by Thinus Ferreira
Leanne Manas has just marked two decades on the air as anchor of SABC2's Morning Live show since she joined on 1 August 2004.
Leanne Manas joined the late Vuyo Mbuli and replaced temporary co-anchor Michelle Garforth who sat in after Tracy Going abruptly left, 20 years ago this month.
Leanne Manas remarked that she now has a "little fuller, more eyebrows" than 20 years ago.
Looking back at a clip of her first day's first broadcast, Leanne Manas on the show she now co-anchors with Sakina Kamwendo, said she remembers "being so nervous".
"I was starstruck because this was Vuyo Mbuli. You aspired to be next to him. I never in my wildest dreams, ever, ever believed that I would still be sitting here."
Leanne Manas revealed that Morning Live for her "was going to be a short stint. Because of the mornings. I don't like the mornings. And broadcasting is short stints. You never stay. You don't do that. But something happened. Something happened and it just became bigger than me. And it always has been and it always will be."
She explained that Morning Live and the SABC, before the advent of the digital era, "had a fax machine in the office and you'd ask the question of the day, and say 'send us your views'. They then had to fax it through to the office, and then you'd read the answers the next day".
"So nothing was immediate about it. There were no cellphones. We couldn't take selfies. There was no Twitter, there was no Instagram, there was nothing. Facebook came around but that was about it. So we had fax machines."
About Sakina Kamwendo joining as co-anchor six years ago, Leanne Manas said "when we came together here it was a brilliant turnaround. The one thing that people have always said about Morning Live is the consistency of it. You become a family. And when that consistency gels with a brilliant partnership, then you know you're in for success".
