Redi Tlhabi née Direko; born 1978 is a South African journalist, producer, author and a former radio presenter. She presented The Redi Tlhabi Show on Radio 702 for over a decade. Her broadcasting career spans years spent at Kaya FM, being a newscaster for the SABC and later, eMedia Holdings owned eNews Channel Africa, eNCA.
Tlhabi has an Honours degree in Political Economy and English Literature. She has been a television and radio journalist for the SABC and eTV.
After 12 years of working for 702, a radio station in South Africa, Tlhabi announced her departure at the station. She was set to leave for the USA for a fellowship. She has since postponed her move to America.
Controversy
In 2013, Tlhabi won the Alan Paton Award for her book, Endings and Beginnings. The book describes Tlhabi’s relationship with a notorious gangster as she was growing up, after the death of her father. Tlhabi claims that she changed the names of the characters, but the mother of a gangster of the same name claims that the names are accurate but is disputing some of the facts in the book.
Personal life
Tlhabi married Brian Tlhabi, a medical practitioner, in 2010.
She is the stepmother of comedian Lesego Tlhabi.