Insider sources are whispering to me that there's definitely no love lost between SABC and Bonang Matheba who once had a very close and cosy relationship.
According to insiders, SABC1 and Bonang Matheba who were a mere months ago still orbiting to work together on a new entertainment TV show for the diva entitled The Link are now galaxies apart after Bonang Matheba agreed to be the presenter of the upcoming new reality show, Clash of the Choirs on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161).
Earlier this year when Bonang Matheba left the music show, Live on SABC1 which made her, the channel and the power pop princess both expressed bona vide intentions to keep working together. Sadly, within months that relationship has now soured.
Initially it was real: Bonang Matheba wanted to remain on SABC1 to which she was loyal and where she had crafted out a loyal fanbase on the country's most watched TV channel. Likewise SABC1 wanted her to stay who've invested and built her as a name brand on their TV property Live.
Live was suddenly going through tumultuous change as the presenters who wanted to do more with their fame, expressed other bigger desires; for Bonang Matheba SABC1 saw backdoor options to repurpose her elsewhere in primetime.
Both sides held discussions around a new lifestyle and entertainment show to become Bonang Matheba's new TV vehicle. Both SABC1 and Bonang Matheba were committed to have the new untitled show on the air on SABC1 from this month. Both SABC1 and Bonang Matheba worked together on the new project which would have seen her get a primetime timeslot on weekdays on Mzansi Fo Sho.
Now The Link will go ahead on SABC1, and the show will start on SABC1 next week, but definitely with no Bonang Matheba attached anymore.
That working relationship has now however all but evaporated. It's November, there is no Bonang Matheba star vehicle project on SABC1; nor will there be anytime soon - the relationship between channel executives and Bonang Matheba has disintegrated, sources tell me. The reason: Bonang Matheba's jump to the rival Mzansi Magic channel to present Clash of the Choirs which caused a clash with the public broadcaster.
"The show [The Link] is definitely going ahead," SABC1 told me earlier this week and again confirmed it this morning. "We're just finalising the presenter," I was told. Make no mistake: Bonang Matheba would have been the presenter of this lifestyle entertainment magazine show. Now she's not.
SABC1will officially announce The Link very soon. And it won't contain anything Bonang Matheba.
