Newshound whose bite still beats her bark

THIS is her time of milestones and especially of gratitude. She emphasises the latter. Earlier this year, Melanie Rice turned 50.

Twenty-five years ago, she was part of the team that broadcast the first evening news bulletin on e.tv. Today the 8pm bulletin has 1.8 million viewers. She is the creator and executive producer of Judge for Yourself with retired judge Dennis Davis. The programme is almost 20 years old.

One would think she would be all fluffed furs and feathers like a puffed-up peacock, but no. In an environment where narcissism and big egos grow thick like weeds, there is no hint of it.

A few minutes after editing Judge for Yourself, she turns up for our appointment at Bacini in Kloof Street, where she and her sister Catherine Rice are regulars. Catherine is also a journalist.

She says at the entrance: “I am so nervous about this interview. Listen, my life is very ordinary. I'm no Grace Jones! If you think it's going to be a boring interview, don't feel bad if you want to drop it."

Never in my life have I heard of such a thing. This is how I know her — she is more obsessed with ethical journalism and telling the truth than with herself.

Years ago when I worked with her at e.tv, I helped to market a new soap opera from the station by placing a short insert in the news bulletin. She came to my office shortly afterwards and kindly mentioned that no one should interfere with the news and especially not for marketing purposes.

“She has always been like this," says Catherine. “Already when she was 16, she wanted to enter the world of journalism, especially TV. Melanie always had a strong sense of fairness.

“She protected me on the playground at school. I was bullied and she was always there for me. She was the ‘big sister' even though she was only 14 months older than me.

“She also has no time for people who feel sorry for themselves or are lazy. Melanie will say, ‘Put your big girl panties on and get on with it.'" 

I experienced Melanie's defenceless side too. Years ago when we were colleagues at e.tv, we often spent time together during a bosberaad. She was worried about her profession and the way forward. I became intensely aware of her passion and vulnerability.

But as profile writer Murray La Vita recently wrote, “Keep yourself out of the interview."

The conversation jumps around. Melanie grew up in Rondebosch. Her mother, Marjory, was a teacher. Her father is Butch Rice, co-founder of Research Surveys, a consumer research company.

“My father was also a drummer in a band that regularly performed at the Mount Nelson. Sometimes he had five jobs," says Melanie.

He taught mathematics and statistics at the University of Cape Town. “We children have acquired a good work ethic from both parents. My mother, for example, did her postgraduate degree in remedial teaching, and when I finished matric she graduated cum laude.

“But they also made sure that the family went for an hour's walk on the mountain together every Sunday, so that we could laugh and talk as a family. Or we went to Muizenberg beach to boogie board."

She started her studies at the University of Stellenbosch, where she completed an honours in English. In one undergraduate history exam, she fell asleep because she had drunk too much Bioplus the night before. After flunking the module, her father said she had to pay back the R900 tuition fee. She didn't have the money and had to spend the December holidays filing in his company's basement.

“It was horrible. All my friends were frolicking in the sun and I had to work," she says. She never failed again.

While studying for her master's degree in journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago, she travelled home for a holiday. One night she and friends went out drinking until 4am and when she got home her father was waiting for her.

“Your mother and I were crazy with worry, you know the curfew is 2am," he said. “I was like, excuse me, I'm grown-up now, I'm studying abroad, what the hell?"

“No, if you live under our roof you stick to our rules," he replied. “Actually I loved it, you knew there were boundary lines. To this day, they are Catherine and mine's biggest supporters and critics. But with constructive criticism.

“When Catherine reported on the radio, they listened to the broadcast and gave feedback," says Melanie. “To this day, I get a call from my parents after every news broadcast on TV. My mother is known as the fashion police and will say, ‘Your hair, it was so flat!'

“My father will give compliments or maybe suggest one or two points where I could have improved. I have told them had I not been raised so well, I would have been crushed. Then we would laugh, because I know everything is meant well."

Melanie doesn't let the flu or other pains keep her off the air either. She shows up for work even though she might feel like a cripple.

“When we were at school we had to be very, very sick before we could stay at home," says Melanie. The ambulance would have to be waiting outside.

She even broadcast live from her home for a while during Covid-19. “I had to tell the children and the dogs that there was going to be big trouble if one of them made a noise. I'm going to kill them.

“All worked out well until the neighbours' teenagers started playing doef-doef music, but at least we sorted it out amicably. But it was quite challenging because I had to learn all my words by heart, there was no teleprompter."

How did she end up at e.tv? When Melanie's Chicago studies ended, she heard that a new free-to-air TV station was being launched. She immediately applied and was accepted. They were rigorously trained by veterans from CNN.

“I was part of a small group which included TV news stalwarts San Reddy, Jane Dutton, Ayesha Ismail and Debora Patta," she says.

Her first story was about the successful separation of conjoined twins at Red Cross Children's Hospital in Cape Town. Several challenging stories followed, including one about a paedophile who lived in an alley on Long Street and molested homeless children.

