Reporter Annika Larsen has scored a sit-down interview with convicted killer Luyanda Mboniswa, who murdered former first lady Marike de Klerk, with Annika Larsen's compelling 23-minute documentary, The Confession - The Marike de
Klerk
Murder, that is airing on both e.tv and eNCA.
The Confession - The Marike de Klerk Murder will be on e.tv on Friday 7 November at 20:30, and on Sunday 10 November on eNCA (DStv 403) at 22:30.
In The Confession - The Marike de Klerk MurderAnnika Larsen travels to Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth, for a sit-down tell-all where Luyanda Mboniswa now lives after he was released after 22 years.
The Confession - The Marike de Klerk Murderrevisits the December 2001 murder of Marike de Klerk, the
former first lady whose death sent shockwaves around the world.
The case of the 22-year-old Luyanda Mboniswa,
then employed as a security guard at the complex where de Klerk
resided, was charged with the crime in a violent crime story that gripped the nation's
attention.
Mboniswa initially confessed to involvement but denied being the killer,
attempting to implicate
others, including de Klerk's dance teacher, John Tebus, and her son
Willem. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
After
serving 22 years behind bars, Mboniswa's participation in an offender
rehabilitation program led to his release in August 2023.
Now, through
this documentary,
he speaks openly about the crime for the first time and admits his guilt to Annika Larsen on camera.
—finally admitting
his guilt and, in doing so, lifting the cloud of suspicion that has hung
over others for more than two decades.
"The Confession - The Marike de Klerk Murderoffers viewers a rare
opportunity to examine this pivotal moment of truth and explore the
complexities of justice, rehabilitation,
and closure," says e.tv.
e.tv is adding a new late-night interview talk show, with reporter and TV news anchor Annika Larsen who will debut My Guest Tonight with Annika Larsen on Tuesday 11 October at 22:00 on the red letter channel.
In the new half-hour interview show the veteran journalist will "take an intimate behind-the-scenes look at her interviewees, exploring their public and private personas" e.tv says about the new programme, noting that "she will ask the questions you always wanted answered".
The Cape Town-based journalist who is well-known as a face on eNCA (DStv 403) as well as on etv News will interview "sports stars, politicians and cultural icons" according to the show's logline, making for "novel, thought-provoking and inspirational" conversations.
Annika Larsen who also worked at Eyewitness News and M-Net's Carte Blanche, has been a journalist for 22 years and has reported for international radio and television news programs on the BBC, Associated Press and ITN Television News.
She covered the legal tribulations of former president Jacob Zuma since 2005 and the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius and her TV documentaries include The World's Busiest Mortuary, The Far Right, Prepping for a Revolution, and My Blood is Red.
by Thinus Ferreira Instead of trying to keep Batman at bay, the etv News anchor Annika Larsen has given up and has now incorporated one of her dogs into her nightly TV news bulletin broadcast, bringing the Boston terrier to primetime in another first for South African television news. The dog made his first appearance on Monday 18 May 2020 when e.tv shifted its etv News nightly TV news broadcast from its e.tv Cape Town building in the Zonnebloem suburb in Cape Town to the home of anchor Annika Larsen. The e.tv News team was forced to craft the home bulletin broadcast plan after the death of cameraman Lungile Tom of Covid-19 that saw the eMedia Investments e.tv Cape Town building and studio complex shutter for a deep-clean. On the first night the two dogs barked outside and were audible in the background after which Annika Larsen let them back in during a video intro with Batman who made a surprise in-bulletin cameo on the same night. Since then the spotlight-stealing dog has stayed, with the animal that has brought a unique touch of humanity to e.tv's national TV news broadcast while his mom secretly feeds him little biscuits to keep him quiet.
