Confusion grows over SABC's scheduling plan with Afrikaans TV news bulletins on weekdays at over weekends

by Thinus Ferreira

The SABC continues to say no timeslot and TV channel changes are in store for its Afrikaans TV news bulletin although the South African public broadcaster's own schedules shows different.

The ongoing secrecy and growing confusion about what exactly the SABC's plans are with its damaged Afrikaans TV news bulletin leads to greater uncertainty under diminished news viewers in terms of ratings, as well as the local ad biz.

In the past week the public broadcaster without explanation did a U-turn on its plan to move and change the weekend Afrikaans TV news on Saturdays and Sundays to SABC3 and the 19:30 timeslot and making it a half-hour in duration again.

The plan has also been to move the Afrikaans TV news bulletin on weekdays to 17:30 on SABC3 from its current much later timeslot of 20:30.

The SABC continues to say that no schedule changes are being made to the Afrikaans TV news bulletin.

The SABC's own, latest schedules it publishes and uses for SABC+ and elsewhere and also sends out to others like MultiChoice for the DStv electronic programme guide (EPG) showed last week that the weekend news bulletins are moving to SABC3 and 19:30, and the weekday bulletins to 17:30 on SABC2.

The SABC's own schedules displayed the new times and channel change and for the coming weekend the SABC schedule shows the Afrikaans news for half an hour on SABC3 at 19:30.

These new times and channel change from this month aligns with what SABC insiders since April said it being planned. 

It is also what Danielle Wass, bulletin editor of the SABC's Afrikaans TV news, last month announced on RSG.

She said that the weekend Afrikaans TV news bulletins from Juky would move from 18:15 on SABC2 to 19:30 on SABC3, and that the weekday Afrikaans TV news bulletins would move from 20:30 on SABC3 to 17:30.

She further revealed that the SABC had done no market or audience research before the SABC decided to move the Afrikaans TV news bulletins on evenings on SABC2 to the much later timeslot of 20:30 on SABC3.

These changes already cost the SABC hundreds of thousands of viewers who are no longer watching it, or can't watch it since they're unable to receive SABC3 as the terrestrial TV channel with the smallest broadcast reach.

Together with this the SABC had lost millions of rand in potential ad income.

After a media query last week the SABC in a general press statement said it "would like to clarify that no new schedule changes have been implemented to the Afrikaans TV news as of July 2025. The Afrikaans TV news continues to be broadcast in its existing timeslots".

"Any future changes will be communicated officially by the SABC. We remain committed to serving our audience with accuracy, stability and quality programming".

Mmoni Ngubane, SABC spokesperson, didn't respond with answers to the specific questions that was posed to the broadcaster about the Afrikaans TV news.

The SABC was asked about the changes for the weekday and weekend news seen on schedules, how the Afrikaans TV news bulletin that has an older-skewing audience fits in on SABC3 as the smallest TV channel that say its catering to and that it's target market is millenials.

The SABC was also asked what market research the broadcaster had done before the Afrikaans news was moved last year, and apparently now again.

An influential ad placing executive does business with the SABC and therefore doesn't want to mention a name since it could damage the relationship, with the company allocating where millions of rands worth of ads budgets from various advertisers are directed to across various South African TV channels.

The person warns that the SABC's ongoing audience confusion around the Afrikaans TV news bulletin is bad for business and the broadcaster.

"The SABC's Afrikaans TV news viewers are increasingly shifting to one of the DStv channels or e.tv or online."

"The more consistent you can be, the more viewers you will have and that bring in advertisers. What the SABC is actually doing is to confuse the consumer. And when a viewer is confused, they stop watching or look away. And then we start to look away on behalf of advertisers."

"Maybe the move to 17:30 for the Afrikaans TV news on SABC3 works and the SABC gets millions of viewers but it's extremely unlikely," the person says.

"The SABC forgets that a lot of people are still at work and in traffic.It's a stupid time to place the Afrikaans TV news on TV, especially for a valuable sought-after audience like Afrikaans viewers. It's quite stupid."

Last week the SABC started advertising a position for a senior Afrikaans TV news bulletin writer.

ALSO READ: With 'trial and error' SABC moves Afrikaans news again - now to 5:30pm on SABC3 on weekdays and 7:30pm on weekends

SABC's weekend Afrikaans TV news bulletins on SABC2 abruptly disappears without warning over the first weekend of April 2025

by Thinus Ferreira

The Afrikaans TV news bulletins disappeared this past weekend from the SABC, without any prior warning or explanation, with no Afrikaans TV news bulletin on Saturday 5 April, nor Sunday 6 April, on SABC2 at 18:15, or any other SABC TV channel at any other time.

There was no warning before the weekend started from the SABC or to viewers that there won't be any Afrikaans TV news bulletins on Saturday or Sunday.

