In attendance were Basetsana Kumalo, Rosie Motene, Anele Mdoda, Keketso Semoko and Sonia Sedibe amongst others. An insider with knowledge of the event tells me SABC3 asked Oprah Winfrey to please work in a once day visit to Johannesburg while she was visiting Bloemfontein in South Africa (of course to be at this event) but she of course refused.
''Today's event is so significant,'' said Risuna Mayimele to SABC3's Top Billing who spoke about the show at the event. ''It's one of those historic moments in television. We've been so lucky as SABC3 to broadcast Oprah since 1996. In fact we're the only broadcaster in Africa that has broadcasted Oprah.''
Whoo. Embarrasssing.
In September 1998 e.tv actually stole The Oprah Winfrey Show away from SABC3 for a few years. The Oprah Winfrey Show then went back to SABC3 only in 2005, so e.tv at least have definitely broadcast Oprah. Could there be more? Of course.
The M-Net East as well as the M-Net West channels in Africa has the current and final season of The Oprah Winfrey Show too, at this very moment, and had the show for a number of years. Then there's the local terrestrial broadcasters in African countries that has the show as well.
The Oprah Winfrey Show is watched in Africa [excluding South Africa] in Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Marocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Zambia, Zanzibar and Zimbabwe.
ALSO READ: First episode of 3 part Oprah finale on SABC3 in primetime lures massive audience; almost doubles the viewership of the timeslot.