"I've got a new trick now. I give him little treats under the table so that he doesn't bark and drive us all crazy," says Annika Larsen, whose laptop is propped up on a thick book from her bookshelf with a chair for Batman on viewers' right hand side of the screen as she does the news from her living room table. "I am not kidding when I tell you that Batman actually thinks he is getting ready for work. He thinks he is human and doesn't leave me for a minute. So he sits next to me and preps for the show like he should," says Annika Larsen. To the dog she's said "If you bark during mommy's work time mommy's going to get fired, okay?" Mommy will get fired. No barking. Good boy, good boy." The unplanned and unscripted addition of the dog to TV news otherwise filled with grim reports and statistics about the devastating impact of the Covid-19 novel coronavirus in South Africa and globally - something that could have gone spectacularly wrong or could have seem contrived - has brought a softer, warmer tone to the country's otherwise stark South African primetime TV news-scape. It's likely that several viewers are now not just tuning in to the 20:00 etv News on e.tv to find out the news but to see if the dog might appear, what Batman might do, and how the news anchor will play dog-mom. e.tv says that for the duration of South Africa's Covid-19 national lockdown period, the Terrier will stay in the TV news frame. ALSO READ:Coronavirus: e.tv makes South African television history with the country's first done-from-home TV news bulletin broadcast as anchor Annika Larsen tells viewers 'We feel that you're family, and so you're welcome into our living room'.
e.tv made South African television history on Monday evening when the free-to-air commercial TV channel - forced through the abrupt shutdown of its Cape Town building and studio last week because of Covid-19 - did the country's first TV news bulletin broadcast done from home with anchor Annika Larsen who welcomed viewers to her home just as her dogs interrupted and started barking in the background.
On Monday night - after days of web-conferencing, technical set-up and strategising - the etv News bulletin on e.tv was broadcast from news anchor Annika Larsen's dining room table inside her Cape Town house as South Africa's first-ever, freely viewable done-from-home TV news bulletin broadcast on the country's airwaves.
This footnote to South African television history endearingly included a dog that first barked and later made a quick appearance on-screen during the bulletin.
On Wednesday last week eMedia Investments' Cape Town building in the Zonnebloem suburb was shuttered for a deep-clean after the untimely death of cameraman Lungile Tom who worked for etv News, eNCA (DStv 403) and eNuus. Over 70 staffers were forced into self-isolation for 14-days and quarantined at home.
While e.tv's broadcasts temporarily shifted to simulcast the eNCA channel feed on e.tv during news timeslots, the etv News team started working on a technical plan to have the nightly bulletins originate from a makeshift home "studio".
As her dogs started barking on Monday night, Annika Larsen sitting at her dining room table welcomed viewers framed by her white credenza and a fashionable blue old rotary dial phone visible in the background, saying "As you can see, we're doing things a little differently right now".
"I'm coming to you from my living room, you can hear my dogs are barking outside and going berserk at something, which is just horrendous, but welcome to my home; my dining room".
"You are watching etv News but things are going to be rather different tonight. We, like many South Africans at etv News and Sport, have been affected by Covid-19 which is just a stark reminder that no-one is immune to this pandemic," said Annika Larsen.
"Tragically last week we lost a staff member to Covid-19 and our studios in Cape Town which is where we broadcast from had to be closed to be disinfected. So we've been thinking - scratching our heads for the past few days on how we can still bring the news to you."
"We've had producers, IT departments, cameramen, everybody all at home including the technical team. But we came up with a plan: We're going to bring you the news from home. As you can see, we're doing it tonight from my living room."
"This is a first, not just for us, but probably for South African broadcasting too, and things aren't as smooth as they always seem. You can hear dogs barking in the background, we might have some sort of technical glitch - we're really going to need you to be patient with us," said Annika Larsen.
"We feel that you're family, and so you're welcome into our living room. And with that, let's go to your top story."
e.tv has ended its Open News brand name and shut down the app just 9 months after launching the TV news channel in November 2018 as a new free-to-air TV news channel in South Africa on its Openview satellite TV platform.
eMedia Investments that also runs the eNCA (DStv 403) TV news channel for MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service has decided to downsize Open News that is being folded into its existing eNews operations, with the separate Open News app that has been shut down and discontinued.
From Monday 5 August Open News changed to e.tv news, brand merging with e.tv's news operations under the new name of "e.tv news". e.tv's eNews bulletin at 20:00 is also name-changed to e.tv news from today, with the eNCA reporter Annika Larsen who will now join as a prime time anchor.
The anchor line-up on e.tv news on channel 120 on Openview will include Naledo Maleo and Koketso Sachane with Inge Isaacs who has been let go after her one-year contract with the news operation wasn't renewed.
