DATELINE LAGOS: 'We're already seeing higher quality movies from Africa,' says Biola Alabi about the AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards.

The level and quality of African films and television being produced is already rising, thanks in part to recently established awards shows on, and for, the continent such as the AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards.

So says Biola Alabi who spoke to Africa's press today with the 2nd AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards which took place on Saturday evening in Lagos, Nigeria.

The AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards which was established to recognise excellence in the film and TV industry across the entire Africa, was again broadcast live on multiple AfricaMagic TV channels on MultiChoice's DStv platform across the African continent.

"I love being in television, I've always loved being in television, it's always been something I wanted to do. When I found my way into television it's always been something that I've been passionate about," said Biola Alabi.

"With the AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards our vision is to raise the profile of excellence across the continent when it comes to television and film and to really celebrate excellence and to encourage people to aspire to create a certain type of story".

"We also wanted to create a platform where AfricaMagic can celebrate the type of stories that we are telling on our platform. We have over 8 channels now telling stories across the continent. We wanted to create a platform where these stories can be rewarded and celebrated".

"The'yre not going to be recognised at the Oscar, they're not going to be recognised at the Golden Globes. So we wanted to create a platform with the AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards where they would be celebrated from across the continent. Its about storytelling across Africa," said Biola Alabi.

"Its our second year; we're still very young. When people say we're the Oscars of Africa that really scares me. The Oscars is 86 years old. Those are institutions that are almost a hundred years old. The Golden Globes the International Foreign Press Association started back almost a hundred years ago".

"So I get very nervous when people say that. But I think what people are saying when they say that is that it is a place where Africans can come together and celebrate the best of television and film".

"We're seeing higher quality movies, people are bringing us amazing film, amazing products, amazing projects, and we're looking at innovative ideas and we're looking at different partnership models and that's very exciting for us," said Biola Alabi.

DATELINE LAGOS: Lupita Nyong'o winning an Oscar is an amazing statement to every little girl that your dream can always come true, says Biola Alabi.

The Kenyan and African actress Lupita Nyong'o who just won the Oscar for the Best Supporting Actress at the 86th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, serves as an inspiration to every girl in Africa that your dream can come true. 

So says Biola Alabi, the managing director for M-Net in Africa for special projects.

Biola Alabi spoke to Africa's press today with the 2nd AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards set to take place on Saturday evening in Lagos, Nigeria, where Africa hand out awards to actresses, actors and those working behind-the-scenes in the continent's TV and film industry.

The AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards has been established to recognise excellence in the film and TV industry across the entire Africa and the award ceremony will again be broadcast live on multiple AfricaMagic TV channels on MultiChoice's DStv platform across the African continent.

"Lupita Nyong'o winning an Oscar is an amazing statement out to the whole world about Africa. But its an amazing statement to everyone who has a dream and to every little girl that your dream can always come true," says Biola Alabi.

"For everyone who has a dream - your dream means something. For me this brings such joy and pride to us. And it bring such joy and pride that Lupita Nyong'o's first work was actually on the African continent. It wasn't abroad, it was Africa. It was in Kenya where she did her first work".

"So I'm hoping that she comes back and does more. For me this is a really amazing signal to everyone who has a dream, and to every single child on the African continent that your dream can come true"

Also, we're reaffirming to every parent on this continent that there is a real future in the industry and also in creating and telling stories, and I think that is really the biggest statements that we see in Lupita Nyong'o accepting her award," says Biola Alabi.

DATELINE LAGOS: MultiChoice on African film industries growing their own Woods: 'We have so many trees in Africa. Its about aspiration'.

John Ugbe, the managing director for MultiChoice Nigeria tells TV with Thinus that African countries and their respective film industries across the continent shouldn't be scared to grow their own Woods - so to speak - after the "Hollywood" moniker.

He also says African countries' film and TV industries shouldn't shy away from using their own adaptive "Woods" terminology to refer to their own film industries just because its borrowed from America.

John Ugbe is speaking on the day of the 2nd AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards taking place on Saturday in Lagos, Nigeria.

The awards ceremony has been established to recognise excellence in the film and TV industry across the entire Africa. The award ceremony will again be broadcast live on multiple AfricaMagic TV channels on MultiChoice's DStv platform across the African continent.

