by Thinus Ferreira
A doyenne of South African current affairs television, Devi Sankaree Govender will be making her debut on Friday on e.tv and eNCA (DStv 403) when her new TV show, DEVI, launches on e.tv at 18:30 and on eNCA (DStv 403) at 20:30.
The highly-respected Devi Sankaree Govender left the Sunday night actuality show Carte Blanche on M-Net (DStv 101) in late-January after 18 years to start a new chapter in her life since her kids have grown up.
Since then, Devi had to deal with the devastating impact of Covid-19 as well as the death of her mother to cancer during the national lockdown period, things that led her to somewhat rethink her original show plan she had before this Friday's TV return.
Antonio Lee, eMedia Investments COO, says that they're "delighted to welcome Devi to the eMedia family and look forward to the dynamism she brings. Devi remains one of the country's most accomplished journalists and presenters. She will add great value to an already strong line-up on both e.tv and eNCA".
"Using her trademark unique sense of humour and straight-talking approach, Devi will continue to "fight the good fight while taking viewers into the lives of extraordinary guests".
She says that "the Covid-19 pandemic has created panic and negativity. This show isn't going to add to the gloom. Instead my team and I are creating 30 minutes of in your face Friday night television. You will be outraged. You will laugh. You will be inspired while we keep it very real."
"I'm looking forward to getting back on the road chasing crooks. I'm really looking forward to that. I'm also looking forward to shaping something in a way that I see it for myself," Devi tells TVwithThinus.
About the past two months and spending more time with her kids at home, Devi says "it's been fantastic but it's also been really challenging. There are 4 of us in our family, and my daughter plays golf and she finished matric last year, so we've always had a system - a system we've all worked with for the last 15 years. But we were never all always at home at the same time."
"So what's really nice for me is that over the past couple of months I am not complaining that I have my immediate children under my roof. It's been challenging though in trying to keep the kids motivated because if you don't leave the house, it's quite easy to become stuck in some kind of a rut."
"The challenging part is all of us learning to navigate and to learn to live with each other all of the time and then my mom passed away and to have that happen to you in the middle of a pandemic and to also deal with that - and her funeral was a whole other story because it was in another province - it was really hard."
'The dream my mother had for me keeps me going'
"When someone becomes ill, you've got to deal with it as family members as part of a support structure, especially with ageing parents. You are responsible for absolutely everything and then add distance to the equation and then you've got a really difficult thing to deal with," says Devi Sankaree Govender.
"For me, it was a case of my mom's illness, combined with the fact that I'm on a new TV channel, my original show idea isn't going to work because of Covid-19 and social distancing, I need to keep agile and adapt, my kids need mentoring and I need to keep them motivated."
"You know what you do? I think there's a part of you that just keeps the focus on what needs to be done. And my mother was always so supportive of what I did. I just keep reminding myself that there's no way that I can just collapse into a heap. I can't do that."
"People always say 'be strong, be strong'. People don't know what 'be strong' means until you have to go through something like this," says Devi.
"It was really, really tough. It's only a month since my mom's death but it's also so important for me the dream that my mother had, and the dream she supported, and that's what has kept me focused and keeps me going".
About caring for someone with cancer, Devi says if there is something she's learnt, it is to "put your own oxygen mask on first" - the analogy of airlines telling adults to put on their oxygen masks first in case of an emergency and to take care of themselves before they help children or other people, since the other way around might lead to both going unconscious with neither available to help each other.
"With cancer and dealing with a loved one, there will be nothing left of you if you don't ensure that you look after yourself."
