Ester Nontsikelelo Baatjies had already decided how the story would end.
“Honestly, I have been doing radio for so long without being seen and I told myself this is my last year. My tenth year will be my final year on radio. I said if nothing shows up or if I don’t get any callback after knocking on so many doors then maybe I was not meant to do this,” she says. Then she argued with herself.
“Let me put myself out there more because I couldn’t believe that I’m not that good. I know I’m immensely talented and I have the intellectual capacity to be even greater.”
2026 Woman in Radio Finalist, Ester Baatjies
Baatjies had watched gsport from Bloemfontein for years, a long way from the newsrooms that hand out opportunities. She caught a repeat of the gsport Awards on television. “I said, ‘this thing belongs to Kass?!!’ and I immediately asked myself, how do I get into this room?”
Getting into the room took two attempts. A friend working in the SuperSport technical department told her about a nomination link. “We looked for it until we found it and Willow nominated me, but I didn’t make it. I thought ‘Eish, maybe these things are not for me,’ because I had never put myself up for any awards before.”
This year, with her own deadline running down, she nominated herself.
“When I saw myself as a finalist I said, I knew it! I knew I’m really good. It validated that I should maybe not give up on radio yet. It was kind of like a bet on myself.”
The bet paid in a currency she had not budgeted for. gsport Hall of Famer Odessa Swarts and her husband drove Baatjies from Bloemfontein to the 21st gsport Awards and home again.
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“When I got to gsport and saw all these amazing people I had only read about or seen on television like Penny Heyns, Dr Debbie Alexander and Odessa Swarts was so surreal for me. Having the privilege to tap from their minds and learn from them felt like I was a child in a candy store.”
On the red carpet she saw Zanele Potelwa, part of the #gsport21 presenter squad. “Being in that room filled with women who are breaking barriers in sport reminded me that my story does matter, no matter where I come from.”
“My biggest takeout was that sisterhood is real. gsport is not a competition, it’s a community. I connected with other finalists, producers, photographers and writers who have since become sisters and mentors.” Then, gsport’s #RunnersUp week followed.
“It made me feel seen beyond the awards night. It showed me that being a finalist is not the end, it’s the beginning.”
None of that erases what the decade cost her.
“My biggest learning has been to keep going even if it means sometimes you have to choose between eating and paying for a cab to get to the next fixture, when emails bounce and doors say ‘we are not recruiting at the moment.’ I have grown from doubting myself to understanding that rejection is redirection. I now send the email anyway, I shoot the shot anyway.”
She hosts a live sports show on CUT FM 105.8 on Mondays from 18h00 to 19h00, writes freelance and runs a content hub, Creatives Network Hub, from which most of her sports writing is filed.
The women she names as role models built the road she walks. “Kass Naidoo for building a platform for us when no one else did. Carol Tshabalala and Motshidisi Mohono for showing me that women who look like me do have a seat at the table, we can own the mic on the biggest stages.”
At the 12th SA Sports Awards, Mohono took her backstage. “Mots held my hand every step of the way back stage. She took me to interview Akani Simbine and so many other prominent names like Lucas Radebe.”
Ask her what the industry owes women and the answer is short. “Give us mic time, give us bylines and pay us. Open the newsroom and the press box. And when you give one of us an opportunity, trust that we will do the homework.”
Ask her what gsport owes them and the answer is geography. “Continue taking gsport to other provinces, to Bloemfontein, to Heidedal, to girls who don’t have access to big city newsrooms. More workshops, more masterclasses in vernacular languages.”
Which returns her to the city she refuses to leave behind. “Bloemfontein is called the City of Roses but for me it’s the city of heart. My favourite place is the Mangaung Oval, the tranquility on match day, it’s almost like you can feel the whole city breathe as one.”
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The woman who nearly stopped at ten years now talks in decades. “To become a leading sports broadcaster in South Africa, and to one day host my own national sports show that creates space for the next girl from Heidedal, Bloemfontein.”
Main Photo Caption: Radio presenter and sports writer Ester Baatjies of Bloemfontein was a finalist in the Woman in Radio category at the 21st gsport Awards, having nominated herself in what she had decided would be her final year in broadcasting. A decade into a career built without institutional backing, she used the finalist platform to press for mic time, bylines and paid opportunity for women in South African sports media, at the 2026 gsport Awards, at the Wanderers Club in Illovo, Johannesburg, on 8 August 2026. All Photos: Supplied
Photo 2 Caption: Baatjies hosts a live sports show on CUT FM 105.8 on Mondays evenings, and files freelance sports writing through her own content hub.
Photo 3 Caption: Baatjies names Kass Naidoo, Carol Tshabalala and Motshidisi Mohono among the women who showed her that a seat at the table was possible.
Photo 4 Caption: Baatjies pictured on the 21st gsport Awards red carpet alongside fellow Bloemfonteiner, gsport Hall of Famer, Odessa Swarts.
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