On Openview, viewers will be able to watch e.tv news from 16:00 to 19:30 on weekdays on channel 120. e.tv viewers will be able to see e.tv news bulletins at 13:00 and 20:00 on weekdays.
"We are delighted about Open News becoming e.tv news," says e.tv in a statement. "The decision to refresh Open News comes from our desire to be more closely aligned to the e.tv brand."
About the addition of Annika Larsen as prime time anchor, e.tv says "good journalism and the desire to tell South Africa's story is at the heart of e.tv news and we are really excited to bring seasoned journalist Annika Larsen onboard. She is a trusted voice and a familiar face to the e.tv audience."
On Thursday evening South African viewers watched agape as the 2017 State of the Nation (SONA2017) once again devolved into shocking visuals inside parliament that included blatant sound censorship, a silent "F- you" from the sign language interpreter, the SABC's refusal to do split screens, and scorn for eNCA's bad red carpet cringe coverage.
Media was also herded by riot police outside parliament where a stand-off pursued and South African and world press were prevented from doing their jobs.
The sound censorship
After the signal jamming at the 2016 State of the Nation address to try and silence South Africa's press, the sound was blatantly censored during #SONA2017 for TV viewers once the horrifying fighting inside South Africa's parliament and teargassing of politicians and the public broke out and was seen worldwide on news channels like CNN International (DStv 401).
When the COPE political party's Willy Madisha spoke, all sound from the general assembly was cut off with viewers only getting silence on TV news channels like eNCA broadcasting the proceedings live.
It's not clear who censored and switched off the sound from parliament but it wasn't broadcasters.
eNCA online apologised for the sound censorship, saying it's not them and an issue beyond the channel's control.
Explaining the audio censorship, the SABC told viewers in an on-air bottom-third strip advisory that the "loss of sound [is] due to parliament closing the microphones of members".
The silent 'F- you'
Meanwhile the stoic sign language interpreter was clearly not the fake hired for Nelson Mandela's memorial service.
The SABC gave viewers the full-on silent treatment when the sign language interpreter on Thursday night did a full-on "show and tell" of the filthy trash talk spewed inside the once stately general assembly when ANC members of parliament started shouting "F you" at the DA member of parliament John Steenhuisen.
The SABC's singular focus
Kudos to South Africa's trusted public broadcaster for not being distracted by Patricia de Lille being pepper-sprayed, women being assaulted by riot police, media being prevented from doing their work and the sideshow circus elsewhere in and outside of parliament.
While other broadcasters like eNCA (DStv 403) and ANN7 (DStv 405) went to split screen to show both president Jacob Zuma struggling through the reading of his State of the Nation Address, as well as shocking scenes in and around parliament, the SABC solidly kept its camera just focused on the president and his speech and some shots of sleepy politicians, unwavering in filtering out additional news noise.
Viewers only watching the SABC would get no sense whatsoever of what was happening simultaneously, the context of what is happening while president Jacob Zuma sneezed and laughed and read as if nothing happened.
eNCA's red carpet cringe
Meanwhile the public dragged eNCA (DStv 403) as criticism poured in on Thursday for it's highly amateurish and extremely unprofessional #SONA2017 red carpet coverage that became a cringe-worthy bad view-fest damaging the credibility of eNCA's entire SONA2017 lead-up broadcast.
Interestingly eNCA failed to issue any programming advisory or press release regarding its SONA2017 coverage plans, presenters, anchors and analysts as it did in previous years, and when asked earlier in the week in a media enquiry, failed to respond with details.
eNCA reporter Annika Larsen - usually doing hard news - was let loose on the SONA2017 red carpet with devastating results. eNCA didn't respond to a media enquiry seeking comment after viewers' reaction to the channel's red carpet coverage.
Highly awkward after awkward red carpet interaction ensued, with people saying that it's not Annika Larsen, who struggled to know and correctly identify politicians and others, but eNCA producers who should be carrying the blame.
It made for jaw-dropping viewing as Annika Larsen touched and basically "fashion interrogated" parliament's choir conductor for instance in an embarrassing and awkward interview, exposing him for not really wearing Louis Vuitton.
eNCA (DStv 403) plans to broadcast "gavel-to-gavel" live coverage of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial for viewers whenever its allowed in the courtroom, and will have comprehensive reporting with nightly TV specials of the day's events between 19:00 and 20:00, repeated at 22:00.
