by Thinus Ferreira
The cast and crew of e.tv's cancelled Nikiwe are still struggling to get paid months after the show got canned and stopped production by Parental Advisory Productions which has since gone to ground.
In January TVwithThinus reported how Parental Advisory Productions co-owned by Thomas Gumede and Lungelo Radu imploded with huge amounts of debt with e.tv that cancelled the low-rated Nikiwe amidst serious financial problems inside the production and production company.
Hundreds of staffers who worked on the cancelled Nikiwe are still owed hundreds of thousands of rand in payment from Parental Advisory Productions months after the final scene was filmed.
Last year Thapelo Ramatsui, e.tv publicist, told the online publication ZiMoja that e.tv cancelled Nikiwe and the contract with Parental Advisory Productions due to the show's bad viewership and that PAP was paid what it was owed.
The final episode of Nikiwe was broadcast on e.tv on 5 January 2024.
Cast and crew told City Press they haven't heard from either Tomas Gumede or Lungelo Radu since December 2023, with the final communication which was three days before Christmas Day in the form of an email on 22 December.
One Nikiwe actor told the newspaper "These people are failing us in that they spent the money instead of paying us. They are basically making fools out of us".
The corporate communications manager of e.tv, Bennum van Jaarsveld told City Press that Nikiwe was old news and that e.tv didn't want to comment but noted that e.tv had paid Parental Advisory Productions what the show was owed.
"It's just an old thing and we've moved on. There are so many other things happening; Nikiwe is an old story for us to comment on. Also, a lot of the stuff there was between the production and the cast, we were not involved in that."
"We had our contract and agreement with the production house and the production house had an agreement with the talent. We did what we needed to do, we met our obligations and the rest was on the production and that's where I think things sort of went wrong."