On the evening of Friday 4 April, SABC2 Afrikaans TV news reader Willem Pelser at the end of the SABC Nuus broadcast only said "enjoy the weekend". 

The previous Friday Willem Pelser at the end of that Friday's broadcast still said "we greet you until tomorrow evening", meaning Saturday.  

A year ago, the SABC removed the Afrikaans TV news bulletins from SABC2 and decided to place these on SABC3 during the week and in the late timeslot of 20:30, and on weekends on SABC2 at 18:15 - a move that was highly criticised by viewers.

The 5 and 6 April weekend marks the first weekend of the month, and April was also the start of the South African public broadcaster's new financial year.

On social media a SABC viewer like Beatrix on Saturday asked: "SABC2, Why is there no Afrikaans news tonight? I'm not paying my TV licence again!! #SABC2fail ".

It's as yet unclear whether the Afrikaans TV news bulletins SABC Nuus on SABC2 over a weekend have been cancelled permanently from April, whether it's absence is a once-off, or what the reason for its sudden and unexplained absence is. 

When the SABC provides an explanation, it will be added here.

UPDATE Tuesday 8 April 2025 12:15pm: The SABC has just issued a press statement:

"The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) wishes to address concerns arising from the non-broadcast of the Afrikaans television news bulletin this past weekend. We acknowledge that the bulletin did not air in its regular time slot on Saturday and Sunday, and we confirm that this was a scheduling error. This should not have happened."

"As management, we are treating this matter with the seriousness it deserves, and consequence management processes are currently underway to address the internal oversight that led to this unfortunate incident."

"We want to assure the public and our stakeholders that there is no plan or decision to discontinue or deprioritise Afrikaans news."

"The Afrikaans television news bulletin continues to air as scheduled from Monday to Friday, and the weekend bulletin will also continue in its regular time slot going forward."

"Afrikaans remains an important part of our public broadcasting mandate, just as all South African languages are. The SABC is committed to providing equitable access to news and information in all official languages."

"The SABC is actively working on a broader content and scheduling strategy aimed at strengthening our language offering, including Afrikaans. This process is part of our new financial year’s content strategy and will be communicated more fully in due course."

"We acknowledge the deep concern this weekend’s error has caused, particularly within Afrikaans-speaking communities. We extend our sincere and heartfelt apology to the South African public, and especially to those who felt aggrieved by this disruption."

"In closing, we reiterate: Afrikaans news has not been discontinued. Afrikaans News currently broadcasts at 20:30 Mondays - Fridays on S3. Weekend Afrikaans bulletins will continue in their current time slot, 18:00 on Saturdays and Sundays on SABC 2. The SABC remains committed to all languages as part of its constitutional and public service mandate."

"We appreciate the continued engagement from the public, civil society organisations, and political parties, and we remain open to further dialogue in the spirit of transparency and inclusivity."

SABC moves Afrikaans TV news on weekends back to SABC2 without any explanation 6 months after shunting it to SABC3.

by Thinus Ferreira

Over the weekend the SABC's Afrikaans TV news bulletin which was moved from SABC2 to SABC3 six months ago in March was suddenly back on SABC2 without any explanation.

The Afrikaans TV news bulletin which had lost hundreds of thousands of viewers on weekdays when it was moved from SABC2 to SABC3, was back and broadcast on SABC2 at 18:15 on Saturday and Sunday, without any explanation to viewers.

On Saturday evening the SABC's Afrikaans TV news bulletin was replaced by British football on SABC3. On Sunday the SABC decided to replace the Afrikaans TV news bulletin on SABC3 with the BBC documentary natural history series Serengeti.

During the week the Afrikaans TV news remains on SABC3 in its late night timeslot of 20:30 where it barely has any viewers.

It's unclear why the SABC moved the Afrikaans TV news bulletin this past weekend back to SABC2, while the weeknight bulletins remain on SABC3.

This TV news bulletin move six months ago was part of the South African public broadcaster's decision to remove Afrikaans content from SABC2 and shift it to SABC3, since Afrikaans no longer fits with SABC2's latest programming and content strategy.

Mmoni Seapolelo, SABC spokesperson, didn't provide answers in response to media queries about this past weekend's TV news bulletin shift from SABC3 back to SABC2, which were made since last week Monday.

An advertising executive - who decides on behalf of companies who advertise across various media, including on the SABC, and decides on which channels and what budgets to allocate to TV sports - told TVwithThinus the broadcaster's "creates schizophrenia" with the shifting of shows.

"Viewers become confused and are uncertain of where what is shown."

"Advertisers don't have trust and don't want to book spot packages in advance on a TV channel for specific timeslots, if their TVC is then shown within something else and during different content that is suddenly shown instead of the content that was promised."

The SABC which is technically insolvent will once again have a massive financial loss for its 2023/2024 financial year.

