Meet Malenga Suzyo Ngwenya (above) better known to listeners of Zambezi 107.7fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, and to his fans, as ‘DJ Baks’! When Baks guested on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George Soulchild, the first thing Milli Jam wanted to know was where his radio name came from. Baks explained that the letters were made up from his own and his dad’s initials, as his dad had been a great inspiration to him. When Malenga also explained to listeners that in fact he is an accountant by profession and a DJ/radio presenter on the side, I wondered on air whether he should actually be called DJBux – the man with the money, but Malenga rejected my suggestion!

Malenga told us that he works full time as an accountant for Cornerstone Insurance in Livingstone and is a part time presenter for Zambezi 107.7 fm, hosting two shows per week, both from 00.00 hrs to 05.00 hrs. He explained that he’s able to delegate his work at the insurance company to be able to arrive later in the morning after he’s been on air all night on the ‘graveyard shift’. Malenga trained as an accountant at Evelyn Hone College for two years qualifying in 2011 although he is still studying for further accountancy qualifications. It was while at college in Lusaka that he had his first taste of radio work, being a DJ on Hone FM, the first ‘college radio’ station in the country.

The music on our show was good. George dropped two tracks by the late Crystal Shaun – ‘Elina’ and ‘Kasuba’ in memory of his friend. We featured hits from Sean Paul and Matt Cardle with Melanie C at the top of the show. Milimo chose tracks from Selena Gomez and Naughty Boy. Our oldie of the week was the Spice Girls ‘Viva Forever’ and the prize we give to the first person to text us the name of the performing artist was quickly snapped up. My pick was a new track from DJFresh ft Ellie Goulding and we closed with Armin Van Buuren’s ‘Beautiful Life’ featuring Cindy Alma.

Malenga said his own favourite music is slow tracks, R&B, and hip hop, with Ty2 his favourite artist locally, internationally Eminem. His favourite club in Livingstone, and being single he loves clubbing, is Ayoba and we noted with interest the new balcony the club had opened ‘Ayoba Sky’. Malenga supports Chelsea and noted his favourite players as Didier Drogba and goal keeper Peter Czec. As Malenga had only been in Livingstone for a few months he had not yet had time to enjoy any of the many tourist activities on offer.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, DJ Baks said simply that he would like to be his own boss – ‘like Richard’!! One of the reasons was that he would then not be required to wear a jacket and tie to work. We laughed. You don’t meet many DJ/Accountants and DJBaks is a great example. We wished him the best of luck.