With daring, boundary-pushing reality shows about topics previous discussed in "hushed tones", the Moja Love channel on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service says that it's aspiring "to innovate, to change and challenge the South African TV landscape".
The channel that launched on 14 February 2018, last week held its first-ever Moja Love 2019 Content Showcase, going through its existing content slate and unveiling new upcoming programming, while trotting out its on-air talent and executives on-stage before the media.
"Our mission is to create content that is authentic, the lived experience of our communities. We want our viewers to see themselves in experiences-in-the-real," said Bokani Moyo, Moja Love's head of unscripted content.
"Our production teams are made up of young, and mainly female content-creators who are driven to deliver stories that were previously not spoken about; everything was spoken about in hushed tones and you don't talk about that in public."
"We believe it's important to speak about these social ills. If we don't raise them to the surface, they are passed on from generation to generation. So Moja Love is here to say, 'Let's start anew. Let's confront our issues and deal with them head-on'," said Bokani Moyo.
"This is reflected in the impactful reality shows such as No Excuse Pay Papgeld, Uthando Noxolo and Rea Tsotella."
"As Moja Love we are also very much about celebrating ourselves - our traditions, our cultures, but above all else, celebrating our authentic selves. We have done this with shows such as Traditional Wedding and the very popular Umndeni. We have unearthed new presenter talent and we haven't been afraid to groom young production talent."
"We have invited young, small, black production companies to come with us on this journey and we haven't been disappointed as they come with fresh, different concepts and ideas.
"We really aspire to innovate, to change and challenge the South African TV landscape," said Bokani Moyo. "We ask a lot of these young teams of men and women, who work long hours. But their talent shines through and it's reflected on screen."
"We've now got a weekly reach of 2.7 million viewers, surpassing some of the long-established players, including international TV players."
"We know that we are offering something that our viewers want and we will continue to bring that to them," said Bokani Moyo.
"At MultiChoice we pride ourselves on being Africa's most-loved storyteller. So, when we had the opportunity in 2017 to look for an additional TV channel to add to our local content repertoire, we were very excited".
"It actually was a great experience for us because we had the opportunity to now go outside of the MultiChoice stable, outside of the M-Net stable, to look for something different - to look for additional voices that reflect who South Africans are. So that is how Moja Love came about and on 14 February 2018 we finally launched the channel."
"Moja Love came with a number of brand-new content like No Excuse Pay Papgeld which started off being a bit controversial but Moja Love told stories that a lot of black South Africans wanted to hear and see a reflection of who we are."
"So as MultiChoice we are very proud to see how Moja Love has grown from strength to strength and we see that in the ratings and we also see it in the talent that they've uncovered over the last couple of months."
"It's been 14 months now that Moja Love has been on DStv so we're very proud of Moja Love and we can't wait to see what more they have in store for us."
ALSO READ: IN IMAGES. 24 photos of Moja Love's 2019 Content Showcase.
ALSO READ: The Moja Love 2019 Content showcase sizzle reel.
ALSO READ: Big revamp for second season of Show Me Love starting 3 June on Moja Love; local talk show to broadcast live, add politics, with new location, new studio, new panellists and more daring content.
ALSO READ: New Moja Love conflict reality show exposing cheating lovers, Uyajola 9/9, is "not for the faint-hearted" warns presenter Jub Jub.
ALSO READ: After delays, the reality show, Zodwa Wabantu Uncensored, is starting on Moja Love on Saturday 25 May as the Vosho Queen gives viewers a glimpse of her surreal life with a "16-ish" age restriction.
ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. So, the Moja Love channel on DStv held a content showcase event and it was basically perfect - with 2 things that were a pleasant surprise and positives for SA's TV biz.
ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. For a channel with 'love' in its name, Moja Love's content is built on a collection of conflict. For how long will its viewers thirst to watch the fight?