Nimrod joins search for lost fathers

Published Sep 15, 2015

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Zola has stepped down from hosting Utatakho due to a heavy schedule and in his place is the animated Nimrod Nkosi ( pictured) We tried to start the conversation on a light note, talking about how Nkosi is from Lotto and the voice behind those e.tv weekend movies.

“I am the Lotto guy, but you are not the first person to think that I am the voice-over guy who talks about those Chuck Norris movies,” he chuckled.

“I don’t do voice-overs at all and I don’t even know who that guy is,” he added.

This is the typical Nkosi that we know. A happy chap who could so easily be a toothpaste company poster boy with his ever ready smile. But there is nothing to laugh about on Utatakho, where he and his crew go around country helping people track down their fathers.

“I think, as men, we need to account for the lives that we bring into this world. It’s just an obvious thing to me. It doesn’t matter who we are or where we are from because problems don’t choose class. We have many fatherless households. Other people may frown upon the people who go to TV to find their fathers, but you don’t know how it feels to be rejected all your life,” he said.

In the short time that he has spent on the show so far, Nkosi is struggling to keep his emotions in check because of the heavy subject matter.

“It has been a real eye-opener for me. I struggle to stay unconnected to the people that we talk to because these are real stories. I have been in situations where there has been tears and I have to break away from the camera and also shed some of my own. The thing is, this is not scripted. These are people’s lives and so the pain is real. The real challenge is getting home and switching off all that happened at work. I can’t bring that energy home,” he said.

Nkosi has also learned that the stories behind fatherless households are not as straight-forward as they initially appear.

“I think something happens which makes people split and the children are just collateral damage. There is also issues where people try to do things in the dark and the children that come out of that bear the shame so the fathers flee.” he said.

 

l Utatakho airs on Mzansi Magic (DStv channel 161) every Tuesday at 7.30pm.

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