REVIEW. During and after South Africa's Thursday hostage drama Newzroom Afrika won the night, followed by SABC News 2nd and eNCA arriving 3rd in the coverage play-by-play.

by Thinus Ferreira

On Thursday night at around 23:30 while Newzroom Afrika's (DStv 405) political editor Sbu Ngalwa had literally found and pulled a reluctant South African police national spokesperson Vish Naidoo into the camera glare for a live interview in the aftermath of a ministerial hostage drama, the SABC News (DStv 404) cameraman showed viewers how its reporter arrived after several minutes and ran to also push a mic into Vish's face.

It took even longer for the eNCA (DStv 403) cameraman to arrive to show that channel's viewers how the eNCA reporter scrambled down a corridor to, quite belatedly, also thrust a mic into Sbu Ngalwa's basically done interview.

Sbu Ngalwa's brilliant work, and cornering Vish Naidoo with a doorstop interview, was indicative of how the totality of Thursday night went on South African TV news in the play-by-play of covering the developing news story for television viewers.

Newzroom Afrika fully won the night after it quickly switched to rolling and constant coverage, including cellphone footage (that neither SABC News nor eNCA had) of the night's ministerial hostage drama.

Newzroom Afrika constantly kept churning out updates and interviews, including a right-panel update screen. 

It put SABC News and eNCA to shame that both stuck with pre-recorded stories and election coverage for quite a while before trying to catch up and match Newzroom Afrika's "CNN-style" breaking, rolling coverage.

On Thursday night it looked like SABC News and eNCA were caught flat-footed, initially with more mooted coverage than Newzroom Afrika's borderline lurid, grainy cellphone video of the hostage drama that unfolded inside the St George's Hotel complex where South Africa's minister of defence Thandi Modise and other government officials were held hostage and had to be rescued by the South African Police Service Special Task Force.

Social media provides further proof of the pecking order of Thursday night's TV news channels' news coverage race.

eNCA on Twitter had absolutely nothing on its feed with no news updates after 22:00 where it apparently closed up shop and ended the night with a type of sponsored post about advertiser-funded content available on the channel.

SABC News put in a valiant effort with a few news updates but it's Newzroom Afrika that absolute excelled. 

Newzroom Afrika churned out both text and video reports about the unfolding developments late into the night and already started notifying potential viewers throughout the night about who it was prepping and lining up for interviews on Friday morning.

Newzroom Afrika felt present and out front as a media outlet covering the event on various platforms while SABC News and eNCA looked as if it they were short on resources and scrambling to catch up.

While Newzroom Afrika was covering the breaking news with real rolling coverage, SABC News initially did more short reaction interviews and commentary from its Auckland Park studio before a reporter eventually arriving on the scene.

eNCA would break in with the story but would weirdly return to packaged election news and other stories before it also switched full-time to rolling coverage from outside the St George's Hotel.

Noteworthy is that Thursday night's coverage of the ministerial hostage drama was led by men: Three male anchors with Thabo Mdluli (Newzroom Africa), Peter Ndoro (SABC News) and Shahan Ramkissoon (eNCA) behind the studio desks, and three male field reporters, Sbu Ngalwa (Newzroom Afrika), Samkele Maseko (SABC News) and Pule Letshwiti-Jones (eNCA) at the scene of the hostage drama.

Thabo Mdluli, Peter Ndoro and Shahan Ramkissoon were all great at "anchoring" with skilled gravitas and holding all of the various strands of news information together once all three TV news channels were fully covering the unfolding story.

Shahan Ramkissoon showed wonderful presence of mind by holding up a cellphone to his lapel mic to get the audio to viewers.

 

Sbu Ngalwa was first inside the St George's Hotel complex doing walk-and-talk, on-the-ground reporting. SABC News and eNCA, together with Newzroom Afrika, eventually all showed roving reporters and cameramen roaming the hotel corridors.

Also noteworthy was how all three TV news channels were able to immediately extend their live coverage for the night on Thursday night for breaking South African news instead of switching to repeats at their pre-determined hours.

