and also one of its founders.
Maloka was given the boot on Tuesday afternoon together with Kim Thipe, head of marketing and associate publisher of Y Magazine.
Insiders at the station claim that DJs and the staff are upset and that morale is low since the sacking of Maloka, who was a major figure behind the YFM success story over the past nine years.
“Greg has done a lot for the station over the years, people are upset but are afraid to come forward for fear of losing their jobs. The news came as a shock to us and we feel that Greg has done a lot for YFM.
“He grew up in the township and understood the brand very well. “The station has also gained over 200 000 listners in the past two months. I feel we were on the right track,” said a DJ who did not want to be named.
The station has over one million listeners. Maloka refused to be drawn into the matter, saying it was too early to make any public statements because of legal implications. “I will come back to you to give you my side of the matter as soon as I am ready,” he said.
It’s alleged that the misuse of funds is the root of the problem. But sources at the station claim that Maloka’s dismissal was fuelled by the staging of the Cape Town Fashion Week, which he was apparently warned not to go ahead with.
YFM were media sponsors of the event.
The event gives a platform to budding fashion designers and YFM has been supporting it, leading to the discovery of labels like Loxion Culcha and Magents clothing range.
YFM staff were told on Tuesday afternoon that Maloka and Thipe would be leaving at the end of the week.
The announcement was made by Kanthan Pillay, the station’s stand-in general manager and head of African operations for e.tv.
YFM and e.tv are both owned by a company called Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI), of which Marcel Golding is the chairperson.
Pillay is running the station from his e.tv office in Craighall until a new station manager is appointed.
“I can`t give you any concrete information at this stage. There was a process to deal with the matter until this decision was reached.
“We are not hiding anything. I will be acting as station manager until the YFM board makes the final decision,” Pillay said.

Source: City Press – Welcome Skosana