The South African Audience Research Foundation (Saarf) sits without a chairperson at the same time as the organisation - which is amongst other things responsible for being the custodian of the South African TV industry's official TV viewership and ratings system - is being battered and going through its biggest crisis in years.
A TV ratings war erupted between Saarf on the one hand, and the South African broadcasters together with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) on the other - broadcasters and the NAB claim major problems for years with the way viewership figures in South Africa for free-to-air TV channels have been compiled, following an audit.
The SABC, e.tv and the NAB said they're ready to leave Saarf. The NAB contributes almost 40% of Saarf's overall operational costs.
Saarf currently doesn't have a chairperson since Clare O'Neill who used to be the chairperson is gone after she withdrew from the board, and after Greg Garden who stepped in, then suddenly withdrew his candicacy as well.
Greg Garden is part of the Marketing Association of South Africa (MASA) and the MASA board. In order to be the Saarf chairperson and to be independent, he would have had to resign from the MASA board.
Greg Garden however after second thoughts didn't want to leave the MASA board and rather continue to protect and serve their interest of marketers in South Africa, which means the industry organisation is without a chairperson at the moment.
Virginia Hollis as Saarf's deputy chairperson and Greg Garden are currently helping the Saarf CEO Paul Haupt for the time being until Saarf's chairperson impasse gets resolved.