It's clear that some learning has taken place and contingency plans put in place at all three TV news channel newsrooms having been showed up and found wanting in the past with non-coverage and no live coverage of South African news of national importance happening late night.

Katy Katopodis, Newzroom Afrika news director, kept viewers informed and actually told the audience on social media that the channel would remain live on the story, saying "We're extending our live broadcast to bring you rolling coverage of the breaking news from the St George's Hotel. Our politics editor, Sbu Ngalwa is coming to you live from the scene".

Watching and tracking all three TV news channels simultaneously on Thursday night for hours, Newzroom Afrika clearly won the night by a wide margin and looked the most like breaking news and rolling news coverage of the ministerial hostage drama. 

SABC News and eNCA were never able to fully match what Newzroom Afrika showed or did first - and better - on Thursday night.

While Newzroom Afrika showed cellphone footage of inside the room and with Sbu Ngalwa shown already walking around inside the hotel grounds and complex, at the same time SABC News would do a phone interview with static images while eNCA showed its reporter standing outside the front entrance.

In the TV news stakes, on Thursday night Newzroom Afrika was the one that constantly just looked the best.

TV REVIEW. In their Zuma Arrest Watch coverage SABC News won the night as eNCA devolved into opinion-tainment and Newzroom Afrika faded; eNCA reporter Siphamandla Goge the most valuable player.

by Thinus Ferreira

In Wednesday night's three-horse race of South African TV news channels and their respective rolling coverage of the impending arrest of Jacob Zuma, SABC News (DStv 404) ended as the overall winner, followed by an opinion-slanted eNCA (DStv 403) that also did bad "reporting" based on unconfirmed sources, while Newzroom Afrika (DStv 405) seemed to run out of stream after a few hours.

eNCA reporter Siphamandla Goge was Wednesday night's most valuable player during Zuma Arrest Watch as the country tuned in to watch the impending arrest and jailing of former president Jacob Zuma.

At 21:00 on Wednesday night as the various South African TV news channels had reporters stationed outside Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal and at Westville prison, Newzroom Afrika was actually in the lead with the best coverage and live crossings, followed by SABC News and with eNCA in third place that was running a TV talk show. 

Over the course of the following three hours, both SABC News (DStv 404) and eNCA each improved their coverage.

SABC News improved from second position to first, eNCA (DStv 403) improved from third position to second, and Newzroom Africa (DStv 405) that seemed to get a bit lost in terms of editorial direction, fell from first to third place in its coverage.

The first big question on Wednesday night was which of the three TV news channels might stay with original and live rolling coverage and whether eNCA, SABC News and Newzroom Afrika might switch to repeats and rebroadcasts from around 22:00 and 23:00 on Wednesday night.

Luckily, all have seemingly learnt the lesson from previous late-night no-shows when it came to Jacob Zuma news, fires and other big South African news events that they had previously ignored and they all stayed with live anchoring and on-location reporting on Wednesday until past midnight.

SABC News reporters really stood out in their night-time, on-location, bright yellow and very professional looking reporter jackets.

SABC News also did the most live crossings, to the most reporters, with the widest range of commentators.

SABC News anchor Peter Ndoro was calm and collected and borderline "boring" and semi-detached throughout - an excellent anchor for the unfolding hurry-up-and-wait situation as he brought a sober, very matter-of-fact, fact-based approach to the SABC's conveying of the news.

The SABC News coverage style was objective, and Peter Ndoro and SABC News reporters were actually very careful in their language use - carefully denoting when they didn't know, noting precisely what little at times they did know, and with very little personal speculation and opinion.

eNCA was initially behind in Wednesday's "main match pre-show build-up", running a JJ Tabane studio-based talk show from Hyde Park while SABC News and Newzroom Afrika were giving on-the-ground reports at the same time.

From 21:30 onwards, eNCA improved with Shahan Ramkissoon in the NewsNight anchor chair, but the channel also damaged credibility and coverage with opinion-based injections and some bad "journalism" that detracted from eNCA delivering a fact-based, history-making night TV special that could proudly live in the video vault.

