Mzansi Magic: no contact with Mthokozisi Ndaba after assault charge; Idols runner-up returns to Johannesburg; says don't attack complainant since 'we do not know what issues she may be dealing with'.

M-Net has started to distance itself from the now controversial Idols runner-up Mthokozisi Ndaba facing charges of brutal assault, with Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) saying the channel doesn’t know where he is and isn’t speaking on his behalf anymore.

Meanwhile Mthokozisi Ndaba (25) who has gone to ground with no official statement from him or his management more than 72 hours after a 21-year old woman, Neo Tsele, laid a charge of assault against him following a bloody Friday night fight over a bottle of booze has suddenly spoken out on the “TeamMthokozisi” Instagram account on Tuesday – the first since the police charge three days ago.

Mthokozisi Ndaba says he has decided to fly back to Johannesburg and that people not attack Neo Tsele because “we do not know what issues she may be dealing with”.

“In the light of the current allegations and a case opened against me, I have returned to Joburg again to co-operate with the police regarding the matter. In as much as this has affected me, the craft God blessed me with, the family, friends and fans negatively but let us please let our SA law to handle the matter rightfully.” 

Mthokozisi Ndaba said he’s pleading with TeamMthokozisi and “everyone not to attack the complainant on social media. We do not know what issues she may be dealing with.”

Mzansi Magic over the weekend said it condemns any act of abuse, especially against women.

Neo Tsele opened a case of assault against Mthokozisi Ndaba, saying he beat her up in Braamfontein on Friday night, just days after the conclusion of the 13th season of the FremantleMedia format reality show produced by [SIC] Entertainment.

During a fight over a bottle of vodka, Mothokozisi Ndaba allegedly started to hit Neo Tsele in the face and slammed her into a wall. She also lost a tooth while he ran away, allegedly only stopping his brutal physical attack when her blood started dripping over his fists.

Mthokozisi Ndaba hasn’t done a single media interview since he lost Idols against Paxton Fielies just over a week ago and notoriously skipped the post-show press conference, the first runner-up in the 13 season history of the show to do so.

Mthokozisi Ndaba was supposed to fly back to Durban on Saturday afternoon but Mzansi Magic that was asked on Monday where exactly the Idols runner-up is, told TVwithThinus that the M-Net packaged channel that broadcast Idols is no longer sure of his whereabouts. The channel has been unable to make contact with Mthokozisi Ndaba for over 3 days and counting.

“Based on the social media posts from Mthokozisi we believe he is back home in KwaZulu-Natal,” says Mzansi Magic.

Mzansi Magic was asked of there’s performances or bookings Mthokozisi Ndaba is missing where he has been booked and scheduled to appear.

Mzansi Magic says “once Idols is completed the booking agent generally handles the contestants’ bookings and their diaries so we are not able to comment to any Mthokozisi might have”.

It’s highly unusual for a TV channel not to be able to get hold of any of its on-screen talent or personalities after trying for days, especially during a serious incident that has far-ranging potential for brand and reputational damage.

M-Net: Distancing itself from troubled Idols runner-up

M-Net is now also signaling a distancing between the pay-TV broadcaster and the troubled Idols runner-up who last week canned all media interviews and got treatment from medical professionals following his Idols defeat against Paxton Fielies.

Mzansi Magic now says it has stopped handling publicity for Mthokozisi Ndaba, and told TVwithThinus it only provides PR for contestants once the show has ended for the winner and the runner-up for a week after the show.

Mthokozisi Ndaba’s manager, Kim Coppen, didn’t respond to a media enquiry made Monday over Ndaba and there has been no statement from his management to respond to the allegations of physical assault since the charge was laid at Johannesburg police early on Saturday morning.

Kim Coppen was asked if there’s any comment from his management over the allegations, if there’s been consideration over dropping Mthokozisi Ndaba and no longer representing him, and what his management’s view is of assault and abuse of women but there’s been no response.

