REVIEW. The 6th South African Film and Television Awards produces yet another spectacularly bad broadcasting awards show failure.

Like the doomed Titanic the broadcast of the 6th South African Film and Television Awards known as the Saftas hurriedly edited and shown Sunday night on SABC3 had people decked out in glamorous clothes for a disastrous awards ceremony that kept sinking away deeper and deeper into sea of embarrassement the longer the sad show went on.

The sad and completely amateur way in which both the production was executed on Saturday night (the event was recorded and edited and shown on Sunday on SABC3), as well as the actual broadcast is a very clear and lamentable indictment of how spectacularly far South Africa's TV industry has fallen when it comes to the production and broadcast of big made-for-TV awards shows and ceremonies (Artes, Nelson Mandela presidential inaguration) we once mustered with standard and above standard quality and critical acclaim.

As the atrocious Saftas (and sister Samas and the others) show, South Africa has indeed fallen very far; willing to settle for mediocrity and subpar, stereotyped, ill executed showmanship. Is the Channel O Music Video Awards really all that can still pass the barrier of a passing grade when it comes to local television award shows?

The laughable production (and this is after the edited recording that cleaned up the live event for broadcasting) had people constantly walking around in front of camera and in front of presenters at the 6th Saftas during the actual ceremony. You will never see it from a polished well-produced show like the Emmys or Oscars. 

The actualy ceremony was preceded by an absolutely ill-suited and camp Terence Bridgett hamming it up on a sparse, middle-of-nowhere red carpet, with more hand windmill waves than a hyper-active YO.TV presenter. The camerawork was epically bad. 

It was embarrassing and cringeworthy to watch, making it painfully clear than all that South African wannabe red carpet interviewers really know of how to behave and how to supposedly do it, has been gleamed from watching third rate red carpet coverage on television without having any real experience of doing so. 

The Michael Gill set design for the 6th Saftas was absolutely beautiful and possibly the only thing of the wholly sub standard production that stood out as magnificent, carefully crafted, beautifully designed and appropriately befitting of the stature of what the Saftas supposedly want to exude.

The Michael Gill Designs Saftas stage was miles better than anything else the production gave viewers at home to see or for the actually attending Gallagher Estate audience. Big video walls flanked a beautifully curved shield-like triangle sprouting into the audience and connected with a narrow walkway.Functionally and estetically it had the wow-factor and worked, although nothing that the humans who walked on it, sadly did. 

Too sad that the first time viewers saw the stage the black high-gloss tri-side stage was also already dull and full of messy footprints. It's incredible. You'd think the producers or the seemingly inept Saftas organisers would wax and shine and clean it knowing footprints are going to show up on television after rehearsals or due to shown out-of-order re-edited segments.

 So tedious and drawn out was the Saftas broadcast which started at 19:30 that the first award handed out viewers saw was only a full hour later at 20:27. Because first beaurocrats had to talk and talk and talk and viewers be subjected to ''the history of South African filmmaking complete with censor board quips'' inserts. You cannot make this up.

Unintentionally funny? The bald Riaan Garforth-Venter as presenter of the best hairstylist award.

It's always very difficult for producers to get winners to keep acceptance speeches short during a live show, but the edited version simply cut and culled mercilessly in the worst of ways. Horrible editing and abrupt cutting created a how-bad-is-this? broadcast that made me feel that first year film students on an analogue tape deck would have edited this mess better.

The most shocking moment - which could have been the emotional cornerstone of the 6th Saftas award show broadcast - was when Siyabonga Radebe won the best actor award as Muzi in Intersexions. A beautiful could-be moment was tragically and amateurly prevented.

The jubilant actor wanted to rush off the stage to go and hug his crying mother sitting at a table in the audience. He was almost off the stage with his trophy when the dressed in black  daft trophy model unprofessionally yanked him back, prevented him from going into the audience, and pushed him to the opposite side of the stage. What would have been a spontaneous and beautiful moment was akwardly killed.