Shahan Ramkissoon seemed giddy at times and over-emoted a tad too much, conveying to viewers how incredible the night's constantly unfolding events were. It's fine to be excited but do you really want to be on a plane where you know that the pilot is actually hand-claspingly excited as well?

eNCA did damagingly bad "reporting", telling viewers in unsubstantiated claims that South Africa's Constitutional Court was considering a letter from Jacob Zuma, with eNCA citing "sources" and saying "we're hearing" and it's "unconfirmed". Why on Earth was eNCA then even verbalising this unconfirmed rumour-mongering on-air?

eNCA reporter Siphamandla Goge shined as the night's best reporter. He asked the most questions, led the pack of TV reporters camping out at Nkandla and excelled in drawing out new information from interviews and translating to viewers what protestors were doing and saying, as well as alertingeNCA when a Jacob Zuma convoy suddenly swerved out the gate and left for jail.

While it was a schadenfreude-filled, fun and frivolous watch, Shahan Ramkissoon who stayed live on eNCA after midnight - pitting JJ Tabane and the ever-caustic Mzwanele Manyi against each other in a to-and-fro shouting match - eNCA's Real House husbands of Mzansi trash-talking edition was ultimately empty news calorie newstainment.

Similar to Silindelo Masikane's tabloid-trash interview with Norma Mngoma on eNCA in December 2020, the on-air boxing match between JJ Tabane and Mzwanele Manyi didn't yield any actual news beyond more bloviating opinion and he-said, he-said rhetoric and did a disservice to eNCA.

While the copying of the low-brow opinion-based, infotainment style of commercial American TV news channels like FOX News and MSNBC do bring viewers short-term, it also damages the credibility of a channel like eNCA when it comes to fact-based news reporting over the longer run.

It was fun to watch Shahan Ramkissoon telling Mzwanele Manyi with a tinge of sarcasm to "also learn" from international spokespeople and to keep his answers short, but behaviour like this signals to guests and viewers that eNCA is unable to keep things professional and not personal.

The TV news channel very well knows who Mzwanele Manyi is and how he behaves - yet deliberately chose to invite him on and give him a massive amount of air-time on Wednesday night and into Thursday morning. 

At the end, Mzwanele Manyi remains a guest - an invited guest - and should be treated with respect even if he decides to be rude and arrogant.

On Newzroom Afrika, Thabo Mdluli anchored Wednesday night's coverage. Nothing was really wrong or bad but there wasn't anything unique about its news offering.

Although Newzroom Afrika didn't veer into the editorialising and opinion-infused infotainment of eNCA, it also didn't have the breadth of SABC News' reporting.

Newzroom Afrika seemed to run out of stream and got pipped to the post by SABC News and eNCA. A few times reporters looked a little bit frazzled and dazed. Perhaps SABC News and eNCA were as well but maybe hid it a bit better.

Luckily, Nkandla seemingly only had one entrance/exit and reporters and camera crew were waiting at the right place. Channels also dispatched reporters to prisons like Westville and eNCA arrived just in time at Estcourt Correction Centre.

A lot could have gone wrong in Wednesday night's coverage but luckily didn't. 

The three TV news channels could have captured more and could possibly have planned better with more and better quality commentators and analysts pre-booked and on-hand for the late hours but it's commendable that pay-TV viewers at least got what SABC News, eNCA and Newzroom Afrika provided.

Kudos that SABC News, eNCA and Newzroom Afrika remained live on Wednesday night. 

Bar eNCA's atrocious ConCourt rumours that isn't journalism, the three channels and their collective Zuma Arrest Watch coverage could have been better but for late-night coverage - that local channels are not really used to doing - was good enough.

BREAKING. The SABC signs Bongani Bingwa as the public broadcaster's new SABC News prime time co-anchor as he dumps M-Net's Carte Blanche; Peter Ndoro moved out to anchoring on afternoons.

