by Thinus Ferreira
MultiChoice has become the first large company within South Africa's film and TV industry to make Covid-19 vaccinations compulsory for all its staffers and agents, and is also ordering all staff to return to work from the office by February 2022 under a mandatory vaccine policy.
Last month TVwithThinus asked MultiChoice for instance running DStv, Showmax and the M-Net division; Media Holdings for instance running e.tv, eNCA, Openview and Sasani Studios; as well as the South African public broadcaster running the various SABC TV channels like SABC News, whether they would also follow the lead of companies like health Discovery Health, Netflix that made Covid-19 vaccinations mandatory for staff and productions.
MultiChoice, Media and the SABC didn't bother to respond to the media queries, and Netflix South Africa told TVwithThinus last month that it declines to comment.
Now MultiChoice Calvo Mawela in an internal memo is ordering all MultiChoice staffers to be and get Covid-19 vaccinated by 1 February 2022, and to return to the office.
"All MultiChoice South Africa employees and contractors will return to the office on 1 February 2022 on a rotational basis should the regulation still only permit 50% occupation. However, if the regulations permit 100% occupation, all employees will be required to report for duty as per their letters of appointment," Calvo Mawela told MultiChoice staffers.
"All parties must provide MultiChoice with proof of being fully vaccinated in the form of the official vaccine certificate issued by no later than 20 January 2022 to facilitate orderly and timely access to MultiChoice premises, starting on 1 February 2022."
Neither agents, contractors or any service providers will be allowed to enter or get access to any MultiChoice premises if they're not vaccinated by February 2022.
"A mandatory vaccine policy has become necessary for the full functioning of our business, and as such, all employees and service providers are expected to comply."
Calvo Mawela tells MultiChoice staffers that "People who are vaccinated are three times less likely to infect others and are also exponentially less likely to become extremely ill".
It's not immediately clear how MultiChoice's new mandatory vaccination policy will impact third-party providers and production companies who are technically service providers to DStv and M-Net, although it's very likely that the requirement of mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations will filter down to individual content channels and creators.
Besides a staffer for instance working at the reception desk at MultiChoice's MultiChoice City headquarters in Randburg, it's logical to deduce that companies like producers and TV channels with a local content production footprint who are service providers to DStv and M-Net will be compelled to ensure that their casts and crews are now getting Covid-19 jabbed.
It will likely mean that staff working at eNCA or Newzroom Africa for instance, or the production crew on a show like Rapid Blue's Come Dine with Me South Africa for BBC Studios Africa's BBC Lifestyle (DStv 174) channel or Stark Productions' Binnelanders done for kykNET (DStv 144), will have to show proof of a Covid-19 vaccination, similar to what Netflix is demanding in the United States and in Europe, since they are service providers.
While MultiChoice has said it is following strict Covid-19 safety protocols on-set for its various M-Net, Mzansi Magic, Africa Magic and kykNET productions in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa, and that it supports the South African government's Covid-19 vaccination drive, MultiChoice has in reality been extremely lax in its cavalier approach and safety protocols.
Over the past few months, and still ongoing, MultiChoice has shown DStv subscribers numerous times that it doesn't practically adhere to Covid-19 safety rules on sets like mask wearing or proper social distancing, and also not during in-person media interactions (see here) (and here) (and here) with press in South Africa and across the African continent.