He was out on bail and she and her sister caught him on camera as he continued to lure defenceless children to his home. His bail was revoked and he had to go back to prison.

Then there was the helicopter that crashed on the roof of an office building in Cape Town city centre. “We were on the scene within moments of the accident in the early hours of the morning (I still had my pyjamas on under my jersey)," she says. “The helicopter exploded and all four men in it died."

She covered the Sizzlers massacre, the trials of triple axe murderer Henri van Breda and Dawid “Doggy Dog" Ruiters and his gang. “As a young reporter, I followed Pagad early in the urban terror campaign.

“There were probably hundreds of high-profile murder trials, and most of our local and national elections. I've met many of our presidents, run from bullets and hidden in trees to get the perfect shots and angles," she says.

Today she hosts the 8pm news with sports presenter Tapfuma Makina. “We get along really well and he teases me during the commercials. He must share all recognition with me."

With 1.8 million viewers every evening, one can only add that they are both riding the crest of the wave.

Still, there were hard times. Melanie always wanted to have children. She decided to say goodbye to the media. Within four years she had three little ones.

“I wanted to spend time with them while they were still very small, and I did too. But I wanted to go back to what I had dreamt about already at the age of 16 — journalism.

“Getting work in the media again was not easy. I was also unsure if I could be a mother who had three children, a husband and a job.

“Tessa van Staden at Cape Talk offered me a programme, but from midnight to 3am. I had to start all over again.

“And would you believe my parents listened to that too! My confidence was shattered and I told Tessa I couldn't do it, I didn't have it in me any more. I'm too bad. It's better if I go.

“She called in announcer Africa Melane and asked me to tell him what I had told her. His answer was, ‘This too shall pass.'

“I quickly learned that you can raise children and work. Working women started opening doors for me. Listen, women can do several things. We multi-task.

“Don't think we are helpless. When I started working again, one of my daughters (she was still small) said: ‘But mum, women don't work.' I showed her that I could and I could be a mother too. My children had no idea of my past life, they were too young.

“Soon I had fallen back in with e.tv and I started to find pieces of self-confidence like a puzzle that had just been put together. Women who take time off to raise children must push through when they start working again. Don't feel inferior, even if you start at the bottom again."

Her day starts at 6am when her husband, David Dalling, brings her coffee and rusks in bed.

“He packs the children's food for the time being, but actually they are now old enough to do it themselves. I take the girls to school and he takes our son. Then I go for an hour's walk with my friends on Table Mountain. Then home and the day begins.

“I have to call guests for Judge for Yourself, read everything that's going on in the world, do editing, there's no time for dilly-dallying.

“Later in the day I see the children and at 5pm I arrive at the studio. I start honing and writing texts and stories. We work as a team. Make-up and hair are done and I have to dress stylishly. We rehearse the news.

“At 8pm the light goes on, I turn to the camera and the news starts. Radio is more intimate, I feel like I'm talking to just one person. But when you look into the camera, you see in your mind's eye the people who watch and listen to the news."

***

How did she come to host  Judge for Yourself? Almost 20 years ago, Melanie heard that Davis was somewhere in the e.tv building, or that a programme was being planned with him.

She ran to the chiefs and told them she had been a big fan of his previous show, Future Imperfect. “I would do anything," she told them. “Make coffee, sweep floors."

They made her the executive producer and almost two decades later they are still on air. The ethos of the programme is to educate people about the constitution, but not in a condescending way. It is more like a conversation with viewers.

“Complicated ideas and concepts are clarified by Dennis, who is also an excellent professor and still teaches," says Melanie. “Over the years we have become close friends and we go for walks in the Newlands forest and discuss the next programme. He is like a mentor to me. I can't stop learning from him.

“He also confirmed me and my husband, David, when we got married. What a privilege."

She laughs as she remembers that they didn't have chairs for the first episode. “I had to rush home and get my own chairs. We had to improvise. It was so exciting. Ex-minister Trevor Manuel was our very first guest."

At 2.30pm she glances at her watch. “My daughter, she plays netball, I have to go and watch." Woerts and she was gone.

Later I received a photo of her daughter on court. Her message: “I made it in time for my daughter's netball game. So all in all, a brilliant day so far.”

***

On Melanie's father's birthday, she posted this message to him on Facebook:  “Throughout my life, my parents have listened to and watched just about every piece of work I’ve ever produced. (Including the midnight to 3am radio shows when I was just getting started).

“My folks are always my last call on my way home from work. Our final debrief of the day. Their unconditional support is the reason for everything good in my life. My dad’s birthday is an opportunity for me to publicly say how unbelievably lucky and grateful I am to grow up with a dad like mine who loves, protects and supports all of us so fiercely.

“A man who brought us up to pass down the work ethic, generosity and humanity that he has. I love you, Pappi. Happy Birthday! We will celebrate in our usual style with a mad, crazy family gathering with you surrounded by all of us who love you so much.”

♦ VWB ♦

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