Nigeria's film industry has famously become known as "Nollywood" and several African countries the past few years have adopted - and adapted -  the "Hollywood" moniker into colloquial versions, ranging from Tanzania's "Swahiliwood" in East Africa, "Collywood" in Cameroon - and even "Ghallywood" in Ghana.

"We have so many trees in Africa. We have an even stronger claim to forests in Africa than Hollywood. If anything should be named with 'Wood' it should be Africa," says John Ugbe. "The 'Wood' is just an acronym to capture the essence".

"Its about aspiration. You wouldn't want to blame people for going 'Wood' in reference to their own film industry and Hollywood. It tells you where people making film and television in Africa - the industry - wants to go. And I think it's important".

"That's where a word like AfricaMagic is also so strong and powerful. It tells you that it is about inspirational content from out of Africa," says John Ugbe.

"We're seeing a lot of surprises in the entries for the AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards. People are telling their stories. And for a long time we've been saying 'Why not?' "

"A lot of what we saw from Hollywood was the interpretation of a lifestyle - and that's what we're beginning to see for Africa, but told in our way and from our own perspective".

"That is the next chapter of the African story: That we're not just scripting what we think it should be. We're now taking lifestyles from here in Africa, and cultures here, and building authentic stories out of that, and creating stories which resonates with viewers".

TV with Thinus also asked John Ugbe how important it is for MultiChoice to have people in the TV and film industry tell stories in their own indigenous languages.

"On DStv we have the AfricaMagic channels from M-Net in Swahili and Yoruba and these are localised TV channels resonating very strongly with our audience."

"We also think that this is a way of ensuring that we don't our identity by keeping those languages and growing it. You find that content done in local languages in many instances resonates more."

"People are able to tell very strong and even stronger stories when they're able to use African parables, the idioms in their local languages where they don't have to lose the essence of what they're really trying to say," says John Ugbe.

"Very strong stories are being told and as MultiChoice and the AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards we encourage people to use whatever language they want to tell their story".

"The biggest challenge probably facing African movie makers and the African film industry is probably structural and infrastructural challenges. However, the message is that creativity can overcome the infrastructural challenges".

Keep working hard. Keep creating. And definitely we will have much better quality and stronger stories coming out of Africa," says John Ugbe.

DATELINE LAGOS: 'MultiChoice has always believed in Africa's strength to tell our own stories on television and in film,' says pay-TV platform.

John Ugbe, the managing director for MultiChoice Nigeria tells TV with Thinus that M-Net and MultiChoice's AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards is a way to recognise and promote Africa's film and TV industry in such a way that better content is produced.

The AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards provides an opportunity to existing and aspiring filmmakers and producers to attend workshops as people working in the industry across the continent compete to be the best in Africa.

The AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards is currently in its 2nd year and is taking place on Saturday evening in Lagos, Nigeria.

The award ceremony will again be broadcast live on multiple AfricaMagic TV channels on MultiChoice's DStv platform across the African continent.

"We're seeing better TV and movies being made across Africa every year. The AMVCAs inspires producers and actors  to begin to produce even better quality TV and film because everybody is looking forward to win. I think what we saw this year was a lot more entries that last year. There was also validation that this is the biggest award you can win in the film industry in Africa.

"Movie making is all about creativity. It is about telling a story that resonates with people. It's not about how big the story is, it is about how strong the story is. It is important that people are inspired."

John Ugbe says MultiChoice and M-Net are committed to building the TV and film industry across Africa in every country and that the AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards is an "investment".

"To build the film and TV industry in Africa you have to invest in it. We don't expect to see a return on this investment immediately, but it is very important that we recognise the hardworking people, invest in education to upskill and bring more people into this vibrant sector," John Ugbe tells TV with Thinus.

"Even with the huge challenges around infrastructure, the African TV and film industry can still produce strong stories".

"If you look at the industry in Nigeria, in the Niger Africa, we're rivaling any continent right now. There's many more movies produced than in Hollywood and the quality is growing. That goes to show that an investment in the industry, and in recognition such as the AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards is not wasted."

"MultiChoice has always believed in Africa's strength to tell our own stories on television and in film - and we still do so very strongly," says John Ugbe.