Lets not even started with the pronunciation. The famed Robert Durrant won a lifetime achievement award but the ‘’industry’’ who did the Saftas seems confused as to how actually pronounce her name (after so many years!). Different pronouncements on stage and in the promo made it painfully clear that amateurs were everywhere (viewers heard ''Durrant'' as in ''currant'', and then ''Durrant'' as in ''due rant'' (Can the presenters please check pronounciations and practise reading names maybe before they say it one stage for seemingly the first time?)

The shocking In Memoriam segment was nothing short of a huge and sad embarrassement. Allthe dearly departed deserved so much better. The names and details of industry people who’ve died wasn’t even legibile on television. And if it wasn't made for people and viewers at home, why broadcast this then in the first place?

The oddest thing was the loud crowd applause and jubilant cheers of the 6th Saftas. The camera would pan with roarious applause while viewers would hardly see anyone actually clapping and people just sitting. Was there possibly a sitcom claptrack added? And what sounded like canned clapping would stop perfectly when presenters started talking. All too weird.

Then there's the horribly way the film awards got squeezed in as an afterthought. Vusi Kunene can you take your hands out of the pockets of your beautiful suit and please read through what you’re asked to read on the Teleprompter before you do it? How disrespectful of the audience both there and at home.

The Saftas which, when previously broadcast always ran far over, once again did so, although this time it wasn’t  even an uncontrollable live broadcast but an edit recorded show.  Still the producers couldn't get it to run on time. The 2012 Saftas that was supposed to end at 21:30 on SABC3 ran the end credits of the shoddy show at 21:48. Viewers who recorded the show wouldn’t have seen the inappropriate ''I'm hungry'' end. Which is probably just as well.

The wholly inappropriate musical acts for a film and television awards show supposed to be a glossy classy show doesn't even bear mentioning.

Sponsors on the stage? No subtitles for the un-funny comedy duo? Two female co-hosts in the form of Bridget Masinga and Jeannie D as nothing more than mere lip service while there's no category even for best actress in a film because there supposedly aren't any?

One can only sigh at the Saftas and what should be so much better.

Can Someone Just Please Fix The Sad Saftas? Please? Anyone. Our TV and film industry desperately needs a credible awards show.

Instead of listening to what broadcasters and South Africa's TV industry are saying (and saying through their actions by withdrawing) about the major problems there is, the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) which runs the South African Film and Television Awards known as the Saftas isn't having a special emergency task team convening to actually fix the sham of an awards show that has lost all credibility.

The controversial show keeps limping along year after year after year, generating bad buzz, resentment and heads shaking in disbelief, for the incredible way in which the NFVF seems either powerless, or unwilling, uninformed, or unwilling to listen, about how to make this awards ceremony - purported to honour the best of South Africa's film and television - better.

The 6th Saftas taking place today and tomorrow at Gallagher Estate in Midrand with an edited recorded broadcast Sunday on SABC3 refuses to address the multiple issues constantly being raised by the industry and by broadcasters year after year. This failure keeps generating the same result: a competition without credibility, the loss of real recognition to South Africa's film and television community and actual damage to relationships which is ironically the complete opposite of what the NFVF and the Saftas supposedly are trying to achieve.

Why the NFVF and the organising committee for the Saftas remain unable to actually have real critics of film and television who actually watch films and television rather be the judges of this sorry dog and pony show instead of previous nominees and winner (who's friends are nominated and who themselves might be a nominee the next year) is not clear.

Why the NFVF and the Saftas remain unable to consult with people who have real knowledge of how to organise and structure these type of things which would result in real categories with the correct nominees, a bigger number of nominees, in their actual correct categories, and nominated for closer and more relevant date periods, is not clear.

Why the NFVF and the Saftas don't have a pre-agreed set rotation wheel of broadcasters sharing the TV broadcast like the Emmys and Oscars so that its equitable and fair and which would create better buy-in from all the broadcasters who will immediately play nice with each other and work collectively together to make the Saftas a success, is not clear.

Why the NFVF and the Saftas marginalise the non-fiction section (they don't show up on television) which means lesser attention to them as ''second-class citizens'' but who work as hard and create as great work,is not clear.

The NFVF and the Saftas organising committee needs to have a very serious discussion and very serious meetings about what it wants to be and do. Or whether it wants to continue as a not really supported awards show that preys on the not often recognised film and TV industry who largely keeps quiet cause any little bit of recognition - no matter how tainted - is at least something.

I don't want the Saftas to be excellent. I don't need the Saftas to be great. I don't require the Saftas to be everything for everyone. Because it can never be.

I simply want the South African Film and Television Awards to be on standard and to actually be fair, credible and handing out awards to people and in a way that everyone feels the winner really deserved it.

ALSO READ: The sad Saftas continues to be a sorry shamfest.
ALSO READ: e.tv slams the Saftas over ''lack of transparency'': Says the award show's ''current structure does not not work''.
ALSO READ: e.tv withdraws its shows, soaps and support from the Saftas, saying the award show lacks credibility.

BREAKING. e.tv slams the Saftas over 'lack of transparency': Awards show's 'current structure does not work' says broadcaster.

South African broadcaster e.tv is heaping further blistering criticism on the upcoming South African Film and Television Awards and slamming the 6th Saftas set to take place this Friday and Saturday but without e.tv who withdrew all of its shows and soaps and support due to major unhappiness and concerns about the awards show purported to honour South African TV shows and films.

''E.tv has tried, on numerous occasions, to address our concerns with the Saftas committee over the past two years,'' says Monde Twala, e.tv channel head, saying that a ''lack of transparency and unclear processes are some of the reasons e.tv is withdrawing its participation from this year's awards.''

The true fractious nature of the in-fighting among the different roleplayers behind the scenes of the controversial awards ceremony became blatantly evident when Eddie Mbalo, the chairperson of the Saftas and also the interim chairperson of the pay TV operator TopTV hit back at the broadcaster after the TV channel pulled out.

Earlier this week Eddie Mbalo hit back at e.tv saying e.tv's participation in the awards show was ''considerably low'' anyway and that ''maybe if the broadcasters were playing their part and even contributing towards funding of the Saftas the withdrawal would not be at the drop of the hat as is the case at the moment.''

E.tv's withdrawal comes after SABC2 and it's popular soap 7de Laan both discovered that it will suddenly not be included in the Best Soap category which is decided through a viewers' vote and for which it can't enter. The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) which runs the Saftas decided that 7de Laan is not eligible to be included in the Best Soap category since the show didn't enter any of the other categories.

Meanwhile SABC3 will have to do with an edited and recorded broadcast of the Saftas Sunday. The NFVF which couldn't find a broadcaster for the 5th Saftas last year informed SABC3 last month that the dates of the two night ceremony to be held at Gallagher Estate in Midrand are now moving, leaving SABC3 unable to alter its schedule of what would have been a live broadcast on Sunday night. 

E.tv is now further explaining why the broadcaster felt it had to take the drastic step of pulling out of the Saftas as says the  competition has a huge credibility problem.

''The credibility of the Saftas should be a priority and this necessitates a greater need for transparency and fairness,'' says Monde Twala. ''There should be a well outlined judging process and formalised structure in the form of an Academy that will manage and take full responsibility without bias or favour towards a single broadcaster.''

E.tv is also slamming the competition for what it says is a structure that does not work.

''E.tv, therefore, recognises that efforts need to be directed towards achieving a working structural committee that has clear objectives and takes full accountability for the process. The current structure does not work and needs to be urgently revised.  We have formally submitted a list of concerns to the NFVF representatives and the chairman of the Saftas committee, Eddie Mbalo. E.tv has withdrawn its participation until all matters raised are addressed.''

OPINION. The sorry, shoddy and sad Saftas continues to be a shamfest that fuels shame and continues to divide rather than build the industry.

I've said it many times before and I'll say it again: The Saftas is little more than a sad sham; very badly organised, amateurly run - and a disappointing attempt at a local South African awards ceremony trying to honour the country's struggling television and film industry which it is effectively just dividing, damaging, and destroying with disheartening embarrassement even more.

South Africa's television and film industry deserves better. South Africa's television and film industry deserves more than the ridiculous and perpetually controversial ''annual'' (although it hasn't happened every year since it started) South African Film and Television Awards which basically in my view has as much credibility as the voting in North Korea and Zimbabwe.

Why the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) which runs this sad mess of an awards show and ''annually'' botches it, steadfastly refuse to do the right things to make the Saftas truly independent, credible and a real asset for South Africa's film and TV industry, continues to defy belief.

The NFVF refuses to sit down with all broadcasters and create a round robin multi-year agreement where all broadcasters get to take turns to show the Saftas. If it works for the Oscars and the Emmys, why not for us? A multi-year agreement will make all the broadcasters buy-in and play fair since they know and can plan and will be ensured that they all gets a turn.

The NFVF and Saftas refuse to get judges who are ''outside'' of the system - like truly independent TV and film critics who actually watch these things anyway and not because they have to - people who actually knows what is good movies and shows and who's job it is to critique these mediums.

Instead this Miss South Africa type competition has Miss South African contestants on the stage being judged by Miss South African contestants who were on the stage just five minutes ago - people actually working alongside the people nominated, people working for rival production companies and broadcasters (all of it creating huge tension) and leading to major credibility problems.

And how clever are these judges really and how amateur are the rules when Jam Alley is both nominated as a reality show and as a music show at the same time? When Carte Blanche on M-Net is nominated as a magazine show but should have been moved over by the judges to the news and current affairs category where it possibly actually belongs?

Is it really that hard to book and find a venue in time so that the broadcaster doesn't need to be told that the ceremony has to be moved up because the show needs to be packed up earlier than you anticipated and which makes a live broadcast now impossible?

Is it too difficult to reach out to the 20 or so longtime TV and film critics in this country, get them together and ask them if they would mind watching and judging - impartially - the best of what South Africa produces in film and television? We would have been able to come up with nominees for best actress in film this year - the whole category dumped from this year's Saftas.

We actually watch more than three episodes of the soaps - 7de Laan, Rhythm City and Scandal! which are not part of this year's 6th Saftas after 7de Laan is strangely ''ineligible'' and e.tv just pulled all of its shows and soaps. Do you hear the criticism NFVF about soaps saying its impossible to enter based on three episodes when they run hundreds of episodes a year?

We would be able to tell you who really deserve lifetime achievement awards at the Saftas. We would definitely give more attention that you do NFVF to those ''invisible'' categories and ''non-fiction'' night write-down where writers, editors, directors and all the people behind-the-scenes are treated like second class citizens in your sad set-up. How ironic that the Saftas purports to honour people who are shunted to a literally no-show night not televised.

In short, we'll be fair.

We won't allow Shona Ferguson to be a nominee this year for best actor in a soap for Scandal! while he's already been seen on M-Net's The Wild for more than a year. We'll be clever enough to weed out the ... madness. We will certainly not let one show have more than one final nominee in a category like SABC1's Intersextions where all three actors for best actor in a drama are all from that one show with no other nominees.

Best Soap implies quality, yet you do a public vote by SMS. If we ran it, we'd call it Most Popular Soap or People's Choice Award for Soap Opera. Do the Emmys or the Oscars allow people to vote for the show or film that's the best without having the expertise of what really constitutes remarkable work?

Of course there's an only whispered co-dependency at work here too. The industry knows the Saftas are wrong, skewed and not credible. But the film and television community - rightly so - deserves and desperately wants recognition (since there's so little anyway).

The sad thing about the Saftas is how the industry keeps quiet; unwilling to speak out, lest it loses or falls out of favour with the judges. With e.tv - which did the right thing and the only thing it possibly actually can - by pulling its shows and soaps from what in my opinion amounts to an ongoing shamfest, it's sadly the nominees who could possibly have won, who will be losing recognition. A tough tactic but at least e.tv is refusing to be silent anymore.

South Africa's television and film industry needs an annual awards ceremony that is a proud reflection of our country's work in these fields, make us proud, is well-organised and put together, comes with impeccable credibility to make a win a deserving win; and is a true showcase for what those in the film and television community create through hard work, persistence and non-existent budgets.

Sadly the shoddy and half-baked South African Film and Television Awards is and shows not of this. Yet.

BREAKING. e.tv pulling all its nominated shows and its soaps Scandal! and Rhythm City from the upcoming 6th Saftas.

The South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) that's already suffering from a credibility perception within the South African TV industry is set for another knock to its dented reputation with e.tv that's pulling all of its nominated shows and soaps just days before the 6^th Saftas takes place this weekend.

Insiders say that the broadcaster - which has had a frosty relationship with the Saftas for years - has ''huge concerns'' about the judging process and mechanics and is going to yank all of its nominees for all of its shows, including its soaps Scandal! and Rhythm City.[e.tv just confirmed it to me with a statement]. This will also remove both soaps from the already incomplete and contentious Best Soap category which already lacks any credibility.

E.tv has long been at loggerheads with the Saftas for years but the broadcaster is hardly alone in having problems with the awards ceremony handing out Golden Horn awards to the local film and TV industry.

M-Net didn't enter the Saftas for years, also unofficially citing concerns. Previously SABC1's Generations and super producer Mfundi Vundla criticised the Saftas with Vundla and the soaps cast and crew who boycotted the show. 7de Laan snubbed the Saftas last year. The Saftas also failed to secure a broadcaster for the awards last year. Critics constantly blast the awards spectacle as unorganised. In addition previous winners and nominees within the industry are the judges  which critics say is a conflict of interest.

All three actors up for best actor in a drama series this year are from SABC1's Intersexions to the exclusion of everyone else. There's no nominees for the category for best actress in a film. Interestingly Shona Ferguson is one of the nominees in the category for best actor in a soap but for e.tv's Scandal! Shona Ferguson left Scandal! longer than a year ago and has been seen since the beginning of 2011 in M-Net's soap The Wild. Critics point to these and other examples as part of what is wrong with the farcical Saftas.

Meanwhile the SABC is still in shock after SABC3 initially agreed to broadcast the ceremony this year only for the public broadcaster  to discover that one of its biggest soaps was suddenly not ''allowed'' to compete in the Best Soap category.

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) which organises the Saftas said 7de Laan isn't eligible to be included in the Best Soap category - the winner which is decided by public voting and which soaps can't actively enter. Soaps can't enter the Best Soap category, but the NFVF isn't allowing 7de Laan as a nominee because it didn't enter any of the other categories. The Saftas didn't tell either the production company or the broadcaster that it would happen. ''We were not aware that such a category – based on the fact that it's a public voter's choice, required a formal submission for other categories first,'' said Zandile Nkonyeni, SABC2's publicity manager.

Now e.tv which is in talks with the NFVF has decided to pull its shows from the 6th Saftas taking place on Friday and Saturday at Gallagher Estate in Midrand. I understand from sources that e.tv and the Saftas have been involved in a heated to-and-fro about the awards.

In a statement earlier the NFVF said the juding panel made up out of only previous winners and nominees is ''a move aimed at creating a stronger peer recognition adjudication process''.

E.tv which is withdrawing all its programming and presenter participation from the 2012 Saftas, says ''it's unfortunate that we have had to withdraw our programming from the Saftas but we feel that it is necessary to do so in order to achieve greater organisationa cohesion''.

 Monde Twala the group head of e.tv channels refused to give specific reasons for e.tv's decision.

SABC3 signs to show the 6th Saftas - although it will no longer be a live broadcast which is what the channel originally wanted.

You're reading it here first.

The 2012 South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) will definitely be shown on SABC3 as I scooped last month; I can reveal that the contract between the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and SABC3 was signed on Friday - although SABC3 will no longer be showing the ceremony taking place at Gallagher Estate live.

The NFVF which moved the 6th Saftas from 10 and 11 March to 9 and 10 March created a dilemma for SABC3 which was suddenly stuck between a rock and a hard place: rip up the schedule and move the broadcast to 10 March in order to keep it live, or keep it on 11 March but have it as a recording. SABC3's 6th Saftas broadcast will remain on the first date the NFVF gave SABC3 on 11 March, and therefore a recorded broadcast.

The 6th Saftas will be produced by Clive Morris Productions and Grooves Productions' Lehlohonolo Lehana.

Nominees for the 6th South African Film and Television Awards announced.

The nominees for the 6th South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) were announced last night at Melrose Arch once again stirring controversy and raising serious questions regarding selection, judging and overall credibility of the awards show with the the SABC2 soap 7de Laan cut from the category of Best TV Soap this year, as I broke the news on Wednesday.

The 6th Saftas, originally set for 10 and 11 March at Gallagher Estate was suddenly moved to 9 and 10 March. I've since learned yesterday that SABC3 which was set to broadcast the 6th Saftas on 11 March and planned a live broadcast, will now have to settle for a recorded broadcast after being told by organisers that the ceremony suddenly had to move a day earlier.

According to my sources, SABC3 is not happy but isn't willing to cut up its schedule and move the broadcast to 10 March just so it can be live.

The Saftas will dole out Golden Horn awards on 9 March for the non-fiction categories and on 10 March for the fiction categories. As in previous years, the Saftas – organised by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) has industry insiders saying that the entry and selection process and judging of the awards ceremony needs to be relooked.

On the TV side, M-Net and e.tv previously lukewarm about the Saftas didn't enter for a long time citing credibility issues and doubt about a fair chance to compete. SABC1's Generations and producer Mfundi Vundla previously also expressed great unhappiness with the Saftas with the cast and crew which boycotted the awards. This year SABC2's 7de Laan declined to enter cast and crew into categories leading to its banishment from the Best Soap category which is determined by viewers and a popular vote.

The Saftas winners are decided upon by 104 judges who works within the TV and film industry. The 104 judges are all previous winners and nominees. Jackie Motsepe, one of the two judging chairpersons who oversee the judging, works at the SABC.

This year Shona Ferguson is a nominee for Best actor in a soap for his role as Alex in e.tv's Scandal! although he's been appearing in M-Net's The Wild for longer than a year.

Intersexions on SABC1 will be the winner in the category for Best actor in a drama series since only actors from that one show are the three nominees.

Jam Alley vs Crew is one of the nominees for both Best music show, as well as Best game show, as well as Best Youth and Children's show.

M-Net's Carte Blanche appears as a nominee in the category for magazine show, and not in the news and actuality programme.


Best news and actuality programme: No Place like Home, Carte Blanche, Speak Out.
Best magazine show: Carte Blanche, All Access Mzansi, Pasella, Headline.
Best music show: Afro Café, Club 808, Jam Alley vs Crew.
Best talk show: My Top 10: Life in Music; Redi on Mzansi, Tonight with Trevor Noah.
Best reality show: Sharp Shooter, One Day Leader, Jam Sandwich.
Best game show: Noot vir Noot, Jam Alley vs Crew, Kom ons Kareoke.
Best drama show: Sokhulu & Partners, Zone 14, Intersexions.
Best comedy: Gauteng Maboneng, Stokvel, Ga Re Dumele.
Best soap (as determined by viewers' vote): Generations, The Wild, Rhythm City, Scandal!, Isidingo, Muvhango.
Best actor in a drama series: Thato Moraka, Katleho Ramapakela, Siyabonga Radebe (all for Intersexions).
Best actress in a drama series: Lindiwe Ntuli (Fallen), Lungelo Dladla (Intersexions), Linda Sokhulu (Sokhulu & Partners).
Best actor in a soap: Mduduze Mabaso (Rhythm City), Tumisho Masha (The Wild), Shona Ferguson (Scandal!)
Best actress in a soap: Karin van der Laag (Isidingo), Michelle Botes (Isidingo), Lele Ledwaba (The Wild), Louise Barnes (Scandal!)
Best soap ensemble cast: Isidingo, Rhythm City, The Wild.


ALSO READ: 7de Laan's Vinette Ebrahim slams the South African Film and Television Awards after the SABC2 soap gets excluded from the popular vote Best Soap category this year.
ALSO READ: 7de Laan slams the South African Film and Television Awards: ''Disappointed'' at being excluded from the Best Soap category.

SHOCKER! 7de Laan - the past 3 years voted the Best Soap - suddenly dumped as a choice by the NFVF and the upcoming 6th Saftas.

You're reading it here first.

I can exclusively break the shocking news that ''South Africa's most popular TV soap'' 3 years running as chosen by viewers - 7de Laan on SABC2 - will unceremoniously get dumped as a choice and deleted as a contender by the National Film and Video Foundation's (NFVF) for the upcoming South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) set to take place on 10 March.

I can reveal that 7de Laan, produced by Danie Odendaal Productions, has suddenly been dropped as an option in the Best Soap category - a category for which soaps don't have to and can't enter, and which is determined through a popular viewers' vote. All the other local South African soaps will still appear in the category when the full 6th Saftas nominees list is announced tomorrow evening. Just not 7de Laan effectively shut out of the Saftas for the prize to win.

While viewers will get to choose Generations (SABC1), The Wild (M-Net), Muvhango (SABC2), Isidingo (SABC3), Rhythm City (e.tv) or Scandal! (e.tv), the Saftas has banished 7de Laan by leaving it out as an option.

7de Laan won in 2009 as Best Soap at the 3rd Saftas, won again in 2010 as Best Soap at the 4th Saftas, and won in 2011 at the 5th Saftas again for Best Soap as voted for by viewers. The cast and crew of 7de Laan however boycotted the Saftas last year after a massive mess and voting fiasco with the wrong SMS number for the soap.

Generations previously also had a major falling out with the awards ceremony purported to praise the best of South African television and film, but often come in for criticism regarding the judging process as well as dubiously shoddy productions values.

With the incomplete list, insiders now say the ommission of 7de Laan which could have won again as most popular but won't get the chance since viewers won't be able to vote for the show, is further proof of the ongoing credibility problem of the Saftas.

Behind the scenes drama also erupted earlier this month when the 6th Saftas, scheduled for 10 and 11 March, had to be moved a day earlier to 9 and 10 for the non-fiction and fiction ceremonies.

SABC3, which will tomorrow officially be announced as the broadcasting partner - news I exclusively broke last month RIGHT HERE already (after the event - due to a lack of timeous organisation wasn't broadcast last year) will have to move its Saftas broadcast to 10 March to keep it a live broadcast or now go with a recorded broadcast if kept on 11 March where it was originally scheduled.

This year's 2012 Saftas drew a record number of 233 entries. The Saftas is often derided by TV and film critics who are shut out from actually judging the award categories. Instead the Saftas winners are decided upon by 104 so-called ''judges'' who works within the TV industry and who are previous winners. According to Saftas critics, this represent a conflict of interest.

I asked the NFVF and Saftas why 7de Laan is suddenly being dropped as a contender from the Best Soap category which will make the soap ineligible to be voted for by viewers after winning the public vote and coming out tops the past 3 years.

''7de Laan didn't submit any entries for the Saftas this year, that is why they are not eligible to be in the Best Soapie category,'' says the NFVF.

I asked 7de Laan and Danie Odendaal Productions what the soap is making of this shocking development and of being left out in the cold. ''We did not submit entries for the Saftas this year because we have reservations about the selection process,'' Colin Howard, 7de Laan's line producer tells me.

''We were unaware of the fact that we wouldn't be eligible for the Most Popular Soap category if we didn't submit entries in the other categories. As a South African soap, we thought we would be entered into that category automatically.''

I asked, am I'm also waiting for an official response from SABC2 who was also stunned when I told the channel the news.


ALSO READ: Nominees for the 6th South African Film and Television Awards.
ALSO READ: 7de Laan slams the South African Film and Television Awards: ''Disappointed'' at being excluded from Best Soap category.
ALSO READ: 7de Laan's Vinette Ebrahim slams the Saftas after the SABC2 soap gets excluded from the popular vote Best Soap category this year.

