by Thinus Ferreira
Production on The River telenovela on M-Net's 1Magic (DStv 103) channel has been forced to shut down for a second time this year because of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, this time because an unnamed person working on the show has tested positive for the virus on Tuesday morning.
The River, produced by Tshedza Pictures, restarted production on 1 May 2020 after weeks of downtime when South Africa's entire film and TV industry shuttered since late-March because of South Africa's national lockdown period to try and curb the spread of the virus.
Now the weekday primetime series produced for one of M-Net's channels and seen on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service has locked the studio doors again.
The River has closed its doors for the set to be decontaminated and the Tzhedza Pictures producers don't want to do any interviews.
"Ever since we resumed production on 1 May 2020, all necessary lockdown health guidelines were implemented on set," says Phathu Makwarela of Tshedza Pictures in a statement.
"After we received the news of the colleague testing positive, we immediately asked the cast and crew that came into contact with the member to go into self-isolation. They will soon avail themselves to health authorities for testing, in-line with government directives."
Nomsa Philiso, channel director for local entertainment channels at M-Net, in the prepared statement says that "We have contacted the production team in order to assure them of our support".
"Our understanding is that ever since they resumed production, the production team implemented all the necessary health precautions to ensure the safety of cast and crew."
"Now more than ever, we need to show compassion to our fellow brothers and sisters, and we would like to wish the affected member of the production team a speedy recovery."
M-Net ran out of episodes for The River on 8 May 2020 which was replaced on the 1Magic schedule by Is'thunzi. After production resumed on 1 May, new episodes of The River resumed on 25 May 2020.
It's very important to note that MultiChoice, M-Net and Tshedza Pictures felt the need to specifically say that there won't be any interviews done because they want to make very clear that they don't want to talk about Covid-19 and its impact on the show, and don't want to answer any questions about it at all.
So far there's been very little evidence of South Africa's TV and film industry working on awareness campaigns and pro-active communication against the stigmatisation of Covid-19 and people with Covid-19.
This is something once again shown by the approach of MultiChoice, M-Net and Tshedza Pictures to outright tell the media that there won't be any interviews done.
TV programming, producers and South Africa's media show viewers how they themselves respond when confronted with Covid-19, and through that are teach viewers how they should react when they or someone they know tests positive for Covid-19: Hide and don't talk about it.
While fighting the scourge of Covid-19 South Africa's TV and film industry should keep in mind that it is as important to signal that there is nothing "wrong" with being Covid-19 positive, nothing to be ashamed about, and nothing to hide away for or to keep a secret.
If everybody really is "in this together" - especially South Africa's influential TV and film industry - it is extremely important to be open, forthcoming, to keep talking about Covid-19 without fear, to fight against coronavirus stigmatisation and to tell people that it's okay to say that you are Covid-19 positive, to get help, and to ask for help.