"Nollywood [the film industry in Nigeria] played a pioneering role in developing the African film industry. And now it is no longer just a Nollywood thing - it is all around us in various African countries now".

"And AfricaMagic is helping with this - helping to lay the foundation stage on which African countries can build and further grow their film industries," says John Ugbe.

DATELINE LAGOS: Biola Alabi says she did not resign as M-Net's managing director for Africa; 'I'm going to oversee all of our special projects'.

Biola Alabi, M-Net's managing director for Africa, on Saturday boldly said that she definitely did not resign at M-Net, and is fully staying on and working for the pan-African pay-TV broadcaster.

TV with Thinus on Saturday asked Biola Alabi about reports that surfaced - and which was reported by broadsheets like Nigeria's This Day newspaper on Friday - if she could clarify her position and comment on her tenure at M-Net.

Biola Alabi just underwent a job and title change at M-Net at the beginning of the year from managing director at M-Net for Africa to managing director for special projects in Africa at the pay-TV broadcaster.

Biola Alabi is responsible for the AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCAs). The 2nd AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards 2014 is set to take place on Saturday evening in Lagos, Nigeria.

"The rumours are rumours. I am here, having an interview with you. And as you know, corporations don't usually have people that have resigned doing interviews. So I'm still very much in my role. Especially in media you don't have people doing interviews if they leave".

"So I'm very much in my role. I think what happened is that we're obviously rolling out a very different strategy across the African continent, and what I've decided to do is to take a more strategic role around some of our key projects and pan-African projects because that is a place where I think that we still have a lot of work to do," Biola Alabi told me.

"I'm going to be overseeing all of our special projects across the continent like the AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards, obviously Big Brother Africa which is still a huge project for us. We have some other big initiatives which we will be launching across the continent. Those are the things that will be in my portfolio."

BREAKING. There will be no TV broadcast of Royalty Soapie Awards on SABC1, says the SABC; after organisers promised it would be shown Sunday.

You're reading it here first. 

TV with Thinus can break the news and reveal that there will definitely be no broadcast of the Royalty Soapie Awards on Sunday on SABC1 although the organisers of the awards, Winnie Modise and Sindile Zulu promised viewers that the Saturday ceremony would be broadcast on SABC1 on Sunday at 20:30.

TV with Thinus reported on Wednesday that there is ongoing uncertainty and confusion regarding the broadcast of the Royalty Soapie Awards, the latest in a string of backstage problems and drama of the embattled soap awards finally taking place on Saturday (today) in Durban at the Durban International Convention Centre.

While the organisers adamantly maintained that the SABC and SABC1 would broadcast the Royalty Soapie Awards with hosts Michael Mol and Hlomla Dandala on Sunday, it is simply not true.

SABC insiders said no agreement was made with the organisers to broadcast the Royalty Soapie Awards on Sunday night on SABC1.

A spokesperson from the publicity company working on behalf of the award show on Saturday morning told TV with Thinus in response to a media enquiry that the Royalty Soapie Awards will "issue an official statement with comment from SABC1" at a later time.

The SABC told TV with Thinus on Saturday that there will be zero Royalty Soapie Awards shown on Sunday on SABC1. It's highly embarrassing since the organisers had already told viewers to tune in on Sunday to watch it, and no new statement or announcement that it won't be the case was made before the end of business on Friday.

There will now definitely be disgruntled viewers who are possibly going to tune in, expecting an awards show instead of a movie, and finding no Royalty Soapie Awards on television as promised.

The trouble-plagued and seemingly disorganised Royalty Soapie Awards saw e.tv pull its soaps from consideration last year, and the organisers refused to say who the judges of the industry event are. The organisers are still not willing to say who judges who (although several judges' names are an open industry secret).

There was also drama behind-the-scenes which saw venture partner Lala Tuku back out and the Royalty Soapie Awards moved from its November 2013 date to March 2014.

Zero information was made available to the press regarding who will appear or perform at the Royalty Soapie Awards, what the style and format of Saturday's ceremony would entail, who would be doing red carpet coverage and there's been no pre-awards press conference before the end of Friday, which is usually organised for events of this type.

DATELINE LAGOS: Biola Alabi, M-Net's managing director in Africa quits; news comes a day before the AfricaMagic Viewers' Choice Awards.