The claim of physical abuse against the Idols star came at the start of this year's 16 Days of Activism campaign that runs from 25 November to 10 December and aims to raise awareness over the scourge of violence against women and children in South Africa.

In a recent survey 1 in 4 women said they've been hit by a man, and 1 in 5 said they've been sexually abused or raped, with only 5% of women saying they feel the South African Police Service (SAPS) would help them if they reported it.

Sunday was the International Day to End Violence Against Women.

Police: No arrest yet after woman claims brutal assault by troubled Idols runner-up Mthokozisi Ndaba.

The police says there’s been no arrest yet after a 21-year old woman on Saturday opened a case of assault against the troubled Idols runner-up Mthokozisi Ndaba who has so far remained unreachable by M-Net’s Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) channel.

Hillbrow police station spokesperson, Sergeant Mduduzi Zondo told TVwithThinus on Sunday afternoon “that a case was opened on Saturday morning against Mthokozisi Ndaba and the matter is being investigated. No arrest has been made yet."

The police is investigating a a claim of physical assault after a charge was laid by Neo Tsele (21) after Mthokozisi Ndaba allegedly beat her up in Braamfontein on Friday night, almost a week after the conclusion of the 13th season of the FremantleMedia format reality show produced by [SIC] Entertainment.

Neo Tsele says Mthokozisi Ndaba opened a bottle of vodka and after an argument ensued, started to hit her and then slammed her into a wall. She also lost a tooth while he ran away.

"You brutally abused me, I don't deserve to be beaten up like this by a stranger that I have never even wronged. Why? Why did you do this to me? You will run but you will never hide," she wrote on social media, with an image of her bruised and battered face.

Mthokozisi Ndaba who remained cloistered in Johannesburg the past week after all media interviews were abruptly canned while he received care from medical professionals since he struggled to come to grips with his defeat after Paxton Fielies (17) from Cape Town won the13th season of Idols, was supposed to fly back to Durban on Saturday afternoon.

After posing for pics at the O.R. Tambo airport in Johannesburg with DJ Prince Kaybee, it’s not clear if he actually got on the plane and is back in KwaMashu, or if he is still in Johannesburg.

DJ Prince Kaybee was quick to distance himself from the fallen Idols star, saying “A few minutes ago I posted a pic of me and Mthokozisi (Idols). It just got to my attention about his alleged assault case. I don’t condone such actions against women and apologise if I offended anyone.”

Mzansi Magic said that it has been unable to get in contract with Mthokozisi Ndaba since Saturday. It’s highly unusual for a TV channel not to be able to quickly get hold of any of its on-air talent and personalities, especially during a crisis that has big negative brand and reputational impact.

Silence from Mthokozisi Ndaba

Mthokozisi Ndaba has issued no statement about the alleged brutal assault.

On Sunday Mthokozisi Ndaba’s manager, Kim Coppen, didn’t respond to an emailed media enquiry seeking comment on the allegations of physical assault against Mthokozisi Ndaba.

Kim Coppen was asked if there are considerations to possibly drop Mthokozisi Ndaba following the allegations of assault and what his management’s view is on the assault and abuse of women.

Last week Kim Coppen said Mzansi Magic is responsible for Mthokozisi Ndaba’s publicity until this week.

Nondumiso Mabece, head of publicity at M-Net for local entertainment channels, on Sunday afternoon told TVwithThinus that Mzansi Magic has no new information and has still been unable to reach Ndaba.

Asked if during the past week when Mthokozisi Ndaba was placed under media professionals’ care there was any awareness that the person is troubled beyond what Mzansi Magic, Idols and M-Net understood might be the case, Nondumiso Mabece said “we are not at liberty to discuss the outcomes of Mthokozisi's sessions with the medical professionals as that information is private”.

Meanwhile rumours have started to circulate that Mthokozisi Ndaba was allegedly borderline abuse and rude towards some of the other contestants during their stay in the Idols house. Mzansi Magic was asked if any contestants ever complained about his behaviour during their time in the Idols house.