The SABC has signed up Bongani Bingwa to replace Peter Ndoro as its new prime time news co-anchor on SABC News (DStv 404) and SABC3 next to Francis Herd, with the "ubusuku benzolo" TV anchor that is keeping his Primedia radio presenter gig but awkwardly dropping M-Net's Carte Blanche just months before its big 30th anniversary coming up in August.

Bongani Bingwa who has been with M-Net's (DStv 101) Carte Blanche for 11 years, has finally cut ties with the Combined Artistic Productions show.

He continued making appearances on Carte Blanche the past few months despite joining Primedia's 702 radio station in July 2017 for a regular presenter slot that made him less available to travel and film inserts, but despite joining the SABC he's just dropping Carte Blanche and will continue with his radio show.

The SABC says Bongani Bingwa will co-host the 18:00 to 21:00 timeslot on SABC News next to Francis Herd, starting from Monday 12 March.

This will include doing the SABC's flagship English TV news bulletin at 21:00 that is being simulcast on SABC3 in that channel's new, later news timeslot since the start of February.

"As part of our continued efforts to stay relevant in the highly dynamic and competitive broadcasting space, it is crucial that we recruit the best talent that will deliver cutting-edge news and current affairs programmes which are well researched, balanced and fair," says Phathiswa Magopeni, the SABC's new head of news and current affairs, about Bongani Bingwa's hire.

The SABC says Bongani Bingwa brings to the public broadcaster a wealth of knowledge in journalism for both radio and television news and current affairs.

Bongani Bingwa says "I am excited to be part of the changes at the SABC and to join a team that will be creating a new legacy for the public broadcaster".

Meanwhile Peter Ndoro, fresh back on SABC News after taking time to "rest" following botched news reading attempts in January and February involving new president Cyril Ramaphosa, is gone from the public broadcaster's prime time perch and the SABC's most prestigious news position. He's been moved to anchoring on the SABC News channel in the afternoons between 15:00 and 18:00.

Bongani Bingwa's new anchor job creates some awkwardness for Carte Blanche that's reaching its 30th anniversary in August on M-Net as South Africa's longest running investigative magazine show.

As one of the longest serving Carte Blanche faces, his on-screen absence come August detracts from the collective number of years of on-air experience the existing presenters pool will be able to boast about when celebrating the venerable show's big birthday in a few months' time.

M-Net tells TVwithThinus that "as Bongani will be anchoring news on SABC, he will not be able to stay on as a Carte Blanche presenter".

"Bongani has been a great asset to Carte Blanche since starting his television journalism career with M-Net's multiple award-winning current affairs programme a decade ago. We are proud of his achievements and would like to thank him for his contribution to Carte Blanche over the years."

SABC makes yet another Cyril Ramaphosa blunder, as SABC News presidential correspondent Mzwandile Mbeje calls him 'president Zuma'.

The SABC's spate of on-air news errors regarding president Cyril Ramaphosa continues with the SABC News journalist Mzwandile Mbeje who on Friday referred to Cyril Ramaphosa's during his trip to Angola as former president "Jacob Zuma".

The SABC News anchor Peter Ndoro just returned this past Monday after "taking a break to rest" after erroneously telling SABC News viewers on the SABC airwaves that president Cyril Ramaphosa had passed away.

This week Cyril Ramaphosa was on a 3-nation trop in the SADC region and kicked it off in Luanda, Angola on Friday where he met the Angolan president João Lourenço.

"We can see president Zuma, and his counterpart from Angola ..." said Mzwandile Mbeje., although viewers saw Cyril Ramaphosa.

Mzwandile Mbeje is the SABC's presidential correspondent.

Last month the SABC's SABC News division yet again erred in the Venda news bulletin on SABC2 when the Venda news reader suddenly made reference to "Jacob Ramaphosa" during a story about former president Jacob Zuma and Nkandla.

Yet another new SABC News blooper as SABC2's Venda news tells the nation: Nkandla saddened by the resignation of 'Jacob Ramaphosa'.