Biola Alabi, M-Net's managing director for Africa has quit according to Nigeria's This Day newspaper - with her resignation news coming on the day before the 2nd AfricaMagic Viewers' Choice Awards 2014 (AMVCA) is to take place in Lagos, Nigeria on Saturday night which she is primarily responsible for.


UPDATE Saturday 8 March 2014 - Biola Alabi tells TV with Thinus she definitely didn't resign and is still very much with M-Net and taking on a new role looking after special projects.


Biola Alabi just underwent a job and title change at M-Net at the beginning of the year from managing director at M-Net for Africa to managing director for special projects in Africa at the pay-TV broadcaster. The reason for the  job change in job title and responsibilities was only given as "personal choices".

In her new role from 2014 Biola Alabi, who joined M-Net in 2008, was to focus on just special projects such as the AfricaMagic Viewers' Choice Awards, reality productions such as Big Brother Africa and the AfricaMagic Original Films project.

In 2010 Biola Alabi helped to launch the AfricaMagic Hausa channel on MultiChoice's DStv platform in Africa, and the AfricaMagic Swahili channel in 2011.

A year later in 2012 Biola Alabi helped with the restructuring of the AfricaMagic TV channels on DStv.

Neither M-Net nor Biola Alabi have so far made a statement or said why Biola Alabi is quitting the pan-African broadcaster. Biola Alabi graced the cover of Hello! magazine in Nigeria in February, talking about "life, love and being the boss".

The news of Biola Alabi who is now quitting M-Net, awkwardly comes on the day before the 2nd AfricaMagic Viewers' Choice Awards 2014 will take place in Lagos - one of the special projects she was responsible for.

It also comes one day after M-Net announced that Yolisa Phahle has been appointed as the new M-Net CEO for South Africa, completing a trifecta appointment of African M-Net executives to oversee the now distinctly separated three regions of the pay-TV broadcasters in South Africa, East Africa and West Africa.

BREAKING. Yolisa Phahle appointed as the new M-Net CEO for South Africa, completing M-Net's new African trifecta regionalisation.

Yolisa Phahle has been appointed as the new M-Net CEO for South Africa from 1 April 2014 in a newly created position, completing the trifecta appointment of African M-Net executives to oversee the now distinctly separated three regions of South Africa, East Africa and West Africa.

In her new position, Yolisa Phahle who has been the director for M-Net's local entertainment channels, will report directly to Patricia van Rooyen who now has the title of sub-Saharan CEO of M-Net. Yolisa Phahle joined M-Net in 2005.

M-Net last month announced the appointment of the first-ever regional director for M-Net in West Africa, Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu as well as the appointment of the first-ever regional director for East Africa, Michael Ndetei.

Yolisa Phahle will now be holding fort in the southern most corner of the African continent as the trifecta regionalisationeffort from the pay-TV broadcaster looks to increase its specialised focus on dedicated locally produced TV content for each of the different regional, African target audiences.

"We are delighted to appoint a person of Yolisa Phahle's calibre to such a kep position," says Imtiaz Patel, the group CEO of MultiChoice South Africa.

"Yolisa Phahle is a rare talent and has proven herself to be a dynamic and extremely capable all-round broadcasting executive," says Imtiaz Patel.

"We have no doubt that Yolisa Phahle will lead M-Net's South African operations to even greater heights, cement its leadership in the media and entertainment space, and win over more loyal viewers to the range of channels offered by M-Net. Yolisa Phahle has been at the forefront of local content development, which has led to more diverse growth in the viewership base," says Imtiaz Patel.

"I'm hugely excited by this fantastic opportunity," says Yolisa Phahle in a prepared statement. "We have a wealth of talented actors, scriptwriters and production companies - I'm looking forward to consolidating existing partnerships and building new ones".

"It is vital that we play a leading role in the evolution and transformation of our industry," says Yolisa Phahle.

As South Africa delays digital terrestrial television migration, imported multi-functional set-top boxes are already on sale in the country.

With South Africa's long-stalled switch from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT) - a process known as digital migration - going nowhere, South African TV viewers can already buy imported, yet illegal, multi-functional set-top boxes (STBs).

