'Escaped' yellow albino Ball python never went missing on the Generations The Legacy set; is with its handlers and will show up on SABC1 on Monday night.

A massive snake that was thought to have escaped inside the SABC on a TV set is safely with its snake handlers and SABC staff need not fear running into the lurking serpent.

SABC staff - referred to internally as "First Citizens" - are safe, with the snake that will make its debut on South African TV screens from this coming Monday.

Insiders gossiped that a snake brought onto the Generations - The Legacy set recently slithered off the SABC1 soap's set at Henley Studios at the public broadcaster's Auckland Park headquarters and mysteriously went missing.

While some people thought there was now a yellow albino Ball python loose inside the SABC, the snake was actually removed by its trainers, following the filming of scenes in November last year.

Fearful SABC staffers and soap stars who thought the snake had escaped, were assured that the snake was removed and never actually went "missing".

"It was a misunderstanding," says a spokesperson. "The snake has always been with its trainers and had left the premises when it was supposed to. The snake is well-trained and not poisonous". The snake is currently with its trainers and handlers.

SABC1 viewers will be able to see the snake when it makes its debut on Monday on Generations - The Legacy at 20:00 and will feature in the prime time soap as a constant feature for about three months.

An inyanga will drape the snake over Tshidi (Latoya Makhene) after she emerges from a bath drenched in blood as part of her new "secret weapon" on Monday night, as part of her and Gadaffi's plan to get spiritual protection from their enemies including her ancestors.

The snake is to protect Tshidi - something she's not allowed to tell anyone about - and she realises that she and Gadaffi are in over their heads. The inyanga then tells Tshidi that the snake will tell her when it wants to feed - and what ...

BREAKING. Henley Studios was locked as Isidingo went up in flames; took time to unlock as fire at the SABC blazed out of control inside.

Henley Studios was locked shut as fire fighters tried to gain access, while the out-of-control fire which started inside on Wednesday night just after 20:00 at the SABC raged out of control and flames destroyed the Isidingo set, burnt through cabling, and incinerating technical equipment worth tens of millions of rands.

The SABC says Henley Studios and Studio 6 where the blaze raged for more than 3 hours on Wednesday night and smoke plumed over the roof today, was locked after hours and that it took time to open the studio to gain access after the fire started.

Serious questions are now being raised over the building' safety with labour inspectors who have issued the SABC with an urgent prohibition order barring anyone from entering the charred area where smoke yesterday incapacitated even some experienced fire fighters battling the raging blaze.

"It was locked," says Sully Motsweni, the SABC's group executive responsible for risk and governance. "It did take a while for us to get the key and open and gain access to the studio fascility."

Sully Motsweni says "like any other asset that you would want to protect, especially the value of the contents that were inside that studio it was locked."

The SABC's chief operating officer (COO), Hlaudi Motsoeneng, who was on the site of the blaze, said "this is something we don't know how to handle, but I think we will get there". Hlaudi Motsoeneng said "as SABC we're very shock. We're not expecting this. As you know, I mean, financially, we are not sound."