The SABC's SABC TV News division keeps slipping up with amateur and embarrassing mistakes, with the anchor of its Venda TV news bulletin on Monday on SABC2 suddenly referring to "Jacob Ramaphosa" during a story about former president Jacob Zuma and Nkandla.

The on-air slip-up came just after Peter Ndoro was sent on indefinite leave "to rest" after botching the English news on SABC3 and SABC News saying "Cyril Ramaphosa has passed away" instead of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai who died earlier last week.

The SABC is working hard to try and restore credibility and viewers' trust in its news offering following Hlaudi Motsoeneng's infamous censorship decree and undue editorial interference into the SABC’s newsroom but the public broadcaster keeps having to apologise for mistakes.

In the latest SABC News on-air blooper, the Venda news anchor said told the nation that "After the resignation of president Jacob Ramaphosa, the residence of Nkandla was saddened".

In August 2017 the SABC in its lower third banner referred to Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as "mini-Zuma".

Just last week the SABC said in a statement that it would “like to ensure all its audiences that it remains fully committed to delivering news that is fair, balanced and accurate".

AWKWARD. The SABC's on-air SABC News errors continue, despite the SABC having said 3 times prior now that it is taking steps to prevent re-occurences.
On Monday a SABC News anchor (on the @SABC_2 Venda news) speaks of 'Jacob Ramaphosa' while referring to Jacob Zuma. pic.twitter.com/5yHoblwzmk

— TVwithThinus (@TVwithThinus) February 20, 2018

SABC takes SABC News anchor Peter Ndoro off air 'to rest' after second erroneous on-air death announcement within weeks, this time saying president Cyril Ramaphosa has passed away.

The SABC has taken the SABC News anchor Peter Ndoro off the air "to rest" for an unspecified period of time, after he made a second erroneous on-air death announcement on Thursday evening, this time saying newly-elected president Cyril Ramaphosa has passed away.

The SABC that struggles with a trust and credibility problem and is working hard to regain viewers' confidence and trust in its news output, said the news anchor is "fatigued" and that SABC management agreed with the news reader talent that it's better for him to step away from the anchor desk for the time being to rest.

During Thursday night's news bulletin on SABC3 and SABC News (DStv 404) Peter Ndoro erroneously used Cyril Ramaphosa's name while he was reading a story about Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai who died earlier this week.

The SABC has moved the TV news bulletin to 21:00 on SABC3 from the beginning of February - the sudden new much later timeslot of the public broadcaster's flagship English TV news bulletin from its erstwhile 18:00 timeslot.

It's Peter Ndoro's second similar mistake after he in January announced that Mangosuthu Buthelezi had died when he should have said former Bophuthatswana leader Lucas Mangope.

The SABC in a statement said that it noted Peter Ndoro's mistake "with concern".

"In as much as we acknowledge that this is a human error, we take this matter in a very serious light as it is not only embarrassing but could potentially affect those involved negatively."

"In the light of the event, news management has since engaged Peter Ndoro and he indicated that he is fatigued and needed some time to rest. Management has agreed to his request and he will be taking a break from the show. Peter Ndoro has apologised to the president's office and his apology has been accepted."

"The SABC would like to ensure all its audiences that it remains fully committed to delivering news that is fair, balanced and accurate".

SABC News anchors Peter Ndoro and Francis Herd moved to 9pm on SABC3 as news bulletin is late-shifted; Chriselda Lewis and Aldrin Sampear now anchoring weekends.

With the SABC moving its flagship English language TV news bulletin from 18:00 to 21:00 on SABC3, it has forced the News @ 6 co-anchors Peter Ndoro and Francis Herd to move to the new later timeslot as well.

On weekends the accomplished and proven Chriselda Lewis (pictured) is now being paired with Aldrin Sampear and the two will now co-anchoring the news at 21:00 on SABC3 and SABC News (DStv 404).