Nondumiso Mabece told TVwithThinus that “we did not receive any complaints from contestants during the show”.

The claim of physical abuse against the Idols star came at the start of this year's 16 Days of Activism campaign that runs from 25 November to 10 December and aims to raise awareness over the scourge of violence against women and children in South Africa.

In a recent survey 1 in 4 women said they've been hit by a man, and 1 in 5 said they've been sexually abused or raped, with only 5% of women saying they feel the South African Police Service (SAPS) would help them if they reported it.

Sunday was the International Day to End Violence Against Women.

As Idols on Mzansi Magic continues to grow its viewership and voting, M-Net says Idols' voting engagement is now as important as ratings.

While it is still linear TV ratings that drive renewal or cancellation of shows, in the new era of convergence between TV and social media, the size and impact of voting and people talking about it for a show like Idols, has become as important as the ratings, M-Net says.

The 13th season of Idols, the FremantleMedia format show produced by [SIC] Entertainment, remains a South African television juggernaut – not just maintaining its ratings lead on the list of most-watched shows on pay-TV in the country but also showing immense growth in both social media engagement between viewers and the show, and huge growth in the number of votes cast.

What it means is that the so-called "stickiness" of Idols continues to increase and grow.

Through social media platforms, people using "second screens" – smartphones, tablets and other devices – while they're watching the show on the "first screen", TV, Idols not just manages to lure more and more people but also keeps them watching and engaging.

It means that viewers are not just watching Idols, they're engaging with the brands of Idols, Mzansi Magic, DStv and the show's sponsors – which is exactly what M-Net, that runs the Mzansi Magic channel, wants.

Idols that lured over a million viewers for its just-concluded 13th season and that has been renewed for a 14th season with nationwide auditions starting on 28 January 2018, is far from cresting as far as linear and catch-up TV ratings are concerned.

Idols remains not just one of the most watched shows on Mzansi Magic. In terms of linear ratings and the number of DStv subscribers actually watching, makes it one of the most watched shows on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform overall.

M-Net's decision to do a slow transition of Idols from M-Net (DStv 101) to Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) by first doing a few jointly simulcast seasons of Idols on both channels before the reality singing show became a Mzansi Magic only show, has paid off extremely well in targeting a brand new audience and demographic.

The move also came at exactly the same time as extremely fast consumer growth and uptake in mobile and smartphone use, as well as data and social media app usage in South Africa – something that is giving already successful reality TV shows like Idols a whole new and massive additional adrenalin injection.

The 13th season of Idols once again smashed voting records – another indication that Idols isn't going away from South African television soon. Over 30 million votes were cast last week by viewers before this past Sunday's Idols season finale – a new record.

Over the course of the 13th season, over 98 million votes were cast – yet another voting record for Idols and Mzansi Magic. Co-executive producer ProVerb says he expects the upcoming 14th season of Idols to surpass 100 million votes.

TVwithThinus asked Reneilwe Sema, M-Net director of local entertainment channels, what factor the social media interaction – the massive voting statistics for instance, play alongside the actual TV ratings in a show such as Idols and when it comes to renewing it for another season.

"The social voting element is key because it does prove the popularity of Idols," says Reneilwe Sema.

"The more engagement you have, the more popular the show is."

"So we look forward every week to see what the numbers are that come in. And the more people who vote – it means the more popular the competition is, the more intense the competition is, the more engagement there is."

"It's very important to us," says Reneilwe Sema. "And besides the ratings the social media interaction is important as well because it means the audience is engaging with the show on a weekly basis."

"To track the consumers and what they are saying about the show, is very important to us."

Cape Town becomes Kapstadt as the acclaimed German TV drama series films scenes for Deutschland86 in South Africa.

Cape Town became Kapstadt over the weekend when my work week continued into the past weekend doing a set visit, interviews and a roundtable press day with the producers, executives and cast involved with the brilliant German TV drama Deutschland86.

Since my invitation to the DStv Delicious International Food and Music Festival 2017 must have gotten lost in the mail, I went to visit the production of the second season of the German drama series over the weekend that has been filming scenes in Cape Town the past few weeks.

