by Thinus Ferreira
Weather presenters on eNCA (DStv 403) are gone with the wind, with the eMedia Investments TV news channel that has abruptly axed and done away with its entire remaining weather presenting team including Joel Guy and Annette Botha and with eNCA that will now just be using low-level sliding "weatherboard" graphics for forecasting.
The disappearance of eNCA's weather presenters on-screen in English also impacts the daily Afrikaans TV news bulletin eNuus on kykNET (DStv 144) that is supplied to kykNET by eNCA.
eNCA and eNuus viewers were shocked on Thursday when two of the longtime meteorologists, Joel "Guy" Chabata and Annette Botha, suddenly announced that they're out of jobs and that viewers will no longer see them on-screen bring the weather.
The respected, veteran eNCA weatherman Joel "Guy" Chabata posted a photo on social media showing him leaving eMedia's Cape Town office after 12 years with his few desk belongings packed in a carton box.
The former physics teacher brought viewers the weather on e.tv and eNCA since 2009. "So this is it. End of the road with eNCA," Joel said. "It was good having your support South Africa while giving you the weather on your tellies for the past decade. Looking forward to new chapters and adventures."
eNuus anchors on air called the announcement "unexpected" after a very sad looking Annette Botha, known for her Afrikaans "onweer of mooiweer" sign-off, told viewers on-screen during Thursday night's TV news bulletin that she is gone after almost 7 years as a meteorologist.
Annette Botha stunned kykNET viewers when she said that it's her final weather forecast after almost 7 years and that she's taking DStv subscribers through some of her most favourite weather images that viewers have sent in over the years.
At the end of her last forecast, a clearly distraught Annette who managed to maintain her composure said in Afrikaans that "Tonight I greet you with a heavy heart. But where the sun sets, a more beautiful sunrise awaits. May it rain where your goats are grazing, and onweer of mooiweer, the Lord remains in control".
eNCA kept the retrenchment of its weather presenting division quiet with neither Norman Munzhelele, eNCA managing director, or John Bailey, eNCA managing editor, who issued a statement or comment and with eNCA that didn't respond to a media enquiry on Thursday afternoon.
According to insiders, eNCA is toning down its TV standard of personalised weather presentations with viewers who will no longer get their weather forecast from an actual on-screen person from now on.
eNCA made the decision to now only use so-called "weatherboard" graphics going forward, filled by forecast data from the South African Weather Service and removing the human element and interaction with viewers.
According to sources the remaining meteorologists were let go Tuesday and told that it's an operational decision, with Thursday that was their final day.
eNCA already retrenched its weather department at the end of November 2019 using the same operational motivation, dismantling the well-respected division that brought DStv subscribers additional inserts and weather-related context to forecasts was built up by Derek van Dam as the channel's chief meteorologist over several years.
eNCA however kept a few meteorologists on who have now also had their contracts terminated.
Worldwide, weather presenters on TV and as part of a bulletin continue to serve as an indicator of the stature of a channel or a TV news division's operations.
Viewers like to get their forecast about tomorrow's weather from a person on television, as opposed to the internet and smartphone apps where screen-scrolling for weather details suffice within the frame of a reduced and less interpersonal information-sharing experience.
Besides wind and rain projections, as well as minimum and maximum temperatures, TV meteorologists as a specialised skill, colour their presentations with explanations to viewers of various weather phenomena to help educate and inform them about everything from things like an extratropical cyclone to a polar vortex.
In South Africa as elsewhere in the world, weather presenters - who despite their brief on-air appearances at the end of TV news bulletins are in some cases held in even higher regard than news anchors - are beloved by viewers.
Viewers know their names and tune in especially because they like to hear from a friendly and trusted face about what "tomorrow's weather" might hold.
It remains to be seen whether eNCA's removal of weather presenters might shift some viewers to rivals news channels like SABC News (DStv 404), Newzroom Africa (DStv 405) and other TV news bulletins.
UPDATE Friday 16 April 2021 19:35: The eNCA and eNuus meteorologist Anika de Beer on Friday enveing also said got her chance to say goodbye to viewers, noting that it's "unfortunately my turn to say goodbye" after "I had the chance the past 5 years to life out my passion for the weather".
"Thank you that I could share it with you, and thank you that you opened your living rooms, homes and hearts to me and the rest of our team. It wasn't just my privilege but also my pleasure and that's why I'm so thankful that tonight I can talk to you for the last time about the weather," she said.
"It's with a heavy heart that I'm saying goodbye to you tonight but I'm thankful for the time I was able to be here and I'm excited about what the future holds," Anika de Beer said.
"If there's one thing that the weather has taught me, it's that sometimes storms are unpredictable but then faith and grace showed me that every storm passes. And with that I say, for the last time, 'dit is vir eers die weer en dalk eendag, is daar 'n volgende keer".
