Kenyans mourn the death of first female Veteran journalist

NAIROBI, Kenya - The death of Kenya’s first female veteran TV news anchor Catherine Kasavuli has been received with lots of sadness both from the media fraternity and leaders from the government.

President William Ruto through his official Twitter handle posted. “It is with great sorrow that I join Kenyans in mourning the passing of Catherine Kasavuli who died Thursday night at 60, after a long brave fight with cancer. Catherine was a cheerful, articulate, and intelligent news anchor who took to television with unprecedented flair.”

Catherine was born in 1962 has passed on aged 60 at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), the news of her death was confirmed by the state broadcaster -KBC acting Managing Director - Samuel Maina.

She was battling cancer and had been admitted to the KNH private wing on October 26, 2022.

"Legendary broadcaster, Catherine Kasavuli, has died. She passed away on Thursday night at KNH where she was receiving treatment," said KBC in a statement on Friday morning.

Last month, she assured the public that she was doing well and getting ready for a second medical procedure.

“I am a strong woman. I know I will fight this. I am currently getting ready for a 2nd phase procedure,” she said.

She had previously worked in other leading television stations including Kenyan Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), Citizen Television, and Kenya Television Network (KTN).

Career Life

Kasavuli started her career as a radio continuity announcer in 1980 at the Voice of Kenya, which was renamed to KBC in later years. Her uncle, who had listened to her reading the Bible and praying for dinner, advised her to apply for the job. She was barely 18 years at the time.

She would later transition to television at the company in 1985. Catherine had no prior professional training and two years into her job, she went to the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication.

In March 1990, Catherine became part of the founding team of Kenya’s first privately owned television station-KTN. She became the station's first female anchor to go on live broadcast, a shift from the previous pre-recorded format. Other than being a TV presenter, Kasavuli would voice commercials to supplement her earnings.

After being at KTN for 17 years, Catherine left the station in 2007 to join Citizen TV, owned by Royal Media Services.
She was part of the mass exodus that saw a number of high-profile news anchors such as Swaleh Mdoe and Louis Otieno leave the Standard Group-owned TV Station for Citizen TV.

She later held the position of corporate affairs manager at Royal Media Services, the parent company of Citizen TV. In 2015, Kasavuli retired from the limelight to work behind the screens.

However, towards the end of July 2021, eight years after leaving television, Catherine would make a grand comeback and graced the Kenyan TV screens after signing a deal with the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) where she anchored weekend news.

In an interview after her comeback, she stated, “I wanted to come to KBC to train anchors to hone their skills but never expected an offer of this magnitude.” Despite the fame of being a public personality and unlike her successors in the Kenyan media space, the soft-spoken and ever-smiling anchor preferred to keep her personal life private.

Catherine’s Personal life

The late Catherine had one son, Martin Kasavuli, who was born in 1981. Catherine has reportedly stated that she had to leave him home to attend to her demanding career and regrets missing the early moments of his childhood.

After retiring from television, she founded Kasavuli Media Group Limited which owns several subsidiaries including a training school for broadcasters.

She passed on on the night of December 29, 2022, at the age of 60 while battling cervical cancer at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in Nairobi Kenya where she had been admitted and undergoing treatment from October 2022.

GAROWE ONLINE