Weather Man Derek Van Dam Quits eNCA For CNN

Just as he started mastering the pronunciation of our towns and provinces' names, etv and eNCA weather guy, Derek Van Dam is leaving Mzansi. The shocking news were revealed today via a press release, that after 6 years with the etv and its sister news channel eNCA, Van Dam will be leaving to take up a job on CNN in the United States of America.

Derek van Dam helped to set up the fledging 24-hour TV news channel's weather service and has gone on to endear himself to South African viewers with his commitmenet to learn the proper pronunciation of South Africa's varied place names.

Remember how he used to pronounce Vereeneging, Mpumalanga and eMalahleni?

"Six years later and we have an entire department of meteorologists and climatologists producing round-the-clock weather updates," says Patrick Conroy, head of news at eNCA.

"Derek has done the job we asked him to do. We are greatly indebted to him and we know South Africa will miss him. He became one of us".

Derek van Dam will be leaving for the United States in July, taking up a post with CNN International in Atlanta.

"Living and working in South Africa has been a tremendous honour for me. I will be forever grateful to my colleagues at eNCA for the experiences and knowledge that we shared together as well as the tremendous support from the countless South Africans who welcomed me into their homes every night on TV," says Derek van Dam in a statement. 

"I have also been granted permanent residence, so I plan to spend a lot of time in South Africa in the future". 

"I have mixed emotions about leaving the country of which I have grown to love. But as my mother always taught me, 'don't be sad that it's over, be happy that it happened'. This is not goodbye South Africa, rather it is a 'see you later and have a good one!" says Derek van Dam.

 eNCA's climatologist Candice McKechnie will be taking over as the acting head of eNCA weather for the time being until further notice.

We gonna miss the guy, who just last week made news when he proposed to his girlfriend at the finishing line of our country's beloved race — The Comrades Marathon.

Goodbye broer!