South Africa's TV industry is supposed to flip from analogue to digital broadcasting but the country, due to multiple delays, have fallen behind countries such as even Zimbabwe and Rwanda as manufacturers, broadcasters and law makers continue to bicker.

As South Africa can no longer make and will miss the international agreed upon deadline of June 2015 from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) by which to switch of analogue TV broadcasts, the country has also become profitable for sellers of imported - yet illegal - STBs with which viewers can already watch digital TV channels.

Not only can South African viewers watch free-to-air digital TV channels with these STBs, but the boxes also allow viewers to record TV shows, and to even save that programming to external storage like USBs and external hard drives.

These STBs are already on sale in South Africa and cost cheaper and can now be bought long before the locally manufactured STBs which will cost around R800 per box are produced and sold.

The South African government has failed to award tenders to local STB manufacturers in a request for tenders which was issued last year, lapsed, and will have to be reissued.

Meanwhile broadcasters and manufacturers are fighting and deadlocked over the inclusion - or not - of what is known as a Conditional Access (CA) system.

A CA system is built-in hardware and software with which broadcasters and manufacturers would be able to "lock" or encrypt digital television signals. While e.tv wants a CA system in STBs, the SABC, MultiChoice, M-Net and community TV stations in South Africa are all against it.

A CA system would make the STBs more expensive. A CA system would also "protect" a South African STBs industry, since only boxes made in South Africa would work, imported STBs wouldn't be able to decrypt signals, and boxes taken outside of South Africa's TV broadcasting borders would be "turned off".

"There is little to stop pirate set-top boxes from flooding the South African market and destroying the local manufacturing market because South African manufacturers will comply with the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) but won't be able to compete with cheap, low quality, foreign STBs," says Bronwyn Keene-Young, the group chief operating officer (COO) of e.tv.

Keene-Young says the illegal STBs already on sale in South Africa in large metropolitan areas from Johannesburg to Cape Town do not meet the SABS specifications.

"With a lack of copy-protection mechanisms on the HD output to the TV, and into the personal video recording (PVR) functionality on these boxes, the broadcast and manufacturing industry would need to rely on the already heavily-burdened law enforcement agencies to stop these boxes from entering the country," says Keene-Young.

"Having the broadcast signal protected at the commercial launch of DTT will go a long way to make sure that these boxes become redundant and therefore pose no threat to the local manufacturing industry".

ALSO READ: Stalled digital terrestrial television (DTT) migration in South Africa "hijacked" for job creation - leaving behind the one thing which should be first: the TV viewer.

Early Friday morning MSNBC has a new documentary, Why We Did It, looking at what how America sold going to war in Iraq to the world.

Friday morning 7 March at 04:00 (South African time) Rachel Maddow on MSNBC (StarSat 410) will present Why We Did It, a follow-up to last year's Hubris: Selling the Iraq War.

The new Why We Did It documentary reveals new documents and interviews with those involved in planning the Iraq War. MSNBC calls it "the never-before-told story of what was happening behind that public case".

BREAKING. Confusion, uncertainty of whether the Royalty Soapie Awards will actually be broadcast on SABC1 on Sunday.

There is ongoing uncertainty and confusion regarding whether the Royalty Soapie Awards will be televised on South African TV or not. While the organisers are adamant that the awards show will go ahead and be shown on television, the SABC says there is no contract and that it will not.

After multiple delays, e.tv's soaps being pulled from consideration, zero information regarding who the judges are and backstage drama between the organizers which saw venture partner Lala Tuku back out, the Royalty Soapie Awards was moved from its November 2013 date to March 2014 at the Durban International Convention Centre.

The Royalty Soapie Awards organised by Winnie Modise is finally set to take place on Saturday 8 March in the same city as this past Saturday's 13th Metro FM Awards which was shown on SABC1 on Saturday as a live broadcast and which suffered from terrible production values.

The Royalty Soapie Awards takes place on exactly the same date and time as M-Net and MultiChoice's continental 2nd AfricaMagic Viewers' Choice Awards.

According to the organisers the Royalty Soapie Awards with hosts Michael Mol and Hlomla Dandala, will be shown on SABC1 a day later on Sunday 9 March at 20:30.

SABC1 says it will not broadcast the Royalty Soapie Awards and has the movie Lake City scheduled.

