e.tv's cancelled Nikiwe cast and crew still unpaid after months.

by Thinus Ferreira

The cast and crew of e.tv's cancelled Nikiwe are still struggling to get paid months after the show got canned and stopped production by Parental Advisory Productions which has since gone to ground.

In January TVwithThinus reported how Parental Advisory Productions co-owned by Thomas Gumede and Lungelo Radu imploded with huge amounts of debt with e.tv that cancelled the low-rated Nikiwe amidst serious financial problems inside the production and production company.

Hundreds of staffers who worked on the cancelled Nikiwe are still owed hundreds of thousands of rand in payment from Parental Advisory Productions months after the final scene was filmed.

Last year Thapelo Ramatsui, e.tv publicist, told the online publication ZiMoja that e.tv cancelled Nikiwe and the contract with Parental Advisory Productions due to the show's bad viewership and that PAP was paid what it was owed. 

The final episode of Nikiwe was broadcast on e.tv on 5 January 2024.

Cast and crew told City Press they haven't heard from either Tomas Gumede or Lungelo Radu since December 2023, with the final communication which was three days before Christmas Day in the form of an email on 22 December.

One Nikiwe actor told the newspaper "These people are failing us in that they spent the money instead of paying us. They are basically making fools out of us".

The corporate communications manager of e.tv, Bennum van Jaarsveld told City Press that Nikiwe was old news and that e.tv didn't want to comment but noted that e.tv had paid Parental Advisory Productions what the show was owed.

"It's just an old thing and we've moved on. There are so many other things happening; Nikiwe is an old story for us to comment on. Also, a lot of the stuff there was between the production and the cast, we were not involved in that."

"We had our contract and agreement with the production house and the production house had an agreement with the talent. We did what we needed to do, we met our obligations and the rest was on the production and that's where I think things sort of went wrong."

ALSO READ: Cast and crew of e.tv's cancelled Nikiwe unpaid in December and owed hundreds of thousands by Parental Advisory Productions 'left in huge amounts of debt with absolutely no notice'.

ALSO READ: e.tv cancels ratings-flop Nikiwe.

Cast and crew of e.tv's cancelled Nikiwe unpaid in December and owed hundreds of thousands by Parental Advisory Productions 'left in huge amounts of debt with absolutely no notice'.

by Thinus Ferreira  

Actors and crew who worked on e.tv's disastrous and cancelled Nikiwe, destroyed by a toxic combination of bad ratings and alleged financial mismanagement, are owed thousands of rands in payment from Parental Advisory Productions (PAP) who only got a few hundred rand in December and are taking legal action.

Hundreds of staffers who worked on the cancelled Nikiwe are owed hundreds of thousands of rand in payment from Parental Advisory Productions co-owned by Thomas Gumede and Lungelo Radu.

eMedia's e.tv channel that didn't bother with any significant publicity for the show that replaced Durban Gen and only had an amateurish and hopelessly bad media launch event for the show in April 2024, dumped Nikiwe just 8 months after it launched over bad ratings and serious allegations of financial mismanagement.

That has left the cast and crew in the precarious position where they've not been paid what they're owed for work done, and fighting to get the money they deserve.

Parental Advisory Productions didn't respond to a media query. The person who answered the number listed for the production company and on Google Maps said he is not involved with the company and to "please stop calling this number".

Thapelo Ramatsui, e.tv publicist, also didn't respond to a media query TVwithThinus made last week with questions about the disastrous e.tv production. 

 E.tv was asked whether the TV channel still owes the production company any money - which is alleged by Parental Advisory Productions - and when e.tv became aware of allegations of financial mismanagement at the show. 

Thapelo Ramatsui did respond to the online publication ZiMoja, reportedly saying that e.tv cancelled Nikiwe and the contract with Parental Advisory Productions due to the show's bad viewership and that PAP was paid what it was owed. 

 On 13 December 2023, Lungile Radu and Thomas Gumede emailed Nikiwe's cast and crew and told them they will just get a few hundred rand in payment instead of their owed money of thousands of rands.

"As explained during our meetings and subsequent correspondence, we submitted our outstanding invoiced costs as well as our wrap and notice costs to the channel for review. They have unfortunately replied that under no circumstances will the channel be releasing any additional funds to the production of Nikiwe." 

 "We have therefore engaged with legal counsel to argue our case and take it forward, however, historically these types of disputes can take a long time to resolve and there is no guarantee of a positive outcome."

"We will notify you of the progress of our legal proceedings as well as if there are any changes to the current status quo." 

 In another email the executive producers told the cast and crew in an update that "Unfortunately, the dispute with the channel is proving to be a losing battle. With all the rewrites and reshoots at their request, we find this extremely hard to believe". 

 "We have been left in huge amounts of debt with absolutely no notice." 

 "During the course of this week, we secured a small business loan and are using those funds to spread it amongst everyone.""It is nowhere near what you should be paid, but we cannot sit back and fold our arms whilst people are burning. Please understand that we are just as thrown off as you all and this is the best we can do." 

ALSO READ: e.tv cancels ratings-flop Nikiwe.

ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. e.tv's latest publicity failure for new local shows underscores South African television's growing PR disaster as global players (rightly) do the proper work and get the attention.

Little publicised Nikiwe and Smoke & Mirrors cost and lost e.tv over 1 million viewers in April in disappointing TV ratings debut.

by Thinus Ferreira

e.tv's two new local soaps Nikiwe and Smoke & Mirrors that replaced the cancelled Imbewu and Durban Gen appear to both be prime-time rating disappointments, making their debuts on Monday 17 April with weaker viewership than the shows they replaced and costing e.tv over a million in lost viewers. 

While Durban Gen still raked in as much as 1 967 574 viewers in April in its 18:30 timeslot before it went off the air, the little publicised Nikiwe - produced by Parental Advisory Productions - managed to pull 1 455 901 viewers at most in April after it replaced Durban Gen in the same timeslot.

It means that Nikiwe lost e.tv in excess of over half a million viewers with 511 673 viewers who have tuned out of e.tv after the end of Durban Gen. e.tv's audience share decreased from 21% to 18% - a loss of 3 percentage points - during this time period.

At 21:00 Imbewu still lured 2 275 169 viewers at most in April to e.tv in the timeslot. On 17 April the little publicised Smoke & Mirrors - produced by The Final Chapter Production - in the same timeslot, made a very disappointing debut with just 1 712 591 viewers.

That's another loss of over another half a million viewers with 562 578 people who decided to no longer watch e.tv during the time period and decreased the timeslot's audience share of the channel from 30.1% to 23.4% - a decrease of 6.7 percentage points.

Together Nikiwe and Smoke & Mirrors lost and cost eMedia's e.tv channel a whopping 1 074 251 viewers in the same month - a combined audience share loss of 9.7%. 

Neither Nikiwe nor Smoke & Mirrors are top 5 shows on e.tv's list of most-watched shows for April like Imbewu and Durban Gen were.

The lack of buzz and ratings for Nikiwe and Smoke & Mirrors are not surprising, given the lack of any real publicity efforts e.tv made to bring the new content under the media's attention and cutting out national press covering television from a bizarre Johannesburg event for the shows held just a day before their broadcast debut.

ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. e.tv's latest publicity failure for new local shows underscores South African television's growing PR disaster as global players (rightly) do the proper work and get the attention.