It's the latest that the SABC has ever scheduled a full TV news bulletin on the public broadcaster, with ratings that will likely go down further as the late-night appetite from viewers for news shrinks this late during the day.

SABC3 is also starting a new current affairs show, Frankly Speaking on Sundays at 20:30 from 11 February as an interactive show using Skype and social media to hear from participants watching it.

Onkgopotse JJ Tabane is the presenter of Frankly Speaking and will look at news and current affairs issues.

Embarrassed SABC apologizes for referring to Nkozasana as 'mini-Zuma' on-air; SABC News says its putting measures in place 'to prevent further occurences'.

The embarrassed SABC is apologising for referring to Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as "mini-Zuma" on the public broadcaster's SABC News (DStv 404) TV channel carried on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform and says SABC News is putting measures "in place to prevent further occurences".

Nkosazana is the ex-wife of South African president Jacob Zuma and a former chairperson of the African Union Commission, with aspirations to become the next president of the ANC and through that the next president of South Africa.

In the bottom-third descriptor the SABC on Sunday night at 20:00 identified Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as "mini-Zuma" on SABC News.

"The mistake ran for only one bulletin and was immediately noticed and corrected‚" Peter Ndoro, SABC News co-anchor told viewers.

"The SABC would like to sincerely apologise to the former AU commission chair for the error‚" Francis Herd, SABC News co-anchor said.

The acting GE of News has addressed staff on the matter. Measures are being put in place to prevent further occurrences."

The SABC didn't specify what these measures are on why these measures are only being put in place now to prevent more on-air mistakes.

It's not just SABC News that has problems with its on-air descriptor.

While ANN7 (DStv 405) makes multiple mistakes weekly, even eNCA (DStv 403) had several typos and very noticeable and embarrassing mistakes the past week, struggling to get the few words the channel places on-screen, correct.

DAILY TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 22 February 2017.

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

■ "The SABC's coverage of Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation 2017 address analysed.
Media show The Listening Post on Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / StarSat 257) looks at how the SABC and the Guptas The New Age Breakfast Briefing on SABC2's Morning Live the day after the speech was covered.

For instance: Al Jazeera finds that Leanne Manas throws president Jacob Zuma softball questions - that is until the show switches away from SABC2 (viewers) and continues to only be broadcast on MultiChoice's DStv on the SABC News (DStv 404) channel catering to pay-TV audiences.

Now suddenly "Peter Ndoro asks much tougher questions" when a much smaller TV audience is watching.


■ Television graveyard.
Millions of old TV sets are dumped and abandoned in massive warehouses across America - and the hard manual labour involved to break down and destroy or recycle old TV sets.

■ Second season of Showtime's Billions getting "a big promotional push" as if it's a new show.
In South Africa on DStv, not so much.

■ Lovely.
Matt LeBlanc eats horse penis in the new upcoming season of Top Gear starting on 8 March at 20:00 on BBC Brit (DStv 120).


■ Alberton school furious over eNCA (DStv 403) story it slams as a false report.
Marais Viljoen High School (MVHS) considering taking eNCA and eNuus on kykNET (DStv 144) to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) after unsubstantiated, slanderous report and the apparent failure to ask the right people for comment.


■ Russia's president Vladimir Putin is obsessed with television.
Specifically in watching to see how different TV channels cover him.


■ Court papers reveal how Botswana Television (BTV) got rid of its head of news in an election year.
Koketso Joshua Ntopolelang wants his job as head of TV news and current affairs at Botswana's state broadcaster back; shows court how he was allegedly purged from BTV and moved to another government department because he could allegedly "not be trusted" during an election year in Botswana.


■ New Zealand TV is trashing up current affairs in prime time.
Strange and trashy chit-chat as actuality programming instead of news.

■ Sky News (DStv 402) anchor Dermot Murnaghan warns
that the TV news at 22:00 on British television can't survive due to falling viewership.

■ Cameroon viewers treated to TV fight.
After last week's Egypt on-set brouhaha, in Cameroon on Sunday novelist Calixthe Beyala created an "incident close to barbarism and savagery" in an on-set clash.

