by Thinus Ferreira
South Africa's public broadcaster, known for several of its own on-air gaffes over the years, on Thursday had some fun mocking its Namibian TV neighbour when the presenters of Morning Live worked in a skit and did their own version of a sensational video that went viral overnight of the awkward on-air fight between two presenters at the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC).
On Wednesday night a clip surfaced of the cringe-worthy interaction between Elmarie Kapunda, a news anchor on NBC's nightly TV news programme on Namibia's public broadcaster, and the sports presenter Jessica.
After Elmarie apparently "intruded" on the content or lines that Jessica wanted to say, Jessica started to scold Elmarie with a "No,we are not going to do that! You're just going to greet me and say, 'Take it away", after which Elmarie had to remind her fellow presenter: "Jessica, we're live".
Awkward silence, dead air and cold stares followed, after which the NBC News technical director cut to a commercial break.
Namibia's NBC has so far not released any statement about the incident and it's not clear whether any of the on-air talent has been suspended on taken leave.
On Thursday, Morning Live, broadcast on SABC2 and SABC News (DStv 404) reported about the incident in its daily trending topics. Later anchor Sakina Kamwendo and presenter Vaylen Kirtley had fun poking fun at their NBC colleagues' on-air moment.
Sakina Kamwendo and Vaylen Kirtley substituted their names and Vaylen had to tell her colleague: "Sakina, we're live", after which Sakina blankly stared into the Auckland Park TV camera for a few seconds - after which she cracked a smile.
On Wednesday night the SABC and SABC had its own on-air problem when anchor Vuyo Mvoko suddenly had to deal with an unexpected connection blackout during the The Watchdog timeslot:
