Coronavirus: A fifth SABC staffer tests positive for Covid-19 - its first at its Durban provincial office that is shutting down for a deep-clean - as Ukhozi FM and Lotus FM radio station staffers relocate to outside broadcast vans.

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African public broadcaster has shut its Durban office in KwaZulu-Natal after the SABC recorded its 5th staffer who has tested Covid-19 positive - leaving two SABC provincial offices now locked for deep-clean following the shuttering of its Cape Town bureau last week.

The SABC's Covid-19 staffer is currently under quarantine with staffers in Durban who will all be working remotely until the SABC can deep-clean the building. The SABC is also conducting contact tracing while those who had contact with the person will have to self-isolate for 14 days.

SABC staffers working for its regional radio stations, Ukhozi FM and Lotus FM, will be doing outside broadcasts from OB vans for the time being.

"The SABC can confirm a case of coronavirus at KwaZulu-Natal provincial office. The affected employee has been working on-site since the lockdown and is now under quarantine whilst being closely monitored," says Mmoni Seapolelo, SABC spokesperson.

"As a precautionary measure and to ascertain the extent of the risk of exposure of other employees, the office will be temporarily closed. During this time the office will be decontaminated from Wednesday until Thursday."

"The office is scheduled to reopen on Monday 1 June to resume with normal operations."

Contact tracing is also being conducted.

"As part of contact tracing, employees who will be identified as having been in contact with the affected employee will be advised and will be subjected to testing as well as the compulsory 14-day quarantine period," says Mmoni Seapolelo.

A 4th SABC staffer tested positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus at the SABC earlier, making it the second worker inside the South African public broadcaster's Auckland Park headquarters in Johannesburg, prompting a shutdown for another deep-clean there.

The fourth Covid-19 case at the SABC and the second at its headquarters in Johannesburg, comes after the SABC was forced to shutter its Cape Town building in Sea Point last week after the first case of a worker there - its third case overall - tested positive for Covid-19.

Although the SABC closed its Cape Town building in Sea Point, the South African public broadcaster has kept open and continues to operate its Good Hope FM radio station studio on the left-hand side of the lobby entrance on the ground floor of the building.

The SABC in late-March 2020 shuttered its office in the Northern Cape in April after reporter Ulrich Hendriks tested positive for Covid-19. He has since recovered.

The SABC in late-March 2020 then had a second Covid-19 case - its first at its Auckland Park headquarters - at the SABC News research division, with the person who was hospitalised.

Meanwhile eMedia Investments reopened its e.tv Cape Town building in the Zonnebloem suburb without any announcement, following its first positive Covid-19 case and death of a staffer, Lungile Tom, two weeks ago, followed by a deep-clean and the self-isolation of over 70 staffers.

e.tv and eMedia Investments' pay-TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) are once again back to using the Cape Town building with e.tv News once again making use of the studio facilities within the building and doing its TV news bulletins from there since Monday evening. 

DAILY TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 13 September 2017.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read, and that you should too:

■ The former SABC Lotus FM DJ Vikash Mathura facing fraud court charges.
Allegedly billed Ellerines over R887 000 in secret on-air ad deal at Lotus FM on behalf of the SABC.

■ British government orders in-depth review of FOX's proposed mega Sky take-over deal.
The British government orders a full scale investigation of 21st Century Fox's proposed deal to take over the UK's pay-TV service Sky, and also wants a review of Broadcasting Standards.
It will take 6 months. At issue is also questions over the ongoing editorial independence of Sky News (DStv 402).
- It's a big setback for the Murdochs who hoped to avoid a thorough investigation.

■ How Omarosa is the most despised person in the White House.
The trashy American reality TV star now working for Donald Trump constantly plots against other officials, derails meetings and is notorious for distracting with negative news and gossip.

■ Riverdale's Camila Mendes was told she doesn't look Latin-American enough.
The starlet seen on VUZU AMP (DStv 103) says "that mentality is so backwards".

■ Nigerian journo Femi Solaja t/hypes up SuperSport's acquisition of WWE wrestling for DStv.
Will the wrestling on SuperSport translate into any significant ratings?