Khathu Ramukumba, SABC chairperson, told SABC News on Friday that the broadcaster "is not where we are supposed to be and not where we want to be but we are glad about the progress that we have made".

ALSO READ: 2014 is 2024: SABC plans to dump Afrikaans content from SABC2 with Fokus cancelled, Afrikaans news and other shows moved to smaller SABC3.

e.tv launching its second daily Afrikaans TV news bulletin, Nuusdag om 8, on 1 October on Openview's eExtra channel.

e.tv will launch it's second Afrikaans TV news bulletin, Nuusdag om 8, on 1 October on Openview's eExtra channel, as part of a 2-hour block of new daily Afrikaans content.

Meanwhile e.tv's second TV news channel, OpenNews, starting on its Openview free-to-air satellite is apparently also looking at a 1 October launch according to insiders, although that couldn't be independently confirmed.

OpenNews will be a direct rival to e.tv's own eNCA (DStv 403) channel supplied to MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform and is created to boost and expand Openview's existing channels offering but to also serve as a new TV news channel brand back-up in case future channel carriage negotiations between MultiChoice and eMedia Investments for eNCA don't work out and eNCA is removed from DStv.

eMedia Investments hired staffers and reporters for Nuusdag om 8 - or Nuusdag (Newsday) for short - and the daily news show will be broadcast on e.tv's eExtra channel from 1 October on channel 105.

Besides being on Openview, the eExtra channel is also available to all DStv subscribers on channel 195, and to StarSat subscribers on channel 489.

Nuusdag scheduled at 20:00 will not just be competition for SABC2's Afrikaans TV news bulletin at 18:30, but ironically also for eNuus on kykNET (DStv 144) and kykNET & kie (DStv 145) at 19:00 with eNuus that is produced for M-Net's Afrikaans TV channels on DStv by e.tv's news division.

Although still covering news nationally and presumably using the same eNews footage archive, according to insiders Nuusdag and OpenNews will be predominantly done from e.tv's Cape Town building in Zonnebloem to somewhat counter eNCA on DStv that is predominantly produced from e.tv's Hyde Park headquarters in Johannesburg.

Other Afrikaans content on eExtra starting on 1 October in the dedicated 2-hour Afrikaans programming block will include the hour-long drama series Gebroke Harte at 19:00, followed by the half-hour Nuusdag at 20:00.

After that eExtra will show series like Nisboere with presenters Anrich Herbst, Chris de Clerq and Simonia Magardie that's been shown on Media24's VIA (DStv 147) channel on DStv.

Last week Openview held retail workshops for satellite TV installers and previewed the new programming under the theme of "Kuiertyd".

e.tv's marketing communications manager, Makatseng Mokome, didn't respond to media requests this week seeking clarity around Nuusdag and OpenNews and more programming information.

SABC2's latest strange scheduling moves are again set to irritate viewers - coming just 7 months after the previous changes.

The latest scheduling moves for SABC2 coming into effect from this coming Monday is set to confuse and irritate viewers as the SABC once again moves programming like the Afrikaans soap 7de Laan and the Afrikaans news to new timeslots following timeslot changes to these and other shows just months ago.

Exactly as TVwithThinus reported last week will happen, SABC2 announced on Wednesday all of the channel's latest new permanent scheduling changes coming into effect from Monday 6 February after the broadcaster's AFCON 2017 coverage.

Last week SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the new set of changes, like 7de Laan moving, is (still) part of the AFCON 2017 coverage changes.

Viewers commuting and not home yet, old age residents eating dinner and working families preparing dinner will now have to watch 7de Laan in the inconvenient and now its third new timeslot of 18:00 after the the 18:30 soap produced by Danie Odendaal Productions was moved in July 2016 to 19:00.

As TVwithThinus reported, viewers of the SABC's daily Setswana and Sotho TV news bulletin will now have to watch it no longer at 18:00 but at 20:00 on SABC2 opposite the SABC1 soap Generations, while the Afrikaans TV news that's seen several timeslot changes the past two years is once again moving – this time to 18:30, now opposite e.tv's eNews Direct and SABC3's English TV news bulletin.

SABC TV head publicist Zandile Nkonyeni didn't respond to media enquiries asking about the programming changes and the reasons for shows that are moving. SABC2 has seen ongoing viewership declines for shows like 7de Laan, the Afrikaans news and the Sesotho news the past few months with falling ratings.

The SABC said "SABC2 is stepping up to the needs of our ever-evolving world with brand new shows, new seasons and new timeslots". 

In a new official and public promo that contains mistakes, SABC2 struggles to keep its new shows separate, for instance saying Tumi Morake and Rocco de Villiers are in a show together as presenters [they're not]. 

Fighting on 3

In another programming change, the SABC signed a multi-year agreement with Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) to broadcast mixed martial arts (MMA) on Saturday nights on SABC3, starting 11 February at 21:00. 

This content will be repeated on Mondays at 14:00 replacing the local kids time slot Fun-Natix where the fighting contact sport content might be in breach of the broadcasting code.

Other changes include SABC2's breakfast show Morning Live that will from this Monday onwards show the additional hour that until now had been broadcast between 08:00 to 09:00 on SABC News (DStv 404) only. The programming change will will effectively extend Morning Live to three hours on SABC2 from 06:00 to 09:00.

Talk show Motswako gets moved to Wednesdays at 20:30. Local sitcom Skwizas is moved to Sundays at 20:30. A new season of environmental magazine show 50/50 will start on Sunday 9 April at19:00.

More details have been released about the shows that TVwithThinus last week reported is being added to the SABC2 schedule.

The former SABC2 continuity presenter Derrick Gardner and SABC radio station RSG presenter is returning to television as presenter of the new Afrikaans music show Kliphard from Monday at 19:30.

Tumi Morake and Alan Committee will host the talk show Red Cake, starting Friday 10 February at 19:30. 

Thami Ngubeni will host a new lifestyle talk show on Saturdays on SABC2, Life with Thami, starting on Saturday 11 February at 18:00. Music show Soul’d Out Sessions will start on Sunday 12 February at 14:00.

While the SABC2 schedule remains peppered with old content and rebroadcasts that's years old like Afrikaans sitcom Vetkoekpaleis starting yet another rerun on Monday at 19:00, SABC2 says it wants producers to bring the channel quality shows and new ideas.

SABC News channel on DStv dropping Afrikaans TV news bulletin, all other African language additional bulletins from April in drastic schedule change.

SABC News (DStv 404) will dump the Afrikaans TV news bulletin as well as the additional TV news bulletins in other indigenous South African languages on the channel from 1 April.

The South African public broadcaster's 24-hour TV news channel is apparently also doing away from April with its regular weekly half hour magazine shows like Health Talk, Film SA, Bophelong, Afroshowbiz News, Rights & Recourse, The Journal and Kaleidoscope which are not to be found on the April schedule of SABC News.

Question Time will remain past April, while the future of some of the other programming on SABC News remains unclear.

SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago didn't respond to multiple media enquiries and calls made since last week about the upcoming SABC News schedule changes and why the SABC is cutting news in all vernacular languages on the channel and getting rid of the other magazine magazine programming.

From April, SABC News as the public broadcaster's news channel will run only in English while the additional daily half hour news bulletins in South Africa's other official languages - Afrikaans, Zulu, Siswati, Tsonga, Xhosa, isiNdelebe, Sotho and Venda - are scrapped.

In its place SABC News is adding a new show from April, The State of Our Nation, weekdays at 21:00, a program that will give "well-rounded coverage of our provinces, rural areas and well as big picture municipal issues", according to the new SABC News schedule.

On its website and in marketing material the SABC says "a unique selling point is SABC News Channel's multilingual programming" and that SABC News is delivered "to audiences in all 11 South African official languages".

When the channel launched, the SABC's famously matricless chief operating officer, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, said the SABC News channel will be an opportunity for the SABC to "enhance its public service mandate and extend its focus on provincial stories and the different official languages".

The SABC News channel launched in August 2013 which replaced the SABC's first struggling attempt at a 24-hour news channel, SABC News International. SABC News International was shut down after bleeding millions of rands after just three years at the end of March 2010.

An SABC staff member at the news channel told TV with Thinus last week in regard to SABC News' drastic line-up change and the termination of the existing magazine programming from April that there is "consternation among the employees".

Another SABC staff member said the SABC News channel is also planning "a bulletin with Africa news to compete with the international TV news channels".

SABC News, now running for a year and a half, is part of a controversial deal worth millions of rand Hlaudi Motsoeneng signed with MultiChoice's DStv platform.

It makes SABC News exclusively available to DStv only, keeping it off On Digital Media (ODM) and China's StarTimes Media SA's StarSat, as well as Sabido and Platco Digital's OpenView HD satellite TV platforms.


SABC News channel 'a pilot project'
The SABC News channel is supposed to become available as a TV channel from the SABC's new bouquet of digital TV channels once the South African government's long-delayed switch-on happens of digital terrestrial television (DTT) as part of the country's digital migration process.

As part of the deal, the SABC is also supposed to supply a general entertainment TV channel, SABC Entertainment, largely sourced from SABC archive content, to MultiChoice's DStv but that 5th SABC TV channel has not launched yet.

Earlier this month in an interview on SABC2, Hlaudi Motsoeneng said "the channel that is sitting on the MultiChoice bouquet, the news channel, it is a SABC channel".

"When we migrate to DTT, that channel will be migrated to our own platforms. It is an SABC channel. It is sitting there as a pilot project."

"There's this 'must carry' regulations, where all content of the SABC, it should be carried by pay-TV, because government want to access all citizen in different platforms, including pay-TV."

"That is the reason why you have the 'must carry' regulations, where, when our content sit there, we are not getting paid from those pay-TV's."

"But we've been engaging MultiChoice to say to them, 'No, look, you benefit because of the SABC. And when you look the channels, the most watched channels in the MultiChoice bouquet is SABC channels. We said, 'Put money in the SABC because you are also benefitting from SABC'. That is the reason why they are investing in the SABC," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

SABC internal memorandum: Schizophrenic 'SABC2 schedule only survives on 7de Laan and Muvhango; other than that prime time schedule is weak'.

The SABC2 schedule only survives on two pillar programmes - the Afrikaans soap 7de Laan at 18:30 and the Venda soap at 21:00, "other than that the prime time schedule is weak".

So wrote Leo Manne, the SABC's general manager for the public broadcaster's TV channels in an internal memorandum he prepared on 30 June to Veronah Duwarkah, the SABC's group executive in charge of television, as "motivation for schedule changes risks and mitigations".

The SABC's has come in for sharp criticism and scorn from viewers after permanently moving the bulk of Afrikaans programming and the SABC's only daily Afrikaans TV news bulletin from SABC2 to SABC3 permanently.

SABC3 however has the smallest national footprint of all of the SABC's TV channels, making the programming unavailable and inaccessible for millions of South African TV households who can't watch it even if they want to because they don't receive the broadcast signal.

"The schizophrenic nature of the SABC2 schedule" according to the internal memorandum and the content offering to two very unrelated audience segments - being Sotho and Afrikaans viewers "has seen e.tv overtake SABC2 as the second most watched TV channel in South Africa over the years to the third most watched with consistent declines continuing".

"Ignoring these declines will severely compromise the viability of the SABC TV network to deliver against its set audience and revenue targets," reads the internal SABC memorandum.

Although the SABC earlier this week said Afrikaans has nothing to do with the dramatic scheduling changes, in the internal memorandum Leo Manne writes that "despite a very strong lead in from 7de Laan, the 19:00 Afrikaans news has been losing audiences over the last couple of years".

"The Afrikaans block of programing at 19:30 to 20:30 which includes the Afrikaans dramas on Tuesday and 50/50 on Mondays loses even more audiences".

"At 20:30 the Sotho news bulletin struggles to perform because of a very weak lead-in from the Afrikaans content".

The SABC's total share of TV audience during primetime for the months of March, April and May 2014, with e.tv and even DStv which is a pay-TV offering outperforming entire channels like SABC2 and SABC3 according to the SABC's internal memorandum.


According to the internal memorandum, the SABC's chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng, held a SABC content summit in November 2013 where the SABC Television division presented its strategy forward for the next three years, and which included looking at trends and factors influencing the changing viewing patters across the South African TV landscape.

Schedule and content decisions for SABC Television were proposed and approved at this SABC content summit in November 2013.

How the SABC's various TV news bulletins fare and compare in terms of viewership (AR's or audience ratings) in the month of May 2014, compared to other TV channels and programming, according to the SABC's internal memorandum.

On SABC1 "18:30 is the weakest part of the prime time schedule and hence the introduction of anew local soap offering," says the memo.

As can be seen from the graphic above, the yellow column in the back row is the Nguni TV news bulletin on SABC1. 

" The Nguni bulletin is the strongest bulletin on the network and moving it to the 19:00 slot [on SABC1] would weaken the strong e.tv bulletin," according to the SABC's internal memorandum.

On SABC3, the SABC memorandum reveals that "the one hour news block has lost significant audience share between 18:30 and 19:30 creating a very weakened lead in for Isidingo at 19:00 despite it being the third best performing program in prime time after Days and Bold".

"The shortening of the 18:30 news bulletin will be revived in the schedule followed by an improved Isidingo and then followed by the Afrikaans News," Leo Manne wrote in the internal memorandum.

"The movement of the Afrikaans drama's and other content will, within a year of this strategy, ensure a very competitive and advertising attractive audience of LSM 8-10 audiences, while SABC1 and SABC2 deliver mass audiences in LSM 5-8".

The SABC was and is also well aware that SABC3's footprint is smaller and that moving the Afrikaans TV news and other content to SABC3 would take it out of reach of some viewers, but calls it a "current minor challenge".

"The roll out of both digital terrestrial television (DTT) and direct-to-home satellite (DTH) within a year will ensure that any areas not covered by our current transmitter network are filled," states the internal memorandum".

"This current minor challenge though cannot and should not deter the SABC from protecting its current business as it builds for niche multi-channel and platform digital future where special interest groups can be adequately served".

