Veteran TV host and journalist Derek Watts, who passed away on Tuesday after a battle with cancer at 74, died in the presence of his loved ones.
Watts was born in Hillbrow in 1948, before his family moved to Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, in the then Rhodesia when he was about five.
In an interview with Sunday Times 13 years ago, Watts — who described himself as a restless Sagittarian who’s always looking for something new — said he started in journalism as a writer for The Herald in Zimbabwe.
“The television side started when I joined TV news back in the bad old days at SABC. When M-Net was only two years old they were starting a new show and they asked Ruda (Landman) and me to come and present it. I thought about it for 10 seconds and crossed the floor.” That was 35 years ago in 1988.
Watts had been with Carte Blanche since its inception and only left recently because of ill health. He died a day after the 35th anniversary of the first Carte Blanche episode.
He prided himself with being on the show, saying: “In the media in this country there’s no other job I’d swap it for. Because I don’t think anything could be as exciting or offer the variety that I enjoy.”
Asked during his 2010 interview with Sunday Times about the criticism that Carte Blanche at times received, he said: “I think Carte Blanche reflects what is going on below the surface of our nation. If that is depressing, then it does not augur well for our future. I hope we are playing a part in highlighting the corruption that threatens to destroy our vibrant country.”
News of his declining health emerged in April when he revealed he had been rushed to ICU with a suspected stroke. He took to social media to post a picture from his hospital bed detailing his health struggles. In June, Carte Blanche announced that Watts would step away from the camera to focus on his health.
“Last year, Derek was diagnosed with skin cancer that had spread to his lungs. With the support of his family and specialists, he was able to continue doing what he loves best: bringing his cherished viewers the stories that have shaped our country.
“While this news is undoubtedly disheartening, we remain hopeful and optimistic about Derek’s journey towards recovery,” Carte Blanche said.
If I don’t wake up in the morning and do a headstand, I don’t function. And if I don’t do one before going to bed, I won’t fall asleep. I have been doing them from about the age of eight.
— Derek Watts
Last month, he announced that he was permanently leaving the show.
Last year, Watts was the star of an alcohol advert where he poked fun at how he was perceived as a serious personality but instead wanted to just show his lighter side. In the advert the giant Watts was seen breaking into dance in a bar.
Revealing another light side to him in the 2010 interview with The Sunday Times, Watts was asked what was the one thing a day he could not go a day without.
“Doing two headstands,” he replied.
“If I don’t wake up in the morning and do a headstand, I don’t function. And if I don’t do one before going to bed, I won’t fall asleep. I have been doing them from about the age of eight. At home I now have a back swing machine. And flossing. I would go crazy if I didn’t.”
In that 2010 article, Watts cited his most memorable episode as the one when he went to Russia, to Star City, where Mark Shuttleworth was training for space.
“I went on the apparatus they use to train astronauts. Then I flew with Mark to Kazakhstan where we were in quarantine for a week with those Russian generals who get drunk from about seven in the morning. I don’t know how they get anything into space because they’re intoxicated all the time,” Watts said.
“Anyway, Mark took off in his little tin can and I came back and sat in our studio. He was passing overhead in the International Space Station and we were seeing a picture of him floating. I was sitting next to Madiba, who was in awe of what was happening. He was looking at that picture of Mark in space and chatting to him, and you could see he was affected by the technology.”
In a May 2022 interview with The Citizen, however, Watts shared a more painful memory of his time on the job. That was 1994 when he lost a colleague while they were shooting a Carte Blanche episode at the Luanda Zoo in Angola.
Watts was quoted as saying: “The zoo in Luanda had collapsed because there was just no money to feed the animals and it was very gracious of the Angolan government to let us fly in, crate all the animals and bring them back to South Africa. There was a lot of red tape and we had to spend a few days there just preparing things.”
During the process a cage-gate was left open by accident and a tiger escaped.
The tiger ended up in an alley with the Carte Blanche cameraman and producer Rick Lomba, who was alone and filming.
“While attempting to get away, the tiger attacked and killed my colleague, who was also a dear friend, with a strike to the throat,” Watts said.
When he was not on Carte Blanche, doing MC work or guest speaking, Watts used his journalism skills in motor journalism as cars were one of his passions.
He is survived by his wife, Belinda and their two children Tyrone and Kirstin.
Watts had shared how he met Belinda 34 years ago.
“I met my partner ... at the pet food section of Pick n Pay in Benmore. She was looking for food for her cat and I had picked up a stray dog in the Magaliesburg.”
He cherished his family, saying one of his most beautiful moments were when his children were born.
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