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Dineo quits YFM for "a break"

YFM afternoon drive show host Dineo Ranaka has quit radio, calling it a break.

Ranaka, who hosted Dineo Live On Drive, is leaving the station after five years in what she calls a break from radio.

The marriage between the two parties comes to an end on Friday, March 30.

She is due to be replaced by Tholi B, whose real name is Rofhiwa Bologo.

Bologo currently hosts Room 69 weekdays between 6pm and 9pm .

However, according to Sowetan's sister newspaper, Sunday World, Ranaka was axed because of a series of bad press, part of which brought the station intodisrepute.

Ranaka's news that she was leaving YFM came as a shock to her more than 100,000 Twitter fans.

One fan said: "You never leave radio. You take a break."

Her hell ride started when the Club 808 presenter last year when a weekend newspaper reported that she was taken off air because she had a nervous breakdown.

In February last year, Ranaka had an on-air breakdown and her content producer Bujy and co-host Linda Mbuso deputised for her.

Later, she sobbed uncontrollably for a reported two hours, allegedly over being denied an opportunity to attend the popular J&B Met in Cape Town.

At some point, Ranaka was ordered to seek rehabilitation or lose her YFM gig.

It soon turned out that her woozy behaviour could have been linked to a brain-related chronic illness caused by stress and hypertension, known as hypothyroidism.

Ranaka was born in 1983 and also has a clothing label called Luvdr.

In September 2010, a cat fight ensued between her and singer Kelly Khumalo during the rehearsals for the YFM and Chevrolet Divas party, which was seemingly provoked by a typical diva behaviour: Khumalo arriving extremely late for the preparations.

Speaking through her manager Vaughn Easton, Ranaka said she felt she had done all that she could on radio for the time being and believed it was time to reinvent herself as an entertainer.

"It's time for me to transform to my full potential and allow my fans to fully enjoy me as a talent.

"I would like an opportunity to fully explore my other talents that I have been blessed with, which require time and energy.

"It has been an awesome and interesting journey," she said in a statement.

Ranaka said it had been a fruitful stay on radio over the years and there was "no better time than now" for her and YFM to part ways.

The pleasant news about Ranaka though is that she is a:

* Brand ambassador for the Department of Basic Education;

* Brand ambassador for Joburg Pride, the annual gay and lesbian public awareness campaign, for which she consults on their overall look and feel, as well as their annual theme;

* Brand ambassador for Key Change Music, an Australian/South African non-profit organisation that uses music to create positive social change, with a focus on the education of young people; and is a

* Campaigner for school fundraisers for public schools.

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