BREAKING. With a month to go, the crazy starts for this year's 6th Saftas as the NFVF and SABC3 are thrown into sudden date moving drama.

The drama around the 6th South African Film and Television Awards, better known as the Saftas, has started for this year's awards ceremony - TV with Thinus has learnt that the broadcast and ceremony has to change dates exactly a month before it's supposed to happen due to the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) having venue issues.

I exclusively broke the news RIGHT HERE last month that the Saftas will be back on television this year and be shown on SABC3 on Sunday 11 March - now I can tell you that the NFVF, custodian of the awards and SABC3 are in a tizzy as the two-day awards ceremony organized into non-fiction and then fiction on the second day, had to change dates and make it one day earlier from 10 and 11 March, to 9 and 10 March.

SABC3 planned and agreed with the NFVF to broadcast the 2012 Saftas delayed live - which might now not happen, or will force SABC3 to cut up and change it schedule

This is exactly why broadcasters (SABC3 which would have shown the fiction category evening on 11 March will have to amend their schedule for 10 and 11 March now) balk at the could-be-organised-better awards which last year wasn't broadcast on South African television at all.

Last year like the preceding years, the Saftas delivered the usual chorus of criticism about journalists who were shut out, told to sit outside, an overbooked venue, an event that started late, stretched way longer over time, and of course dubious production values.

I'm told that the NFVF just informed SABC3 that the Saftas are moving one day earlier because 11 March is no longer suitable. While neither the NFVF nor SABC3 have officially announced the 2012 Saftas TV deal, I'm told that the venue management told the NFVF all the rigging and equipment has to be gone on the night of 11 March. Since that's impossible, it means the NFVF moved the ceremony (with exactly a month to go today and invites haven't even gone out yet!) one day earlier.

I can reveal that the NFVF is set to announce the nominees and the SABC3 broadcasting deal this coming Thursday 16 February. SABC3 had to decide to either keep its 2012 Saftas broadcast on 11 March but turn it from delayed live to a recorded broadcast, or keep it a delayed live broadcast but then move it to 10 March as well requiring a major schedule revamp. The TV biz will find out on Thursday what exactly SABC3 decided to do.

BREAKING. SABC3 secures the broadcasting rights to the 6th South African Film and Television Awards to be broadcast on 11 March.

You're reading it here first.

I can exclusively break the news that the SABC and SABC3 has secured the broadcasting rights to the 2012 South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) with the second evening of the now two-part ceremony which will be shown delayed live on Sunday 11 March on SABC3 from 19:30.

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) which runs the Saftas, didn't respond to media enquiries made about a broadcaster for this year's award ceremony. SABC3 now has the 6th Saftas on its schedule for March.

The 6th Saftas (and it's not ''annual'' since the Saftas have not taken place ''annually'' every single year since it started) will this year, similar to the change brought in last year, stretch over two nights on 10 and 11 March handing our Golden Horn awards to respectively the non-fiction and fiction categories.

This year's 2012 Saftas drew a record number of 233 entries. Due to bad organizing the Saftas did not have a broadcast agreement in 2011 and wasn't shown on television. Critics who attended and several journalists shut out of and barred from the ramshackle 2011 event also pummeled the badly organized ceremony.

This year the Saftas will return to television and be shown delayed live on SABC3 from 19:30 to 22:00 (expect a run-over). The usually shoddily-produced TV awardfest handing out awards to local films and TV shows, is known for its deplorable production values, ranging from incompetent presenters to a myriad of visual, sound and other problems.

The Saftas is often derided by TV and film critics who are shut out from actually judging the award categories. Instead the Saftas winners are decided upon by 104 so-called ''judges'' who works within the TV industry. According to Saftas critics, this represent a conflict of interest. (For instance: The 104 judges are all previous winners and nominees. For instance: Jackie Motsepe, one of two judging chairpersons who oversee the judging, works at the SABC.)

Viewers will once again be able to vote for their favourite South African TV soap. Voting will open on 8 February, according to sources. The venue in Johannesburg where this year's Saftas will be taking place will be announced on the same date.