With three days to the actual event and four days to the would-be broadcast date, the SABC on Wednesday told TV with Thinus that "we are waiting for the agreement to be finalised between the SABC and the organisers". The SABC said that a statement will only be made "once the agreement is in place".

A spokesperson for the Royalty Soapie Awards organisers told TV with Thinus that they however have confirmation from the SABC that the Royalty Soapie Awards will be shown on SABC1 on Sunday at 20:30.

Sindile Xulu, Royalty Soapie Awards project director says the organisers are "thrilled to have the awards show broadcast made accessible to the widest possible audience" on SABC1.

BREAKING. Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey starting in South Africa on 16 March at 19:10 on National Geographic Channel and FOX.

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey will start on 16 March in South Africa at 19:10, a week after the United States launch date.

ALSO READ: Eye-popping new documentary series, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, coming to South African viewers in March on the National Geographic Channel.

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey will be seen on multiple South African TV channels - including high definition (HD).

The first episode of the new National Geographic Channel (DStv 181) series will be shown on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 130) and National Geographic Channel at the same of 19:10 on 16 March. At 23:00 the same night, the first episode will also be shown on Nat Geo WILD (DStv 182).

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey will however not be shown on Nat Geo GOLD (StarSat 300), I'm told.

After the first episode, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey's other 12 episodes will continue on National Geographic Channel.

"The vision of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey inspired us to create a launch across all of our National Geographic Channels and FOX channels that will reach an unprecedented 400 million homes outside the United States," says Liz Dolan, the chief marketing officer of FOX International Channels (FIC) and National Geographic Channels International.

"Not only will the show premiere in 400 million homes, but in many of those homes it will be on two, three or four channels," says Liz Dolan.

Seth MacFarlane, a big fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation (and the creator behind Family Guy and The Cleveland Show) is the executive producer of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey together with Brannon Braga of Star Trek fame.

 The 13 part, remarkable and eye-popping new documentary series serves as a visually, scientific and special effects rich update of the 1970's landmark series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage - you can almost call it Cosmos: The Next Generation.

In Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, presenter and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson boards a futuristic, teardrop like spaceship with the ability to go anywhere in the universe and in time, and then takes viewers on a dazzling, dreamscape-like journey through time and space.

Following Leigh Bennie, Jen Su is now also chiming in; reporting and commenting on the Oscar Pistorius murder trial.

Similar to the former Big Brother South Africa contestant Leigh Bennie who is reporting and commenting on the Oscar Pistorius murder trial as a presenter on DStv's Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel (DStv 199), is now suddenly Jen Su - usually more at home at polo events in hats and being a social butterfly at red carpet events.

Jen Su popped up on HLN, CNN's more tabloid-skewed sister TV channel in America, weighing in on things like the South Africa's justice system and even the judge in the Oscar Pistorius murder trial.

Jen Su, like Leigh Bennie has zero history of crime or court reporting. Neither has a legacy of hard news reporting or investigative journalism. I'd frown the same way if a Christiane Amanpour suddenly did red carpet celebrity coverage - there's better people than her, more suited and better qualified to do that.

It doesn't that Leigh Bennie and Jen Su can't comment or talk about something like the legal system or aspects like the Oscar Pistorius case - it's a free world and we have freedom of speech and anyone can say whatever they want.

It does mean that they lack credibility and the necessary deep insight for a murder case in court.

They are unsuited - in my opinion - to weigh in or appear on television to talk about this or be a presenter for the Oscar Pistorius murder trial - unless it involves the more lighter, frivolous aspects of the case ... maybe what judge Thokozile Masipa is wearing?

The second season of The Haves and the Have Nots on Mzansi Magic abruptly jettisoned to April after the non-arrival of tapes.

Lord, have mercy: SABC disease is (cough, cough) proving infectious and contagious: Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) yanked and jettisoned the second season of the primetime soap The Haves and the Have Nots which was supposed to start on Mzansi Magic this past Saturday due to the "non-delivery" of tapes.

Mzansi Magic made no announcement to the press, didn't inform TV critics or viewers, and will now try to show the new second season of The Haves and the Have Nots from sometime in April.

