Edward Tsumele

Edward Tsumele

Veteran broadcaster Tim Modise is returning to the SABC as the host of the popular current affairs programme AM Live.

"Internationally and domestically there are massive changes under way," Modise said. "There is the global financial market meltdown, the changing international political landscape and recent developments in South African politics.

"These are some of the reasons for my return to journalism. I chose to return to the SABC because it is ideally placed to provide the full story of these developments.

"I share the corporation's commitment to providing balanced, contextualised, critical and in-depth coverage."

Modise, who has resigned from the 2010 World Cup local organising committee, will co-host AM Live with Tsepiso Makwetla from the first of next month.

Makwetla has made a name for herself by single-handedly hosting this slot before recently partnering with Xolani Gwala, another comeback kid at the SABC.

Modise will also anchor the After Eight Debate, another hot slot dealing with burning political issues of the week.

Gwala, who had a stint in Israel at a new station there, will move to PM Live .

Modise is one of a crop of SABC radio presenters who have grown from being DJs to presenters, with the ability and capacity to facilitate serious radio discourse ranging from business and politics to arts and culture.

He began his broadcasting career at the then Channel 702 in 1980 and has worked in a wide range of media, including Radio Bop, Metro FM, Carte Blanche and SABC2.

Earlier in the decade he played a key role in establishing SAfm as one of the primary news and information sources for South Africans.

He left the SABC in 2002 to pursue other broadcasting interests and eventually joined the 2010 Fifa World Cup local organising committee.

SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said the AM Liveslot "is just like other breakfast slots".

"It needs two people and so by bringing in Modise we are reinforcing the team."