■ Jeff Probst wants Survivor to stay in Fiji permanently.
Despite major cost-cutting that saw Survivor film 4 seasons in Fiji, the show's host says Survivor should permanently stay there: "This is our home. I hope we end our show here".

■ Research: Pay-TV faces a period of unprecedented change.
The global transformation of the pay-TV industry is creating a "perfect storm" of slowing pay-TV growth - but Africa excluded.
A whopping 67% of TV executives agree that competition from SVOD services will have a negative impact on pay-TV, pushing prices down and increasing churn.
In order to grow, in order to grow, pay-TV service providers will have to innovate strongly over the next 5 years.

■ The good/bad side of streaming services is that they will have to start invest more in actual TV production and marketing of their shows.
The same holds true for the likes of Showmax, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in South Africa. Traditional pay-TV says subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services have some great content but do little to have premiere parties, marketing and to get traction with the media and viewers.

■ Mozambique wants to learn 'best media practices' from their Chinese trainers.
Mozambique wants to import more Chinese TV series like the Chinese soap opera, A Beautiful Daughter-in-Law Era that has "a great influence on the country".

■ Botswana's state broadcaster doesn't want to share its infrastructure with private broadcasters.
Btv tells Botswana's parliament is has rejected recommendation's from Botswana's broadcasting regulator, the Botswana Communications Authority (Bocra), to share its infrastructure that it's not using with private and other broadcasters to help the country's TV, film and radio industry.

■ The long-struggling plan to launch a SADC Television bouquet has been postponed again.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries have been trying for years now to start a local content TV exchange network for various Southern African countries to show some of their TV shows in each other's nations to promote regional African integration.
It's still going nowhere.

■ Uganda has suspended the ABS Television's TV licence indefinitely.
The Christian church owned TV station "repeatedly breached minimum broadcasting standards" according to Uganda's broadcasting regulator for broadcasting, Kalondoozi, a soft-core pornographic show that's a local Uganda version of the catch-cheaters-in-the-act Cheaters show.

■ Nigeria plans to start the Nigeria Police TV channel in November 2017 with 5 000 staffers.
And apparently CNN International will help with training.

FremantleMedia buys Australian independent production company.
Takes over Essential Media and Entertainment, one of the largest independent producers in Australia, rebranding the drama business under the name Easy Tiger.

■ uBaba Buhari is simple; watches on a 32 inch.
Nigeria's president Muhammadu Buhari watches television on a small TV set that is still LCD, not even LED. Such a selfless, humble man, even sitting on old furniture.

■ MultiChoice Africa donates after Sierra Leone mudslide disaster.
Gives 500 mattresses, 150 school bags and LED lights to survivors.

■ 15 TV bosses talk about the new TV season's trends.
What show would they steal, what worries them about the TV biz, and the new trends they're seeing.

■ Could Netflix (take a deep breath) ... spend $20 million on a single hour of a TV series?
Yes, says Netflix's COO. Netflix now has 104 million users worldwide and the economics of its global audience base makes such never-before-seen and outrageous production budgets possible.

SHOCKER: Almost a THIRD of the SABC's outside broadcast trucks are not usable - need to be upgraded but out-of-cash broadcaster isn't able to.

Shockingly, almost a third of the cash-strapped and beleaguered SABC's outside broadcast trucks - called "OB vans" in the TV biz - are not usable, the public broadcaster has revealed.

"There are crucial issues about people who are producing content for us, sport broadcasts that we are mandated to carry by the Broadcasting Act which we are scaling down because we don't have the money," Mathatha Tsedu, deputy chairperson of the SABC interim board said in an interview.

Mathatha Tsedu revealed in an interview on SABC2's Morning Live that "our OB trucks, almost a third of them are not usable. We need to upgrade them; we can't do that."

"So the board has taken a decision that we're only going to do those things that are necessary for us to do."

Six years after rife mismanagement, corruption and mismanagement brought the SABC to the brink of financial collapse in 2009 that saw the SABC thrown a R1.47 billion bailout lifeline from the government with stringent rules attached - 6 of which the SABC failed to adhere to - the financially under water SABC is once again in dire need of yet another government bailout. 

Communications minister Ayanda Dlodlo continues to refuse to tell the South African public what the mega-amount bailout is that the South African public broadcaster has requested from Treasury this time to keep the struggling South African public broadcaster afloat that is falling further and further into the red.

After shocking mismanagement and maladministration, the SABC is in dire need of a cash splash in order to pay millions of rand in arrears and back payments due to a range of creditors from content producers and the signal distributor Sentech to others.

"There are appointments, there are unprocedural bonuses that people were paid - some in millions, some in thousands - there are a whole host of irregular things that contributed to the R5.1 billion over five years of irregular expenditure," said Mathatha Tsedu.

"A whole host of production companies that keeps shows going, that give us content, we haven't even been able to pay them because there isn't money. Every month it's really a process of negotiating with this producer and giving them half and see whether mid-month you're going to give them the balance."

"There's just so much money that is owed to people who have already done work for the SABC - work for which they should have been paid by now which we haven't been able to do because there is no money," said Mathata Tsedu.

SABC MultiChoice channels deal an 'onion'

Regarding the highly controversial SABC MultiChoice deal, Mathatha Tsedu said "it's an onion that will have to be peeled one layer at a time".

In the controversial deal, the SABC supplies the SABC News (DStv 404) and SABC Encore (DStv 156) channels to MultiChoice DStv satellite pay-TV platform. 

It saw the now-fired controversial chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng pocket a R11.4 million bonus just for signing the contract. 

Questions have also been raised about how the controversial deal links with South Africa's digital terrestrial television (DTT) migration and the issue of set-top box (STB) control, as well as who is in control of the SABC archives. The SABC told parliament that MultiChoice's doesn't control its archive, but said that it is sending "a tape a day" to MultiChoice.

"We are keen as the SABC interim board to see SABC News as a TV news channel continuing, to see SABC Encore continuing."

"Insofar as we are concerned, we would want these SABC channels to continue."

Some SABC stations badly affected by 80% local quota

On Hlaudi Motsoeneng's unilateral and destructive "90% local content" for SABC radio and "80% local content" for SABC3 introduced in mid-2016, Mathatha Tsedu said "the issue has never been about whether it is good or bad to have more local content."

"It is the manner in which the decision was implemented across all platforms without consideration on how it was affecting some platforms.And it's not all platforms. The African language stations were not affected, they were already playing in that zone."

"But stations like Metro FM on some days - especially Sundays - were heavily affected. 5FM, Good Hope FM, Lotus FM - they were badly affected," said Mathatha Tsedu.

He said SABC platforms badly affected by the decision have been given the right to "correct the process that has been bleeding them".

"SABC stations have lost audiences and as a result they have lost revenue. That is an undeniable fact."

"Similarly with television. SABC1 is okay. SABC2 is not badly affected but SABC3 is."

SABC TV licence fees dip because of bad news

While the SABC on basically a daily basis remains in the news headlines for the wrong reasons, Mathatha Tsedu said "every time there is a cycle of bad news around the SABC, the revenues from the SABC TV licences dip."

"How do you get credibility back into the products that the SABC produces? The credibility of the SABC is not just judged by how Muvhango's story line is going or how 7de Laan's story line is going. The major credibility point of the SABC is its news output."

"The editorial code is now going out for public comment," he said, noting that the SABC is starting a series of workshops for SABC journalists to re-educate themselves on how news at a proper public broadcaster should be done.

The series of workshops will involve all the journalists of the SABC from across South Africa. "We're bringing in experts from different broadcast houses - including the BBC and other journalists - to just start talking about what is it that a public broadcast journalist should be doing and not doing."

"SABC journalists should now feel free to do the things that they have been trained to do and ignore all the things that are not journalistically defensible that they have been told to do."

"If anybody pushes anything on any SABC journalist that is unethical, the SABC board is there as a sounding board, they can come to the board and say 'I'm being forced to do something that is unethical', and we will deal with whoever that person is," said Mathatha Tsedu.

'The shadows are still around here': Here's 25 new SABC shockers as the broadcaster's staffers make astounding revelations about the chaos inside the crumbling SA public broadcaster.

SABC staffers venting their frustrations and problems have made shocking new revelations about mismanagement, maladministration and the chaotic situation inside the out-of-cash and crumbling South African public broadcaster.

SABC staffers from across the various divisions within the public broadcaster that's hovering on the brink of financial collapse, publicly voiced their concerns and fears, anger and frustration about an unbelievable array of shocking things that's gone haywire at the SABC.

SABC workers inside a jam-packed SABC auditorium, including tele-linked in provincial personnel, spoke up in front of the new SABC interim board and parliament's portfolio committee on communications that visited the SABC.

Here's just 25 of the most shocking things they said:

■ SABC TV licence staffer: "People are too afraid to address this topic. They're too afraid. The TV licence department was going to strike. Hlaudi Motsoeneng and James Aguma came in and they offered us a contract and we were supposed to be permanent. But its obvious that it's not going to happen. It continues with temp, temp, temp."


■ Nelspruit staffer: "Ligwalagwala FM doesn't have a station manager because he was suspended a year ago. We don't know what's happening with that. Then there is an open space that the SABC is paying for, but it's not used. It's just empty. That's wasteful expenditure."


■ Magdaleen Kruger, RSG station manager: "We used to have a public broadcasting division and commercial division. A few month ago it was changed to fall under corporate affairs. Radio is now reporting to corporate affairs.We don't have general managers anymore. There's no decision making."

"At the moment the SABC is the only public broadcaster in the world sitting with this skewed, non-structure for radio."


■ Magdaleen Kruger, RSG station manager: "We are in austerity at the SABC. If we need a mic we can't order it. But at the same time a R10.2 million plan was approved to pay R50 000 each to legends in the music industry. That R10.2 million was not budgeted for, we don't know who approved it."


■ Polokwane staffer: "There is a moratorium on hiring of people at SABC. Limpopo doesn't have a provincial editor for news and current affairs and that creates a lot of instability."


■ Dumile Mateza, TV news presenter: "SABC News (DStv 404) is under threat."

"The channel started in 2013. We had a channel head. Today SABC News doesn't have a channel head. It means the channel has been driven by freelancers, all the time. All the staff you see on that channel has been driven by freelancers."

"When the SABC got the chance to set up this channel on DStv, they got the opportunity to start something that they could take forward once digital TV migration comes in. SABC News has been neglected."

"Whenever there's a funeral it goes on this channel, whenever there's a rally it goes on this channel. The funerals, I actually said to somebody, probably they must go to Avbob, they can sponsor these funerals."

"We have been rudderless on the SABC News channel since Themba Mthembu retired three years ago and we have been left to our own devices."

"Some of us, we're three in a team. We don't even have an executive producer. We do all the executive producing work but we don't get paid for it."


■ Poobie Pillay, ad exec: "Landmark was implemented last year April. Landmark is an ad booking system that was meant to book client adverts and run across all 18 SABC radio stations. Landmark wasn't tested before implementation, there was no research done as to why we should use this software system for radio."

"The SABC has lost million by using and implementing the Landmark system. My colleagues and I've got clients on a daily basis ... we've got, Afrikaans ads are on Ukhozi FM; it's just a mess. We can't execute competitions and we are losing millions of rand."

"I love the SABC. I've always dreamt of working here. It makes me sad to see that we're in financial distress because some people didn't take the time to go and do their research to make sure that this organisation can pay its employees."

"It's a year later and we're passing credits of over R100 million to clients."


■ Carmen Schnider, manager SABC change management department: "I was asked to come here two years ago and to help with change. I'm sorry to say 90% of the changes I'm not involved in at all, nor is my team."

"I'm afraid to say that most of the changes are done somewhere, bekonkeld in an office without change management involved. There's policies being changed, there's policies being flouted and change management isn't involved at all. It is so sad."


■ Alet, current affairs producer: "I returned to the SABC 20 months ago. It was like moving back in time."

"The technology or the lack of technology in this place is shocking. In TV current affairs we're still working on tapes."

"In current affairs there's 7 or 8 cameramen available to all the current affairs programmes. We've been told we can only have one cameraman, per programme, per week. How are we supposed to shoot our inserts?"


■ Nigel Bird, commissioning editor: "The concern is for us the flouting of procurement processes."

"Commissioning editors are tasked with procuring, but somebody come from wayside and will tell you 'This is what you will be doing'. He said: "the SABC is hemorrhaging money."


■ Thandeka Gqubule, economics editor: "We're the victim of inept, ignorant management."

"We are a victim of corrupt management."

"We are politically influenced. Political appointments, political everything. We want a multi-stakeholder board that's representative of the South African public that is drawn from labour, churches, unions and all members of our society. You can see how painful the consequences of political meddling and cadre deployment are. They wreck lives."

"The shadows are still around here. A slew of significant decisions have been made in the last three months: Positions moved around, people moved around, enormously important financial decisions. On what authority have these decisions been made?"

"That MultiChoice contract must go. It wasn't proper, it was illegal and it delays us from going digital."

■ David Webb, independent contract worker: "The over 5 000 employees that are here at the SABC, the majority share, somewhat over 3 000 are independent contractors."

"Is it right for freelancers to be contracted year after year, some employees for up to 20 years, on a year to year contract? The department of labour stated to us that something is not right with the issuing of these contracts".


■ SABC staffer: "This place is shrouded in secrecy. We're being threatened with retrenchment. Yet within the SABC the place is filled with consultants duplicating functions. Yet people are being threatened with being fired."


■ Ukhozi FM marketing executive in Durban: "When I went to Wits for four years, studied and got my honours, it wasn't to date anyone. I studied hard for myself to get better opportunities. It is always about the wrong people, hired at the wrong positions."


■ Lotus FM producer in Durban: "The 90% local content issue, we're facing financial crisis. Lotus FM has been affected drastically in terms of revenue and listenership figures. SABC interim board should try to bring back credibility to the SABC's radio station and TV channels".


■ Bloemfontein staffer: "We at provinces are not properly resourced."


■ Kimberley staffer: "The communication from the SABC as a broadcaster is very poor. The Northern Cape province, where we are, the accommodation is not conducive."


■ Polokwane staffer: "The SABC has lost millions of rands in the Landmark ad booking system, and no-one is looking at who introduced this monster that is costing the SABC so much money."


■ Polokwane staffer: "In Limpopo out of the blue it was announced by then-COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng that Phalaphala FM would move to Thohoyandou without consultation with staff."

"When we asked the acting GE of corporate affairs and raised issues about technical glitches in Thohoyandou to say that building isn't ready to be occupied from, he said you're not going to stop Hlaudi's vision".


■ Polokwane staffer: "The technology in Limpopo is very, very pathetic. We asked for technology to just record something. We have a very old machine. For you to go out and record content outside, it's a nightmare."


■ Polokwane staffer: "I'm wondering if James Aguma, acting SABC CEO isn't part of the problems we are talking about. James Aguma still consults the former COO and he runs to Hlaudi's house after work. That tells us that we're still being run by Hlaudi from the grave".


■ IT website staffer: "In February we had a meeting with our manager where she told us that there's a new company that has been contracted to come and develop 7 websites for the SABC. The company is called Infonomix."

"When we asked if we still have jobs, nobody is able to respond to that. Our unions have tried to ask to find out what is going to happen to us since this company has been contracted for 5 years, and nobody is responding to those questions."


■ Nonnie Jacobs, SABC Sport managing editor: "My worst victimisation is to spend sleepless nights, concerned as to whether I'm going to have a salary."

"As SABC Sport, we need sporting rights. If we don't have rights, are we still a department?"


■ Victor, ABC Sport staffer: "SABC Sport is in ICU. The wheels fell off when we lost the rights. We have a management that thrives on victimisation, not planning, no research."

"Business plans are done last minute, we lost sponsorships, we lose advertisers. Other departments have to be pointed a finger on over our inept handling of responsibility."

"We are not making money for SABC anymore. We are draining money out of SABC. We have a marketing department that we don't know what they're doing."


■ SABC staffer: "Are we going to be retrenched or not? It's a very simple question. Because hearing things in the corridors is unacceptable. And you all know, the SABC, where there's smoke there's fire. Is there money or is there no money? We should not be hearing it from a press release in the media."

BREAKING. New SABC interim board set to scrap Hlaudi Motsoeneng's debilitating '90% local' content decree that decimated the public broadcaster.

The out-of-cash SABC is set to scrap the debilitating 90% local content broadcasting decree introduced in July 2016 that completely drained the SABC's coffers, disrupted its income streams and ad revenue and saw listeners and viewers flee.

The Post reports that the SABC's new interim board is urgently set to scrap and "overturn" the local content decree that was unilaterally introduced by the public broadcaster's controversial former chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng in mid-July that decimated SABC audiences ranging from the listenership of radio stations like Lotus FM to TV channels like SABC3.

Parliament's special ad hoc committee investigating maladministration within the SABC was told in January that Hlaudi Motsoeneng's abrupt and unilateral local content edict which he several times claimed personal credit for as his sole idea, was never a policy and was never tabled before the SABC board as a decision for a vote.

The SABC's new interim board, tasked with trying to save the beleaguered South African public broadcaster, is now taking action to "overturn" the 90% local content implementation.

This will see the SABC return to the previous 60% local content quota - the standard set by South Africa's broadcasting regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).

Hlaudi Motsoeneng's 90% radio needletime for local music and 80% TV content decisions for SABC3 saw dramatic listenership and viewership losses for the SABC over the past 9 months.

Meanwhile the SABC also had to ramp up spend on costly local content - an unsustainable situation for the already battling broadcaster now on the brink of financial collapse and urgently needing another bail-out.

"We are not diverting from local content," SABC interim board member Krish Naidoo told The Post. "We are just trying for a more structured approach."

Krish Naidoo who said Hlaudi Motsoeneng's "90% local" decision undermined the entire business" of the SABC, said that he will "support it to be scrapped". "It impacted on the entire revenue stream. Both listeners and advertisers dropped, likely as a consequence of 90:10".

He said the SABC will look at a new process of to develop local content that will be done in consultation with artists and communities.

India's government puts censorship blackout of news channel NDTV on hold while South Africa's Indian community meets over SABC's 'disrespectful' Lotus FM changes.

After intense criticism the Indian government has put the censorship and ordered ban in the form of a day-long blackout for Wednesday of the Indian TV news channel NDTV (DStv 413) on hold, while in South Africa the furious Indian community is organising over what it sees as the SABC's "attack" on Lotus FM "as part of a ploy to bring down the Indian community".

After facing a massive backlash, India's government backpedaled on a censorship order of the country's NDTV news channel that can also be seen in South Africa and across Africa on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting minister Venkaiah Naidu decided to censor NDTV and ordered it off the air for a day on Wednesday as punishment for its coverage of a terrorist attack on Indian soldiers in January.

The censorship order against NDTV was the first such censorship order and ban for a TV station in India for reporting an attack on the state.

After a barrage of criticism, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has now backed off, saying the censorship order has been put on hold.

The Editors' Guild of India, along with several opposition political parties and civil rights groups condemned the censorship, demanding that the ban order be reversed and saying it was an infringement on press freedom.

The Press Club of India said the NDTV censorship decision is "uncalled for censorship at a time when press freedom is already under increasing threat in the country".

NDTV slammed the censorship decision, saying that it's coverage of the attack was "particularly balanced" and that "NDTV stands firm in its commitment to balanced and responsible journalism".


Indian community 'disrespected' by SABC's Lotus FM changes
Meanwhile in South Africa, the country's Indian community organised and held a meeting on Monday evening to discuss the way forward over shocking changes at the SABC's Lotus FM radio station meant to cater to Indian listenership but has seen its audience flee in droves after SABC boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng's 90% local content changes that's been described as reckless.

The South African Hindu Maha Sabha organised the meeting in Durban where the Indian community said they fear that the attack on Lotus FM - an SABC radio station - is "part of a ploy to bring down the Indian community".

Lotus FM has already seen the loss of over a third of its audience since late-May this year to rival commercial and community radio stations - and with that advertisers and sponsors - after Hlaudi Motsoeneng's abrupt 90% local content airplay decree.

While listeners are not against the 90% local content decision, they say Hlaudi Motsoeneng's bulldozer decision to force the various SABC radio stations, all catering to specific demographics and target audiences, to give needletime to music not aimed at the segmented audiences, is damaging and driving away SABC listeners.

The past few months since June the SABC's national and regional radio stations catering to specific language demographics have been forced to include and "cross-promote" music genres on radio stations that listeners are not tuning in for in the first place - for instance Afrikaans songs on the Sesotho Lesedi FM and kwaito and Xhosa on Lotus FM in KwaZulu-Natal that's supposed to be catering to the Indian diaspora.

On Lotus FM it's meant a dramatic cutback in Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Punjabi, Gujarati and Telugu music from the rolling Bollywood films listeners love to hear.

"The authoritarian imposition of 90% local content on SABC radio stations has jeopardised the future of this iconic radio station," says Ashwin Trikamjee, president of of the South African Hindu Maha Sabha.

"Since May 2016 Lotus FM has lost a third of its listenership, with the inevitable decline in revenue which could force its closure ."

"This has serious negative implications for minority groups, especially for South Africans of Indian descent and would ultimately mark the death knell for Lotus FM as a viable, sustainable commercial radio station within the SABC stable," says Ashwin Trikamjee.

Two weeks ago, Krish Naidoo who resigned as SABC board member critised Hlaudi Motsoeneng's decision and said "Lotus FM has lost one third of its listenership because it's been asked to play all sorts of music which doesn't resonate with their listeners. Funders have pulled out, advertisers have pulled out and listeners have pulled out."

"The 90% local content decree was never a SABC board decision," said Krish Naidoo.

"Hlaudi Motsoeneng isn't busy with transformation. I think Hlaudi Motsoeneng is looking at projects within the SABC that could look Hlaudi look good".

"You empower local artists in a very responsible way and in a conscientious way where you empower local artists where it's done in a streamlined way so you don't upset local programming. You do it in consultation with stakeholders".

At Monday evening's meeting, emotional attendees said the SABC is disrespecting the Indian community and wondered if it's part of "a plan to silence the Indian community".

In a shocking interview in May on Lotus FM, an aggressive Hlaudi Motsoeneng railed against Indian callers who called him "the most arrogant man" they've ever heard, and said "Indian community, those who do not accept it, they shall just move on and accept it. It’s 90% local music."

Hlaudi Motsoeneng now wants new names for the SABC's radio stations, saying 'we are tired of names like Radio Lotus'; attacks SA Constitution.

The SABC's controversial boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng now wants to change the names of the SABC's radio stations because he's "tired of names like Radio Lotus" and attacked South Africa's Constitution, saying "the Constitution itself doesn't favour black people the way it has been written".

After a third of the listenership of the SABC's Indian radio station Lotus FM has fled over the past few months, Hlaudi Motsoeneng now wants to change its name saying "we are tired of names like Radio Lotus and so forth".

Speaking on Wednesday in Giyani, the famously matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng, now the head of corporate affairs at the SABC that posted a loss of R411 million, said the SABC is urging people to come forward to rename the SABC's radio stations.

"We urge you as traditional leaders to take part in naming of our radio stations in a way that will represent our culture. We are tired of having names like Radio Lotus and so forth".

Hlaudi Motsoeneng's abrupt plan for 90% local music airplay has caused chaos in its abrupt implementation.

The past few months since June the SABC's national and regional radio stations catering to specific language demographics have been forced to include and "cross-promote" music genres on radio stations that listeners are not tuning in for in the first place - for instance Afrikaans songs on the Sesotho Lesedi FM and kwaito on Lotus FM in KwaZulu-Natal catering to the Indian diaspora.

Lotus FM has already shed a third of its listenership in just three months that it had built up over decades, as listeners of the SABC's Indian station tuned the dial to other commercial and community radio stations.

The lotus, the national flower of India and Egypt, is of big cultural and spiritual significance for the Indian community.

"At SABC we have introduced 90 percent local content. This does not only include musicians but also drama, news and cultural contents. We want to give a chance to upcoming producers to take part rather than giving British and Americans money and airtime," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng on Wednesday.

"We used to take R600 million abroad just to watch the Queen of Britain the whole day but since we said 90% local content, that R600 million is used to pay local artists and create jobs for our people in the country."