The truly delicious drama which is simultaneously glitzy glamorous and slutty sensational set in Savannah, Georgia, is oddly also scheduled on Saturday evenings in South Africa, and is getting very little promotional push from the M-Net packaged channel. 

Viewers who have discovered The Haves and the Have Nots on their own though, are utterly hooked by the soapy melodrama and twists and turns. 

The soap is produced by Tyler Perry for Oprah Winfrey's OWN TV channel in the United States and the second season of The Haves and the Have Nots started at the beginning of January.

If you haven't yet watched it, gladly do. You will be pleasantly surprised and instantly drawn into the unbelievable, yet cannot stop watching, storylines.

SOS Coalition holding a meeting on 7 March to try and save the 'dying' SABC; SABC 'lacks credibility, culture of censorship taking hold'.

The SOS Coalition, a civil society pressure group looking out for public broadcasting in South Africa, will be holding a mass meeting for the public on 7 March at Constitution Hill in Braamfontein to try and save the "dying" SABC from censorship, political interference and maladministration.

The SOS Coalition, a vast group representing major groupings from academics to trade groups and the South African TV and film producing sectors, was established in 2009 when the SABC came to the brink of financial collapse due to gross mismanagement.

"In 1994 we were building an SABC we could be proud of. Today our SABC is, yet again, unfree," says the SOS Coalition. "We are being denied an independent, credible and people-driven public broadcaster," says the group which is planning a mass meeting on 7 March at Constitition Hill (number 4 and 5) from 14:00 to 17:00. Anyone is free to attend.

The SOS Coalition will try to seek a course of action as to what is to be done. "Why is our SABC falling apart? Who benefits from a dysfunctional SABC?" asks the group. "We, the people, must act radically, and act now. Unspeakable bad maladministration is killing our public broadcaster".

Last year the entire SABC board resigned after intense infighting to be replaced with yet another new SABC board.

Just this year the SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo quit barely two years into her five year contract without giving any reasons and becoming yet another CEO in and out in a revolving door of CEO's at the SABC fingered for maladministration.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) released an independent and scathing skills audit report of the SABC which found SABC workers and executives lack critical thinking and found fraudulent and non-existing qualifcations and certificates and that a lot of SABC workers don't even have personnel files.

Then the Public Protector released a shocking report into abuse of power, irregularities and maladministration at the SABC.

The Public Protector's investigation of over a year found that the matricless liar and acting chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng admitted in a recorded interview to having committed fraud by claiming he had a matric certificate and that he made up symbols, and implicated him in irregular hirings and firings at the SABC, such as the firing of all the people who were involved in an earlier disciplinary hearing against him.

The Public Protector also questioned how Hlaudi Motsoeneng's salary grew multiple times per year. He currently gets a salary of R2.4 million.

The Public Protector said that Hlaudi Motsoeneng "should never have been appointed at the SABC". After two weeks the SABC and the SABC board has not suspended Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

The Special Investigative Unit (SIU) last week detailed in parliament further details of corruption, mismanagement and wasteful and irregular spending of more than R275 million at the SABC.

"The SABC lacks credibility," the independent and veteran broadcasting expert and researcher Kate Skinner tells TV with Thinus. "It isn't sufficiently trusted. This is worrying in an election year when people particularly need to get credible, balanced professional news and current affairs programming".

"Our public broadcasting post-1994 was excellent. There was a lot of excellent content but sadly this has deteriorated due to political interference and mismanagement of the institution. There have been significant financial crises, particular in 2008 and 2009".

"A culture of censorship and fear is beginning to take hold at the SABC," says Kate Skinner. "Journalists are not taking risks and pushing boundaries."

She says several examples of countries with great public broadcasting exist.

"Everyone always talks about the BBC but there is also the very powerful Japanese public broadcaster NHK that produces some excellent public service programming. It has done some innovative work with citizen journalism including citizen inserts at the end of its news broadcasts".

"Swedish public radio year after year is voted the most trusted institution, above parliament and the courts, in Sweden. It produces excellent distinctive programming catering for regional interests and dialects".

"Some public broadcasters however in Eastern Europe have started to shift back to being state broadcasters. We are seeing that in South Africa."

"All public broadcasters are under threat in terms of public funding costs. They need to produce more with less. Public broadcasters are generally not having an easy time but many continue to rise above these challenges," says Kate Skinner.