ANN7 (DStv 405) did not announce Oscar Pistorius court trial coverage plans on television, but besides eNCA, MultiChoice will run a dedicated, 24-hour Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel on DStv on channel 199, and the Sabido-owned Platco Digital will also run its own dedicated, 24-hour Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel on OpenView HD (OVHD) on channel 119.
eNCA says the South African TV news channel will have an hour long Oscar Pretorius murder trial preview show on Sunday night at 18:00 as it gears up for covering "one of the biggest news stories of the year".
From Monday 3 March eNCA will broadcast live courtroom coverage and ongoing expert analysis and interpretation from a special vantage point outside the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.
eNCA will use its specialist court reporter Karyn Maughan who has covered the story right from that shocking day last year on Valentine's Day when Oscar Pretorius shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
eNCA's team of reporters who will also cover the unfolding court room and news proceedings include Annika Larson, Phakamile Hlubi, Uveka Rangappa, Cathy Mohlahlana, Jeremy Maggs, Iman Rappetti and Gareth Edwards who will field anchor from outside the Pretoria court room.
"Everyone will be covering the Oscar Pistorius trial," says Patrick Conroy, eNCA's group head of news.
"The difference will be the quality of reporting, accuracy and insights into what is going on. We have specialist reporters to do this. We will also provide consistent updates on Twitter and our website enca.com".
"While the Oscar Pistorius trial is undoubtedly one of the biggest stories of the year, we will make sure our viewers also get regular updates on all other important news stories," says Mapi Mhlangu, eNCA news director.
It's as harrowing to watch as it's good; it a seldom reported topic as it's sadly hidden away by society; it's pale, unvarnished and brutal television and it's well told - but eNCA's (DStv 403) short form documentary Voice for the Dead: The Real CSI by Annika Larsen is wholly inappropriately scheduled and is shockingly shown on South African television at completely unsuitable times - despite a "graphic visuals" warning.
eNCA and e.tv couldn't be bothered to do 1% publicity or marketing around Annika Larsen's latest documentary on the 24-hour TV news channel and as usual for eNCA programming, failed to tell the press or TV critics anything about it.
What it means is that less people who might have been interested and could or would have watched, will even know about it to tune in.
Yet Voice for the Dead: The Real CSI is well done hard news reporting done documentary style in which Annika Larsen ventured inside one of the world's busiest mortuaries for a 20 minute programme.
The programme makes for excruciatingly painful television as she uncovers and shows a side to South African life which the majority of society blissfully choose to ignore.
Voice for the Dead: The Real CSI follows the women like dr. Linda Liebenberg, forensic pathologist and prof. Lorna Martin, the head of forensic pathology who work in the Salt River State Mortuary. The documentary body is well done and structured, with exceptional interviews with all the key players.
It's a story which could perfectly play on M-Net's Carte Blanche and if this is the calibre of programming eNCA will include when the channel launches its own new investigative magazine show before the end of the year, it will make for absolutely perfect and terrific current affairs television with gravitas.
However... The scheduling on eNCA is shocking and leaves a lot to be desired.
How eNCA can show this level of gruesome and gory, real-life death and cold end-of-life dissection during the morning, afternoon, mid-afternoon and late afternoon when those who still watch Pokemon can also see this, is shocking, quite unprofessional and disappointing.
Due to the nature of the subject - for mature audiences and definitely not for children and due to the graphic nature of the images (which yes, in a documentary or story such as this needs to be shown and is integral to the story) - it is completely wrong for the eNCA to show it beyond late evening and late night timeslot - for instance anything after 20:00.
It is unconscionable for the eNCA to show Voice for the Dead: The Real CSI while children are still likely to possibly tune in and see it.
Why the eNCA cannot keep a mature, cold and clinical subject with dead bodies, brains on a stainless steel basin and other horrors confined to after the watershed time period on South African television is mind-boggling. It's news yes, but its not breaking news.
Voice for the Dead: The Real CSI (let me do e.tv and the eNCA's publicity work for them since they clearly can't care less) can still be seen on Friday at 21:40 (a more appropriate time), Saturday at 08:40 (insanity!), 12:40, 16:40, 23:10 and on Sunday at 07:40, 14:40 and 19:40.