Speaking on eNCA's Judge for Yourself this week discussing the ongoing crises at the SABC, Krish Naidoo who resigned his position as SABC board member at the beginning of this month, slammed Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

"Hlaudi Motsoeneng isn't busy with transformation. I think Hlaudi Motsoeneng is looking at projects within the SABC that could look Hlaudi look good".

"You empower local artists in a very responsible way and in a conscientious way where you empower local artists where it's done in a streamlined way so you don't upset local programming. You do it in consultation with stakeholders".

"Lotus FM has lost one third of its listenership because it's been asked to play all sorts of music which doesn't resonate with their listeners. Funders have pulled out, advertisers have pulled out and listeners have pulled out," said Krish Naidoo.

"The 90% local content decree was never a SABC board decision," said Krish Naidoo.

"Most of the SABC board members - for whatever reason - become beholden to Hlaudi Motsoeneng. I don't know what that reason is, but some of us have had the courage not to be captured by him but to stand up and speak for our integrity and our morality and did what we thought is right".


'I think as president Zuma has done well'
On Thursday - again going completely off-message in various rants at the latest The New Age breakfast briefing broadcast on SABC2 and SABC News on DStv where he is often a panelist - Hlaudi Motsoeneng fought back.

"Even some of the SABC board, I have a serious problem. Because they are captured by certain politicians."

"You can see even now, those who resign, they resign because someone captured them from politics," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng. "When you fight SABC, you fight this current board. You're fighting transformation."

"This current board under Prof Maguvhe has done very well," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng, also reiterating the SABC's focus sunshine journalism on doing "positive" stories.

"You can't just talk about negativity. You also need to reflect positive story in South Africa. There are good positive stories in South Africa. Not from politicians only, from individuals."

He said "president Zuma, when it comes to education, he has produced engineers and doctors. And people are not talking about those good stories," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng, saying "but I think as the president of the country he has done well".


Attacks constitution
Hlaudi Motsoeneng also attacked South Africa's constitution.

"The Constitution itself doesn't favour black people the way it has been written. Not people themselves who are taking decisions but the Constitution itself. The policy itself. But the policy is very interesting. Who write the policy?"

"It's certain SOE's. Which is us. The same black people, they write policies that they know themselves, this policy they are not in the interest of their own black people. They're interest for the big companies because there's certain individuals they are captured," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

About the gutted SABC board that's inquorate he said: "The current three board members they shall stay there at the SABC. They shall not even think of resigning. So that we fix the SABC and change the process of portfolio committee to appoint."

He said he wants the process of SABC board member appointments changed and wants the minister of communications "to recommend to the president for the appointments of the board members, like other SOE's."


'SABC crisises are manufactured'
SABC acting CEO James Aguma said "the board can still continue. The crisises at the SABC are manufactured as far as I'm concerned".

"No employee is not paid. No supplier is not paid. Where is the crisis? Where is the crisis? Is the crisis not manufactured?"

MultiChoice adds 18 SABC radio channels to DStv's audio package, several regional SABC radio stations available nationally for the first time.

MultiChoice today added 18 of the SABC's radio stations to DStv's audio package which makes these several of these regional radio stations available nationally across South Africa for the first time.

The SABC radio stations, ranging from 5FM, SAfm, Ukhozi Fm, Umhlobo Wenene, Lesedi FM, Lotus FM and Good Hope FM will now be accessible to DStv Premium, DStv Extra, DStv Compact, DStv Family, DStv Access and DStv EasyView subscribers.

The full list of SABC radio stations and their channel numbers added to DStv are:
Metro FM (901)
Channel Africa (902)
Good Hope FM (903)
Ikwekwezi (904)
5FM (905)
Lesedi FM (906)
Ligwalagwala (907)
Lotus FM (908)
Motsweding FM (909)
Munghana Lonene FM (910)
Phalaphala FM (911)
Radio 2000 (912)
RSG (913)
SAfm (914)
Thobela FM (915)
Tru FM (916)
Ukhozi FM (917)
Umhlobo Wenene FM (918)
X-K FM (919)