Sechaba Gqeba the new presenter of the female-focused talk show, Motswako, for its 19th season on SABC2.

Sechaba Gqeba is the new presenter of the female-focused talk show, Motswako, for its 19th season on SABC2 on Wednesdays at 20:30.

Sechaba Gqeba, also known as Sechaba G, is a radio DJ on KFM with Motswako that is her first on-screen TV job.

"What attracted me to the show is the vision behind Motswako; it provides women with a platform to unapologetically speak their truth, and propels them to shed light on matters that a number of women can relate to," says Sechaba Gqeba. "The vision and purpose of the show truly speak to who I am and represent my passions for uplifting women."

Clive Mathibe, Motswako content producer at Carol Bouwer Productions, says Motswako is thrilled to be "in our new studio with our brand-new presenter, Sechaba Gqeba, as we continue to be a show that gives a platform to new faces in the television industry".

"Motswako's 19th season promises to be exciting, fresh, in touch and in tune with the needs and wants of the modern day African woman". The latest season will continue to profile empowering and entertaining stories that are about and for South African women.

SABC2's latest strange scheduling moves are again set to irritate viewers - coming just 7 months after the previous changes.

The latest scheduling moves for SABC2 coming into effect from this coming Monday is set to confuse and irritate viewers as the SABC once again moves programming like the Afrikaans soap 7de Laan and the Afrikaans news to new timeslots following timeslot changes to these and other shows just months ago.

Exactly as TVwithThinus reported last week will happen, SABC2 announced on Wednesday all of the channel's latest new permanent scheduling changes coming into effect from Monday 6 February after the broadcaster's AFCON 2017 coverage.

Last week SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the new set of changes, like 7de Laan moving, is (still) part of the AFCON 2017 coverage changes.

Viewers commuting and not home yet, old age residents eating dinner and working families preparing dinner will now have to watch 7de Laan in the inconvenient and now its third new timeslot of 18:00 after the the 18:30 soap produced by Danie Odendaal Productions was moved in July 2016 to 19:00.

As TVwithThinus reported, viewers of the SABC's daily Setswana and Sotho TV news bulletin will now have to watch it no longer at 18:00 but at 20:00 on SABC2 opposite the SABC1 soap Generations, while the Afrikaans TV news that's seen several timeslot changes the past two years is once again moving – this time to 18:30, now opposite e.tv's eNews Direct and SABC3's English TV news bulletin.

SABC TV head publicist Zandile Nkonyeni didn't respond to media enquiries asking about the programming changes and the reasons for shows that are moving. SABC2 has seen ongoing viewership declines for shows like 7de Laan, the Afrikaans news and the Sesotho news the past few months with falling ratings.

The SABC said "SABC2 is stepping up to the needs of our ever-evolving world with brand new shows, new seasons and new timeslots". 

In a new official and public promo that contains mistakes, SABC2 struggles to keep its new shows separate, for instance saying Tumi Morake and Rocco de Villiers are in a show together as presenters [they're not]. 

Fighting on 3

In another programming change, the SABC signed a multi-year agreement with Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) to broadcast mixed martial arts (MMA) on Saturday nights on SABC3, starting 11 February at 21:00. 

This content will be repeated on Mondays at 14:00 replacing the local kids time slot Fun-Natix where the fighting contact sport content might be in breach of the broadcasting code.

Other changes include SABC2's breakfast show Morning Live that will from this Monday onwards show the additional hour that until now had been broadcast between 08:00 to 09:00 on SABC News (DStv 404) only. The programming change will will effectively extend Morning Live to three hours on SABC2 from 06:00 to 09:00.

Talk show Motswako gets moved to Wednesdays at 20:30. Local sitcom Skwizas is moved to Sundays at 20:30. A new season of environmental magazine show 50/50 will start on Sunday 9 April at19:00.

More details have been released about the shows that TVwithThinus last week reported is being added to the SABC2 schedule.

The former SABC2 continuity presenter Derrick Gardner and SABC radio station RSG presenter is returning to television as presenter of the new Afrikaans music show Kliphard from Monday at 19:30.

Tumi Morake and Alan Committee will host the talk show Red Cake, starting Friday 10 February at 19:30. 

Thami Ngubeni will host a new lifestyle talk show on Saturdays on SABC2, Life with Thami, starting on Saturday 11 February at 18:00. Music show Soul’d Out Sessions will start on Sunday 12 February at 14:00.

While the SABC2 schedule remains peppered with old content and rebroadcasts that's years old like Afrikaans sitcom Vetkoekpaleis starting yet another rerun on Monday at 19:00, SABC2 says it wants producers to bring the channel quality shows and new ideas.

SABC2 talk show Motswako with Penny Lebyane moving much earlier on Wednesdays from 8 May in a dramatic timeslot change to 18:00.

The local SABC2 talk show Motswako with Penny Lebyane is moving much earlier from next Wednesday, 8 May in a dramatic timeslot change to 18:00 on Wednesdays.

The radical adjustment from 21:30 of previous seasons to 18:00 will likely lift Motswako's viewership since the pool of overall potential South African viewers on public television available are bigger during early primetime than late night when viewership decidedly shifts to pay-television offerings.

Motswako is also moving from Mondays to Wednesdays. The show targets women with female-skewed topics and guests.

While Motswako did well as a late night show viewership wise, it also fits in in the new timeslot bookended in the late afternoon and early primetime slot where soaps, talk shows and other lifestyle magazines froth, catering to an aspirational female demographic.

"The move of Motswako to the Wednesday 18:00 timeslot will give more viewers the opportunity to engage in relevant and critical issues that affect women," says Jacqui Hlongwane, SABC2's acting programme manager.

From next Monday SABC2 will move the Monday night movies timeslot earlier to start at 21:30 in the former Motswako timeslot instead of 22:00.

BREAKING. Penny Lebyane joins Motswako on SABC2.

You're reading it here first.

Penny Lebyane is joing SABC2's women talk show Motswako from Monday, 1 February at 21:30.

In her first episode Penny Lebyane will interview the minister of education, Angie Motshekga about the education situation in South Africa.

Penny Lebyane is currently the DJ of Metro FM's daily midday show The Ultimate Midday Experience with Penny Lebyane.