In written media enquiries TV with Thinus asked the SABC whether the broadcaster wants to comment on the memorandum and its content or explain anything about it. The SABC declined to respond.

'It looks like we've lost the battle' - SABC News in turmoil following shocking shift of Afrikaans TV news from SABC2 to SABC3.

Graphics - as published Monday in Beeld, Volksblad and Die Burger - showing the vast differenc in the reception area of SABC2 and the much smaller reach and footprint of SABC3

"It looks like we've lost the battle".

So says a high ranking SABC executive following the highly controversial permanent move of the SABC's only Afrikaans TV news bulletin from SABC2 to the much smaller SABC3.

SABC3 has the smallest footprint and reach of all three of the SABC's analogue terrestrial TV channels and the SABC is fully aware of this.

The SABC knew that the permanent move of the sole Afrikaans TV news bulletin on the South African public broadcaster, as well as the bulk of Afrikaans language programming like the drama slot from SABC2 to SABC3, would make it inaccessible to literally millions of South African TV households who don't have access to satellite TV or pay-TV.

At least 8 million South African TV households don't have access to satellite television (which carries the SABC's TV channels) and can only get SABC1, SABC2 and SABC2 where transmission towers for those specific TV channels exist.

The shocking change of the Afrikaans TV news bulletin from 19:00 on SABC2 to 19:30 on SABC3 - although the SABC lied and said the news bulletin woudl return to SABC2 at 19:00 from 14 July - has also directly led to the canning of another half hour of SABC News produced TV news in Afrikaans.

The Afrikaans Nuus om 7 on SABC2 at 19:00 was a separate half hour of Afrikaans news from the Afrikaans TV news bulletin at 19:30 on the SABC's 24-hour TV news channel, SABC News (DStv 404) which is only accessible on satellite TV on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

Now the SABC uses that 19:30 half hour Afrikaans TV news bulletin from SABC News on DStv, which is being simulcast on SABC3 at the same time.

According to internal correspondence in TV with Thinus' possession, SABC news staff tried valiantly to try and keep the Afrikaans TV news bulletin on SABC2.

Failing that, they've tried to, or are trying to, have the Afrikaans TV news shown in the 19:00 timeslot - the same timeslot where the the Afrikaans news used to be broadcast while it was on SABC2.

SABC executives not happy with the plan said "the SABC3 footprint is very small and areas with a lot of Afrikaans speakers will henceforth not be able to receive the news in Afrikaans with the SABC's terrestrial signal".

TV with Thinus has made numerous written media enquiries to the SABC with questions regarding the issue of the Afrikaans TV news moving - two weeks ago, and again since last week - none of which the SABC has so far been willing to give any specific answers to.

TOLDJA! How the SABC lied - and keeps lying - about moving the Afrikaans TV news away from millions of viewers by shunting it to SABC3.

Graphics - as published Monday in Beeld, Volksblad and Die Burger - showing the vast differenc in the reception area of SABC2 and the much smaller reach and footprint of SABC3

Exactly as TV with Thinus broke the news last month the SABC has permanently moved the public broadcaster's only Afrikaans TV news bulletin permanently from SABC2 to the much smaller SABC3 together with the bulk of Afrikaans language programming - like drama - permanently.

The South African public broadcaster blatantly lied when it said the move of the Afrikaans TV news bulletin from SABC2 to SABC3 is "only temporary" and already knew it wasn't the case.

The SABC, both in press statements as well as in on-air promos lied and told viewers that the move is temporary and that the Afrikaans news would return on 14 July after the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

SABC3 has the smallest footprint of the SABC's three terrestrial TV channels, with literally millions of South African TV households who are unable to receive this TV channel.

The result is that millions of South African TV households are no longer able to see any Afrikaans TV news on the SABC at all, and are unable to see any of the programming - ranging from any dramas, to programming like Pasella, Fokus, 50/50 - that they have always had access to.

This marginalises millions of SABC TV licence paying households who no longer are getting access to Afrikaans TV news in their language, or other programming.

The SABC knew with making this move, that SABC3 has a smaller footprint than SABC2 but said it is going ahead with the schedule changes anyway, as is evident from an internal memorandum with market research compiled by the SABC and issued by high ranking SABC TV executives.

In the internal memorandum issued in June to other SABC executives, SABC executives call SABC2 a "schizophrenic TV channel", and that the move will go ahead although there isn't equal access to all the SABC's TV channelsm which will only happen once digital terrestrial television (DTT) starts in South Africa.

Instead of being honest, the SABC chose to try and vilify and discredit me as a messenger and a journalist, calling me a "self proclaimed Cape Town based TV critic" doing "malicious" reporting, although I've been a TV critic writing nationally for over 14 years.

I kept reporting in June on how the SABC will dump several Afrikaans language shows from SABC2 and move it to SABC3, including the drama slot.

I kept reporting, importantly, on how Afrikaans TV news on the SABC as well as other programming are set to disappear permanently from the TV screens of millions of South African TV viewers.

Here is one of the on-air promos the SABC kept broadcasting during the 2014 FIFA World Cup - this one for instance on 28 June (long after the SABC knew that the move would be permanent) telling viewers the Afrikaans news would "return to SABC2 on 14 July:



Here is the SABC's Afrikaans TV news bulletin from Monday night, 14 July - suddenly still on SABC3 - and announcing in the evening, with no warning to viewers, that the bulletin is permanently staying on SABC3:



Meanwhile SABC2 started running an on-air scroll on Monday evening and Tuesday evening telling viewers to look for the Afrikaans news on SABC3.

The SABC keeps lying: The South African public broadcaster on Tuesday said the major schedule changes has nothing to do with language and the Afrikaans language.

TV with Thinus however has internal correspondence issued by high ranking SABC TV executives making it clear that the programming shift is taking place due to Afrikaans, and is motivated because of language and Afrikaans viewers and ratings of Afrikaans TV news and Afrikaans programmes and are centred around the performance of Afrikaans on SABC2 and the struggling ratings performance of SABC3.

TV with Thinus has made numerous media enquiries to the SABC regarding this issue, all questions of which the SABC has so far declined to answer.

TV with Thinus asked the SABC why the SABC said the Afrikaans TV news bulletin would be moving back after the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup from SABC3 to SABC2 and that the move is temporary when it clearly wasn't?

Why did the SABC run on-air promos telling viewers that the Afrikaans news would be moving back to SABC2 on 14 July, when the SABC knew that this will not be the case?

Can the SABC say how many millions of TV households are affected by the permanent move?

How Afrikaans TV news and shows are set to 'disappear' from SABC TV screens for millions of viewers officially from 14 July.

The Afrikaans TV news and a large block of Afrikaans language programming on SABC television are set to become inaccessible to literally millions of South African TV households with the South African public broadcaster which plans to moves this content permanently from SABC2 to SABC3 officially from 14 July.

SABC3 is the channel of the SABC's three TV channels with the smallest terrestrial footprint, meaning that its terrestrial signal reach is the smallest.

The least number of TV households are able to get SABC3, especially in the vast rural areas of South Africa and outside of large metropolitan areas.

For these mostly poorer viewers and those without satellite TV it means that they will no longer be able to watch the news in Afrikaans now on SABC3 - as well as several other programmes - even if they want to, since they simply can't receive the signal.

The SABC's plan means that millions of South African TV households with no access to pay-TV or satellite television through MultiChoice's DStv, On Digital Media's StarSat or Platco Digital's OpenView HD, will not be able to watch the Afrikaans TV content from the public broadcaster they've always been able to.

TV with Thinus counted by hand, per province, for all nine provinces, the various Sentech terrestrial television towers that broadcast the signals of SABC2 and SABC3 respectively in various areas as available from Sentech's website.

Transmitter towers / areas

Province                                 SABC2           SABC3

Western Cape                          43                    30                   

Northern Cape                         14                    1

Eastern Cape                           37                    22

North West                              21                    11

Free State                                18                    10

Gauteng                                   12                    12

KwaZulu-Natal                        37                    33

Limpopo                                  17                    12

Mpumalanga                            17                    10

It gives an indication of how much smaller SABC3's terrestrial reception is than SABC2. While 14 areas and communities in the Northern Cape can receive SABC2, only people living in and around Alexander Bay for instance can receive SABC3 as a TV channel.

In provinces like North West and the Free State there's cose to double the number of transmitters broadcasting SABC2 in these provinces than what there are for SABC3.

In every provinces except for Gauteng, SABC3 is a far less available SABC TV channel.

Last week in a statement following revelations of the SABC's TV programming plans, the public broadcaster said in a statement "the SABC has not marginalised any language and will not do that in future. The SABC has an obligation as prescribed by the Broadcasting Act to ensure that all languages are treated equally".

Yet the move of specifically Afrikaans away from SABC2 - which is much more readily available as a TV channel and where the programming has been for decades - to the much smaller SABC3, will make this language less accessible on terrestrial SABC television.

Nuus om 7, as well as Afrikaans programming like Fokus, Geraamtes in die Kas, 50/50, Swartwater and Roer Jou Voete are being moved to SABC3 from 14 July permanently. Noot vir Noot and soap 7de Laan will remain as Afrikaans programmes on SABC2.


The facts are these:
■ Last week the SABC did an official 2014 Post World Cup presentation to TV critics, journalists and advertisers informing them that the Afrikaans news and programming will be moving from 14 July permanently from SABC2 to SABC3. Here is the YouTube video presentation of the SABC with the move announced at 02:47.

