In an ongoing industry boycott a growing number of South African shows are snubbing the Saftas with producers who again decided not to enter the 13th South African Film and Television Awards set for 2 March, with their creators and crews who won't attend and their stars who won't walk the red carpet.
The conspicuous absence of a string of shows from the badly-organised and shoddily-produced Saftas continues to make the award show, organised by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), look flawed, with the winners not deemed truly legitimate and reflective of the totality of the local TV industry's body of work.
Several of the most-watched weekday shows and dramas across channels on South African television don't want to be part of 2019's 13th Saftas, despite luring millions of viewers daily and collectively employing hundreds of people in the local TV industry.
Not entering the 2019 Saftas are Generations on SABC1, Muvhango on SABC2 and 7de Laan on SABC2.
Also missing-in-action are all of the shows from Ferguson Films like The Queen and The Throne on M-Net's Mzansi Magic (DStv 161), including the eligible first season of The Imposter. M-Net's Arendsvlei on kykNET & Kie (DStv 145) is also missing.
Previously the producers of several production companies have had concerns around the Saftas secrecy and lack of transparency and inclusivity, the process and judging process, other issues that they said are not being addressed and getting resolved, and even called the Saftas "not fair".
Deliberately gone again from the Saftas is Generations - The Legacy, produced by Mfundi Vundla's Morula Pictures, for the second consecutive time. Generations is SABC1's and South Africa's second most-watched show and soap, pulling 7.9 million viewers. Generations' publicist didn't respond to a media enquiry seeking comment about its decision not to enter the Saftas.
Also deliberately gone again is Muvhango, SABC2's Venda soap produced by Duma Ndlovu's Word of Mouth productions for the fourth consecutive time and fifth time overall. Muvhango is SABC2's most-watched show and soap, pulling 6.1 million viewers. Muvhango's publicist didn't respond to a media enquiry seeking comment about its decision not to enter the Saftas.
Also deliberately absent again is 7de Laan, SABC2's Afrikaans language soap with 2.2 million viewers produced by Danie Odendaal Productions, for the third time in the history of the Saftas after it won as Best Soap in 2009, 2010 and 2011. In response to a media enquiry, 7de Laan said "we will not comment at this stage on our reasons for not entering the upcoming Safta awards".
Meanwhile, all of the popular shows produced under power-producer couple Connie and Shona Ferguson's Ferguson Films banner like The Queen, The Imposter first season (second season now produced by Seriti Films), and The Throne are nowhere to be seen at this year's Saftas. Shona didn't respond to a media enquiry seeking comment about the decision not to enter the awards show.
The telenovela The Queen is the most watched show on all of MultiChoice's DStv pay-TV platform with 1.5 million viewers, while The Throne lured 697 000 viewers in December 2018. The Imposter grabbed just over 1 million viewers during its first season run.
Not part of this year's Saftas without a reason given is kykNET's Afrikaans language telenovela, Arendsvlei although it's eligible. kykNET was asked why but didn't provide an answer although Arendsvlei's Saftas no-show is likely more due to an oversight from the producers than a deliberate snub.
Since the NFVF forces the producers of soaps and telenovelas to enter in other categories if they want to be listed in the overall Most Popular Soap/Telenovela category, these shows - although legitimately forming a huge part of the local genre - have once again been blocked from the Saftas category and can't be voted for.
It means that viewers - actively solicited to vote for the Saftas' Most Popular Soap/Telenovela - can't vote for what might really be most popular or a viewer's most liked show for instance Generations, Muvhango, 7de Laan, The Queen or The Throne, and again will mean a hollow victory for whatever soap is announced the winner.
Neo Moretlwe, NFVF communications coordinator, didn't respond to media enquiries made since Friday seeking comment on the growing number of producers snubbing the awards and other issues after the Saftas organisers announced the 2019 nominees.
The Saftas that will take place and be broadcast on 2 March on SABC2 at 19:00 and produced by Clive Morris Productions this year, is once again taking place at Sun City but in a new change is dropping the 2-night spectacle - completely doing away with the previously separate, technical awards evening that was a separate awards ceremony that wasn't televised.
The Saftas at Sun City has been criticised as an out-of-touch and not representative money-wasting soiree for film body elites, sponsors and TV executives to clink glasses in luxury while making the ceremony inaccessible to a lot of media, nominees, even its own lifetime achievement award winners not invited, with people having to drive back to Johannesburg and elsewhere late at night.
As in previous years, the Saftas organisers and judges once again also made some perplexing and head-scratching choices regarding nominees in categories for the 13th Saftas.
Some include VIA and Showmax's JAN, a fly-on-the-wall lifestyle documentary series following the life of South Africa's first Michelin-star Jan-Hendrik van der Westhuizen in Nice that is a very worthy nominee but snagged a nomination in the Best variety show category.
Meanwhile a reality competition show like Die Kontrak is a nominee as Best music show instead of Best reality show, while Starlight Classics 2017 on M-Net is a nominee under Best variety show although it belongs in the Best music show category.
