DJ gives students sober advice

[caption id="attachment_95825" align="aligncenter" width="580"] Deejay Oskido - Oscar Mdlongwa speaks to NMMU students. Picture: MIKE HOLMES[/caption]

HIS usual interaction with students is from the deejaying booth where he churns crowd-pleasing dance hits from his award-winning compilations.

But yesterday popular DJ Oscar “Oskido” Mdlongwa had a sobering conversation with NMMU students about responsible drinking.

Oskido, who has battled with alcohol abuse problems that have threatened his illustrious music career, is one of four ambassadors of the Young Free and Educated (YFE) programme that aims to inculcate a culture of responsible drinking in young people.

He and other celebrated entertainment industry players, including former soccer star Jabu Mahlangu, formerly known as Pule, and Ukhozi FM presenter Vukani “Chilli M” Masinga, visited Eastern Cape universities yesterday, conducting open and frank dialogues with students.

To a lively and participative audience, Oskido and a representative from the SA National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (Sanca) shared the dangers of excessive drinking and drug abuse that the youth are prone to.

Relating his own story, Oskido told how he would never enter a deejaying booth sober, always needing “Dutch courage” to entertain the masses.

“I was a heavy drinker and would get extremely violent and rude when drunk – which was a lot of the time.

“I decided to stop drinking heavily because I saw what that did to my colleagues – people who were extremely talented and intelligent had their careers go down the drain because of alcohol abuse,” he said.

-Zandile Mbabela