■ The SABC's presentation hard copy hand-out (the slides above) with the detailed new schedule for SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 clearly shows on page 8 and 17 how the Afrikaans Nuus om 7 on SABC2 moves to 19:30 on SABC3 permanently.

■ The SABC's top TV executives for the various channels are on record (and recorded) telling journalists and advertisers that the Afrikaans news and Afrikaans language programming will be shifting from SABC2 to SABC3 permanently.

The Afrikaans news as we have it at the moment will be moving to SABC3 permanently," Jacqui Hlongwane, SABC2's acting programme manager told TV critics and advertisers this week.

"What that does for us on the SABC2 schedule is that it opens it up, so that we're able to flow better. It's been quite a challenge for SABC2 in the past. We really have been like a schizophrenic TV channel."

"We've been serving two markets now - the Sesotho audience as well as the Afrikaans audience - and it's really been quite a struggle to try and serve both those important audiences," said Jacqui Hlongwane. "In one channel that kind of positioning has become unsustainable".

"Where we had the Afrikaans news [on SABC2] we will start introducing things like family game shows and reality and factual content".

"Swartwater, basically the Afrikaans drama slot, is moving to SABC3. So SABC2 won't be having Afrikaans dramas anymore, it moves to SABC3."

■ The latest official monthly TV schedules for SABC2 and SABC3 issued to the press for use in and by newspapers and magazines for July and August, all clearly shows the Afrikaans news and Afrikaans shows now on SABC3.

■ The SABC's publicly accessible TV guide and schedule on the SABC's official website today, 1 July, clearly shows the Afrikaans news and other Afrikaans programming now placed on SABC3's schedule when any of the days from 14 July onwards are selected.


The SABC didn't respond to a media enquiry made on Monday asking how many TV households nationally will be affected by the move of Afrikaans language programming from SABC2 to SABC2 and the number of terrestrial SABC households who will not be able to receive Afrikaans programming such as the Afrikaans TV news.

The SABC was asked why the decision was taken to move the Afrikaans news and shows such as Fokus and the Afrikaans drama slot permanently to SABC3 and what the broadcaster want to explain regarding the programming move. No response so far has been forthcoming.

BREAKING. Viewers fuming as SABC dumps the Afrikaans TV news bulletins, Nuus om 7, entirely after moving it to SABC3.

You're reading it here first. 

You won't see it because it doesn't exist: South African TV viewers are fuming because they can't find the Afrikaans TV news bulletin on the SABC - and they can't find it because it doesn't exist.

The SABC and SABC News entirely dumped the Nuus from its schedule for this week.

The SABC moved the daily Afrikaans Nuus om 7 half hour bulletin from SABC2 where its usually broadcast to SABC3 at 19:30 for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

But now the Afrikaans news bulletin has disappeared because SABC3 also doesn't have space for it and the SABC doesn't care enough to show that news bulletin to that language group this week.

Meanwhile viewers are desperately trying to find where the bulletin went since the beginning of the 2014 FIFA World Cup since it was moved to SABC3 with little communication.

Two weeks into the SABC's soccer coverage viewers are now wondering where SABC3 moved it to and if they're missing it due to tuning in and the "wrong" times - the reality is that it doesn't exist.

Meanwhile the SABC, which moved the Afrikaans news from SABC2, saying it had to make space for soccer matches and SABC1 programming, is now again showing news in the 19:00 timeslot - but the Xhosa and Zulu news bulletins, which means that the Afrikaans news could have remained in that slot.

The SABC says SABC3 is supposed to show the Afrikaans news but because SABC3 is also showing soccer matches this week, that it won't be broadcasting the Nuus.

The first time that Afrikaans SABC viewers will be able to see Nuus again, will be on Friday 27 June on SABC3, with no Afrikaans TV news provided in that language by the public broadcaster on SABC2 or SABC3 this week until then.

SABC News provides another half hour of Afrikaans news per day at 19:30 on the public broadcaster's 24-hour TV news channel.

The 24-hour TV news channel SABC News (DStv 404) from the South African public broadcaster has added another new half hour of Afrikaans news to television per day with the Afrikaans news broadcast every day at 19:30, and repeated at 02:00.

The additional half hour of Afrikaans news is broadcast live at 19:30 on SABC News, following the existing half hour of Afrikaans news at 19:00 on SABC2.

News readers for the Afrikaans news on SABC News include Ivor Price and Suna Venter (above) and Erik Holm (Riaan from the soap Binneland on kykNET) and Lynette Francis from Fokus on SABC2 (below).

(Suna Venter and Lynette Francis also read the Afrikaans news on SABC2.)

Since SABC News launched at the beginning of August, neither the SABC nor the SABC News channel has made any information available or communicated any programming specific information about the Afrikaans news, nor who the news readers are, nor responded to any of the multiple media enquiries made about it and the channel the past weeks.