■ CNBC Africa (DStv 410) opens a new studio in Rwanda.
Who knew? Apparently the ABN Group running the business TV channel on MultiChoice's DStv platform opened a new studio in Rwanda's Kigali Convention Centre. Of course there wasn't even a basic press release or statement to the media.

■ Japan gives money to improve Malawi television.
Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) gets millions from Japan to improve its MBCTV broadcasting equipment in Blantyre.

■ Unnamed Indian TV anchor caught as a prostitute.
Allegedly used her good looks to become involved in prostitution at a guest house in Hyderabad; police reprimanded her for illegal activities and "advised her to pursue her anchoring career professionally".

■ A second golden age for TV news channels in America?
Viewership soars thanks to The Lorax Donald Trump.

■ The SABC has now implemented the Scisys' dira! and MusicMaster systems.
New production and playout systems used by 19 of the SABC's radio stations. Of course it's hopefully not being held together by sticky tape in the rundown SABC studios.

■ Script for final episode of The Vampire Diaries is so brutal ...
it made actor Paul Wesley cry.

SABC News anchor Vabakshnee Chetty-Miller leaving the SABC after 15 years; moving to America; will say goodbye to viewers on Friday.

The well-liked SABC TV News anchor Vabakshnee Chetty-Miller is leaving the South African public broadcaster and will do her final sign-off and say goodbye to viewers on-air in her final broadcast on Friday evening on SABC News (DStv 404) and SABC3's TV news bulletin at 18:30.

There's been no statement from the SABC about her impending departure and replacement.

Vabakshnee Chetty-Miller, who recently returned from maternity leave after the birth of her first child to her chair behind the TV news anchor desk in Studio 9, is relocating to America with her husband.

She will likely be replaced by Francis Herd on the SABC's flagship nightly TV news bulletin who also sat in beside co-anchor Peter Ndoro during her colleague's maternity leave.

Vabakshnee Chetty-Miller, her American businessman husband Geoffrey Miller and the couple's 5-month old daughter daughter Ella Amalia Anne will move to Chicago in March but she will be doing her last TV news bulletin on Friday after 15 years as a journalist working for the SABC's radio and TV divisions.

As a broadcaster Vabakshnee Chetty-Miller, who've only ever worked at the SABC, had her wedding in late 2014 broadcast on SABC3's Top Billing.

As a professional news reader, she's endeared herself to viewers and listeners over the past decade and is beloved by SABC colleagues.

She kept her cool and remained professional - especially over the past three years - bringing viewers the news on television in the public broadcaster's flagship English TV news bulletin as it kept changing timeslots, suffered rating declines and while the SABC got battered and suffered a public backlash over Hlaudi Motsoeneng's SABC TV news censorship decisions.

"I'm a bit anxious, but I'm also looking forward to the move," Vabakshnee Chetty-Miller told the Lotus FM radio station.

She described her career at the SABC "as a fun one" ever since she started off as an intern in 2002 reading the news on Lotus FM and reporting, and then moving to Johannesburg.

Vabakshnee Chetty-Miller says she will "miss the warmth and the friendliness" of South Africans.

Due to the sudden move necessitated by her husband's changing job requirements, she hasn't been able yet to find a new job in America. "I have been thinking about it, but I haven't really made any plans. I'm going to give myself a few months to adjust."

"Chicago is extremely cold. It's cold for eight months of the year, and I've also just had a baby. So a lot of adjustment needs to take place and then I'll make the call after that".

BREAKING. SABC TV licence required to get a set-top box for digital terrestrial television - even for the poorest, says head of DTT programme.

South African TV viewers will now likely have to provide a SABC TV licence to get an expensive set-top box (STB) required for digital terrestrial television (DTT) - even the poorest of the poor who won't get one of the 5 million free STBs government hand-outs without a valid licence.

