Here are the bits and pieces
that I was able to gather.
Debora is – very vaguely – of
Italian descent, and together with her sister she inherited
the family business.
The two own a hotel in Rome and holiday apartments in the
south of Italy.
She arrived in Cape Town in 1976 and after
obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Social Science from
UCT in 1984, she worked as a political activist teacher
at Cape Town’s Squatter Camp.
In 1990 Debora moved to Johannesburg.
She obtained a degree from Tshwane University of Technology
and cut her teeth as a journalist with Radio 702.
Sometime during this stint of her life she
married a Zulu prince who is also a New York-trained film
director – so yes – she is technically a Zulu
princess.
Or was, rather.
Incidentally, verkrampte people have never forgiven her
for marrying a black man and this is the main reason why
so many claim to hate her toughguy investigative style.
|
Journalists
who have interviewed Debora claim that, off-screen,
she is not really as tough as her tv persona.
|
Anyway, in 1998 she moved to Etv as a reporter
and soon afterwards gave birth to her first daughter Chiara
Mzizi, who is now a presenter on Yo Tv.
While on maternity leave after the birth
of Chiara, Debora conceptualised 3rd Degree, and the show
made her a household face in South Africa.
Somewhere along the line she divorced her
Zulu prince and married businessman Lance Levitas, with
whom she had her younger child, Ella.
In 2009, Debora won the Vodacom Women In
The Media Award, and this month she was awarded South Africa’s
Most Influential Women in Business and Government award.
