By Monwabisi Jimlongo
It’s like sweet music to the ear to hear that one of the most experienced sport commentators in South Africa, Mthuthuzeli Scott, is going to do football commentary on television.
The news of the veteran Umhlobo Wenenefm commentator’s transition from radio to TV was announced on Friday ahead of the start of the 2023/24 season.
Fun, witty and humorous, Cradock-born Scott is definitely going to spice up TV football commentary with humour in an effort to make sure that there won’t be any dull moments for viewers at home.
Scott, who has a knack to crack jokes while busy doing commentary, was inspired by the late Radio Xhosa sport commentator Given ‘Om Givie’ Ntlebi and legendary broadcaster Peter ‘PV’ Bacela.
A former rugby player, who quit the game after an inebriated motorist drove his car into a scrum while Scott was playing for his local club in Dobsonville, he started doing dummy commentaries while he was at Sada Higher Primary School in the Eastern Cape. And Scott continued with his dummy commentaries at Mhlotshana High School where he passed matric (Grade 12).
His big break in radio sport commentary came in 1987 after the late Radio Xhosa sport commentator Makhosandile Ndzishe had asked for his help. And Scott, who is a fourth born in a family of six children, has never looked back since.
The father of one is a versatile commentator, who is equally at home whether he works in a football, rugby, athletics or boxing production.
He was at ringside doing commentary when Vuyani ‘The Beast’ Bungu dethroned American Kennedy McKinney to win the International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior-featherweight crown at the Carousel Casino in Hammanskraal on 20 August 1994.
Scott’s versatility has not gone unnoticed as he was inducted into the SAB Hall of Fame and he also received a special award from the Eastern Cape provincial government for promoting isiXhosa in sport.
That Scott has transitioned to TV does not mean that he would be lost to radio. His voice will still be heard on radio as he’ll continue doing commentary on Umhlobo Wenenefm.
