by Thinus Ferreira
MultiChoice and M-Net are prepping a One Night with Mzansi variety TV special that it plans to broadcast on Sunday night for DStv subscribers live from the Dubai Opera House that will feature a range of concert stage-to-screen performances and singing like Britain's annual Royal Variety Performance.
With the aim of showcasing South African talent, One Night with Mzansi will be broadcast live on Sunday night 17 October at 21:00 as a 2-hour variety TV special on M-Net's 1Magic (DStv 103) and Mzansi Magic Music (Dstv 321) channels for DStv subscribers in South Africa, with a repeat on Mzansi Magic on Monday morning at 06:00.
The One Night with Mzansi variety TV special putting South African talent on stage will serve as a replacement of sorts to showcase local artists after the MultiChoice Group and M-Net scrapped both the 2021 African Magic Viewers' Choice Awards in Lagos, Nigeria and the 2021 DStv Mzansi Viewers' Choice Awards in Johannesburg this year, with kykNET that has been silent about the 2021 kykNET Silwerskermfees that will very likely also no longer take place this year.
Nomzamo Mbatha now living in Los Angeles and who appeared in the film Coming 2 America earlier this year will be the host of One Night with Mzansi, that will include performances by Mi Casa, Blaq Diamond, DJ Maphorisa, Ami Faku and the amapiano musician Daliwonga.
Also singing will be both the Mzansi Youth Choir and the Drakensberg Boys Choir, along with Sho Madjozi and the Maskandi artist Khuzai Mpungose.
Thando Thabethe, the Queen of Ndebele music Dr Nothembi Mkhwebane, Coenie de Villiers and Pabi Moloi of e.tv's The Morning Show have also been lined up to be part of the special.
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa and the country's minister of arts and culture, Nathi Mthethwa, as well as a representative of the South African Business Council (SABCO) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will make speeches during the live TV special.