On Saturday Deutschland86 filmed scenes in a building next to Tulbagh Square, just opposite from Burger King and Naspers' Media24 building.

Deutschland86 is the "follow-up" or second part/season of Deutschland83, that is part of a trilogy, with Deutschland86 that will be broadcast in the latter part of 2018, and that will very likely be followed by Deutschland89 and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Of course M-Net viewers saw Deutschland83 on M-Net Edge at the beginning of this year as part of its "best of world series" initiative.

The second season of this acclaimed German spy series created by Anna Winger and Jörg Winger will also be shown on M-Net (DStv 101) next year on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

The interesting thing is that Deutchland86 is a co-production of AMC Networks' SundanceTV, Amazon, FremantleMedia International and UFA Distribution.

Amazon with its subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service Amazon Prime Video has come on board to make the next season possible and while Deutschland86 will be available on Amazon Prime Video in the rest of the world, M-Net and DStv will continue to show it in South Africa and across Africa.

Deutschland 86 will continue 3 years after the end of the first season (Deutschland83) with the East German secret agent Martin Rauch (Jonas Nay) searching for ... a lot of things.

Of course the Stasi agent ends up in Cape Town, as well as in other African countries and of course both sides of Germany's Berlin.

It was really great to hear directly from Anna Winger and Jörg Winger, speaking passionately and interestingly about their show, as well as from SundanceTV, Amazon and FremantleMedia executives about the upcoming season that will roll out in 2018.

Of course one of the interesting parts of this show set in the mid-80's is the whole stylistic and historical aspect of it, and from what I've seen of Deutschland86 it looks arrestingly beautiful, fascinating and is very cleverly done.

It was cool to talk to the cast, producers and the South African director Florian Cossen but to literally say anything now would be spoiling stuff - and there's mega fascinating and big story surprises in store.

When M-Net (DStv 101) schedules Deutschland86 - which will likely be sometime around the latter part of 2018 since the second season is literally filming and in production at the moment - I promise a lot of interesting interviews and insights straight from the set.

"Danke Schön".

M-Net apologises for trans-shaming of Idols contestant on Mzansi Magic: 'Judges' dialogue was an attempt to understand the contestant's identity'.

M-Net is apologising to DStv subscribers for Idols' on-air transgender shaming that kicked off the latest episode of the reality singing competition on Mzansi Magic when the judges and presenter mocked a contestant and showed viewers how to make fun out of guessing what gender someone might be.

M-Net says it "apologises unreservedly for any offence the comments may have caused".

The pay-TV broadcaster's apology comes after the [SIC] Entertainment produced show of the FremantleMedia format that is currently in its 13th South African season, kicked off Sunday night's episode with an episode-opener audition by Arshen Madlopha (22).

In a body-wrapping purple dress and matching purple high heels, the contestant traveled all the way from the small timber producing town of Piet Retief in Mpumalanga to audition for the show.

Unlike The Voice South Africa on M-Net (DStv 101) where the coaches have their backs turned to singers and judge them only on their vocal abilities, in Idols where it's also only the singing that's supposed to matter, the judges often have fun by judging appearances.

It was Arshen Madlopha's second try at Idols, and judge Unathi Msengana primed DStv subscribers watching, by perusing her notes and saying "It doesn't say if Ashen is a lady or a guy".

That is when Sunday night's episode of Idols on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161), executive produced by Gavin Wratten and ProVerb and covering the Johannesburg auditions, shocked viewers for how it trans-shamed contestant 11014.

"You're body is banging girl," judge Somizi Mhlongo, who happens to be gay, told Arshen Madlopha. "Walk like a lady."

Once the contestant had left the audition room, the whispering started.

"Is it a girl or boy?" asked a perplexed Idols guest judge Kelly Khumalo who was roped in to judge singing talent for the episode but who couldn't be bothered to ask the actual contestant directly.

"Boy," said Somizi.

"No, it's a girl," countered a surprised Unathi Msengana.

"It's a boy," said an adamant Randall Abrahams. "There was action," he said, motioning his Adam's apple. "I am confused, but it's such a beautiful boy though," said Kelly.

They all laughed heartily and fun was had by all speculating whether the contestant who sang Beyonce's "Halo" is really male or female.

Outside ProVerb, whose real name is Tebogo Thekisho and doubles as presenter, deadpanned by added another zinger: "Arshen had let both the ladies and the guys down."

It's not clear why Sphumelele Sibeko, M-Net's head of reality and entertainment and Reneilwe Sema, M-Net's director for local entertainment signed off on the trans-shaming content and okay-ed it for broadcast.

After [SIC] Entertainment producers failed to ask the contestant's gender and left it to the judges to speculate as a funny joke for Mzansi Magic viewers, Lindiwe Dlhamini, founder of Injabulo Anti-Bullying Project (IABP), called on Idols and the judges to apologise to Arshen Madlopha.

TVwithThinus asked M-Net what Mzansi Magic's view is when it comes to media shaming of transgender people and the bullying of people as it relates to gender and gender issues, and why people in power - supposed TV role models - are making fun by mining what gender someone belongs to for comedy.

Is this something Mzansi Magic endorses and why did Idols do this?

"South African Idols has a history supporting the LGBTQIA community, a fact which is illustrated in the make-up of the Top 16 over the past few seasons, our judging panel," says M-Net in response.

"In respect of this specific case, the Idols judges were judging the contestant's voice."

"All contestants are treated equally and judged on their singing, irrespective of who they are, where they come from or what their orientation is."

"The judges' dialogue was an attempt to understand the contestant’s identity and was not intended to offend, however we apologise unreservedly for any offence the comments may have caused."

It's not clear why the Idols judges in their attempt to understand the contestant's gender identity didn't ask the contestant or the show's producers.

BREAKING. The dishonest contestant Siyakha Tshayela dumped from Idols on Mzansi Magic with immediate effect amidst behind-the-scenes recording contract fight.

The dishonest Idols contestant Siyakha Tshayela has been dumped from the M-Net reality show on its Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) channel on DStv with immediate effect earlier today.

Siyakha Tshayela's axing by Idols producers comes comes after she was being not only dishonest with the producers and M-Net, but is also involved in a shocking and ongoing behind-the-scenes fight between her and an independent record label making her continued inclusion in the reality show untenable.

Siyakha Tshayela (23) is a full-time musician from Vosloorus in the East Rand and was included in the group of Top 16 Idols contestants as one of the 8 women vying to win the current 12th season.

While Idols contestants are told in no uncertain terms that they're not allowed to have any prior recording contracts with any recording companies and also sign paperwork to that effect saying they're not represented by any record labels - because they might end up having to sign an exclusive record deal with Universal Music South Africa - a month ago it suddenly came to light that Siyakha Tshayela is involved with an independent record company.

Siyakha Tshayela admitted to Idols producers SIC Entertainment producing the FremantleMedia format show, that she has had dealing with the independent record label before she entered Idols - with the record company that maintains that they actually made a record deal and signed a contract with her.

"Siyakha Tshayela has been withdrawn from the 2016 season of Idols with effect from 15 September as a result of a dispute between herself and an independent recording company," says Idols.

"Participants are required to sign an exclusive recording deal with the Idols appointed recording label when they enter the series."

"On 1 August Siyakha Tshayela informed us that she had entered into discussions with an independent recording company before entering Idols, but she maintained there was no contract in place. The recording company insists there is."

Idols says there's been "no resolution" to the behind-the-scenes fight.

"Due to conditions stipulated by the Idols format rights holder," says Idols - in this case FremantleMedia - "we are unable to continue with a contestant that is currently involved in a legal dispute of this nature".

Idols, M-Net and Mzansi Magic, and SIC Entertainment are slamming the door on Siyakha Tshayela, saying they wish her "all the best with her music career".