by Thinus Ferreira
The South African public broadcaster and Word of Mouth Pictures have been unwilling to say or explain why nothing came of broken promises of a new show logo and a new opening title sequence for the new season of Muvhango on SABC2.
Muvhango creator Duma Ndlovu and the SABC said that Muvhango would restart with a 26th season that would come with a new, updated logo, as well as new opening title sequence. Neither happened.
After Word of Mouth Pictures' contract ran out for season 25 (that had just 130 episodes instead of the usual 260 required to fill a year's worth of weekday episodes) which effectively means that Muvhango was cancelled, the SABC eventually signed a new contract for a 26th season and a further 260 episodes - meaning a full season order.
TVwithThinus reported on 24 July that the SABC had decided to do another season of Muvhango.
The SABC at a hastily arranged media event on 25 July in Fourways, Johannesburg confirmed the reporting.
At this media event, the SABC said that season 26 of Muvhango would start on 5 August.
On 5 August Muvhango failed to start on SABC2, without any proper media advisory and with the SABC saying that it suddenly had to show Olympic Games coverage on SABC2.
Muvhango's new season eventually started on 12 August.
At the media event, Duma Ndlovu and the SABC claimed that Muvhango would have this new show logo with a different font, and "unveiled" it to the media:
When Muvhango restarted belatedly on 12 August, there was no longer any updated show logo. Over the past two weeks Muvhango kept using the same old, existing logo.
At the media event, Duma Ndlovu and the SABC also claimed that Muvhango would have a new, updated opening title sequence. This also turned out to be false.
At the Muvhango media event, Duma Ndlovu claimed that "Muvhango has a new logo, we have a new title sequence, we've listened to the young people. We've come back with what we think is a stunning show."
Since 15 August the SABC was asked repeatedly for comment and for explanations about the broadcaster and Word of Mouth Pictures announcements about a new show logo and title sequence and why it didn't happen.
At the time of publishing this article on 26 August, the SABC hasn't responded to any of the questions.
