The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) organising the South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) which is set to take place this Friday and Saturday immediately entered the fray after e.tv announced that the broadcaster is immediately pulling all of its shows and soaps from the controversial awards ceremony.
Moments after e.tv officially announced that the broadcaster is dumping its entire involvement with the Saftas and pulling its presenters, shows and soaps from the farcical awards ceremony, the Saftas fired right back, critising e.tv’s participation as having been ‘’considerably low’’ anyway.
The controversial awards show – boycotted in the past by SABC1's Generations, SABC2's 7de Laan and with M-Net and e.tv who were reluctant in the past to enter and thereby giving the ceremony legitimacy – is now in crisis mode with the two day ceremony to take place this Friday and Saturday at Gallagher Estate. SABC3 which would have and wanted to broadcast the show live after nobody showed it last year, had to settle for a recorded show on Sunday after the NFVF moved the Saftas dates forward from what it earlier supplied to the channel.
Insiders within South Africa’s TV industry say e.tv – similar to other broadcasters and productions in the past and currently – continue to have ''huge concerns'' regarding the judging and process. E.tv's withdrawal comes after SABC2's soap 7de Laan was suddenly discovered to be not eligible for the Best Soap category voted for by the public because the show didn't enter into other categories for the 6th Saftas.
Eddie Mbalo, the chairperson of the Saftas and also the interim CEO of the pay TV operator TopTV called e.tv's withdrawal ''definitely a blow to the entire film and television industry''.
Mbalo slammed e.tv saying ''maybe if the broadcasters were playing their part and even contributing towards funding of the Saftas the withdrawal would not be at the drop of the hat as is the case at the moment.'' The NFVF didn't say what would be happening to categories in which e.tv shows and soaps are nominated. The Best Soap category will now also limp along, without another two further soaps joining 7de Laan that’' out of the show.
'The withdrawal by e.tv comes as a shock and surprise,,'' said Eddie Mbalo. With too little time for the organisers to find replacements in categories, the Saftas says the ceremony will ''continue to recognise those individuals that have already been judged and nominated as the feeling is that they deserve the recognition''.