It raises serious questions over how the government and broadcasters like the SABC want to complete the country's long-delayed switch-over from analogue to DTT - a process known as digital migration - in the department of communication's planned 18 to 24 months timeline once DTT is commercially launched if millions of TV households can't get a STB.

Millions of South African TV households, representing many more millions of viewers, don't have a valid licence for their TV sets and are not paying for an annual SABC TV licence.

It means that they will be locked out and barred from getting a STB and will eventually see their TV signals cut off and disappear once broadcasters like the SABC, e.tv and community TV stations switch off their analogue signals.

"We are looking at saying a television licence may well be required [for a STB]," said Solly Mokoetle, South Africa's head of the DTT programme.

He was a panelist at The New Age breakfast briefing on DTT which was held on Monday morning in Sandton.

While South Africa embarrassingly missed the 17 June international agreed to deadline to have completed the switch to DTT due to more than a decade of government ineptitude, Solly Mokoetle said on Monday that the qualifying criteria to get a free STB from the government - distributed through the South African Post Office - is at this point still being worked out.

According to the government's proposed DTT switch plans South Africa's poorest will first have to provide "proof" that they're poor.

Only households who can prove that they're "poor enough", something which will be a humiliating experience according to critics of the plan, will be able to get one of the 5 million STBs for free - if they have a SABC TV licence.

The STBs will cost other TV households around R700 to R800, while a new TV antenna for DTT at an additional cost will also be required in a lot of cases just so that people can continue watching the digitally transmitted version of the TV channels they've had before, as well as some new ones.

"We are still in the process of consulting to finalise the nitty-gritty details of this qualifying criteria. It should be a certain income level in a household. The cabinet policy is based on funding the indigent," said Solly Mokoetle.

"Does that [requirement of a SABC TV licence] discriminate against more of our people or not? The point however is that a television licence is a law in South Africa. So it is a requirement [for a STB]. Now, we will be looking at all of these factors as we move towards the distribution point."

Nobody on the panel could answer moderator Peter Ndoro's question of how the 5 million poor TV households receiving a free government STB will be prevented from selling that asset to get the money.

SABC News mixed up Peter Ndoro and Vabakshnee Chetty-Miller on Wednesday evening's TV new bulletin.

On Wednesday evening the SABC News (DStv 404) didn't know who was Peter Ndoro and who was Vabakshnee Chetty-Miller, switching the names of the two around (Peter Ndoro is the one on the left and is always the one seated on the left) in the so-called "bottom third" identifyer graphic.

The SABC had no English TV news bulletin for viewers on SABC3 on terrestrial television in South Africa on Wednesday evening, electing to go with coverage of cricket.

The English TV news bulletin - the SABC's supposed flagship TV news bulletin of the day - only went out on the SABC News channel  on channel 404, only accessible on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform for pay-TV viewers - co-incidentally/ironically on the same day that the SABC's matricless chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng touted the SABC's "universal access" services at a media briefing in Johannesburg.

SABC TV news anchor Vabakshnee Chetty shares her beautiful wedding with SABC3's Top Billing.

Photos courtesy: Warren Williams Photography/Tswelopele Productions

"She's amazing. Just the smartest, the most caring, the most beautiful woman in the world."

So says husband Geoffrey Miller, CEO of TransUnion Africa, of the beloved SABC TV News anchor Vabakshnee Chetty who on Thursday night shared her recent wedding in Stellenbosch with South African viewers on SABC3's Top Billing.

Tswelopele Productions tells me it was Thabile Maphanga, Vabakshnee Chetty's maid of honour, close friend and SABC journalist, who invited the show to her wedding with the reception which took place on 22 November at the Webersburg Wine Estate outside Stellenbosch. 

Other SABC TV talent also attended the wedding like SABC TV News co-anchor Peter Ndoro and Mishal Mookrey of Mela on SABC2. 

The wedding had a "classic, elegant and timeless look" done by wedding co-ordinator Anne Mann of Anne Mann Celebrates.

The two met three years ago. Geoffrey Miller was introduced to Vabakshnee Chetty, or "Vee" as her friends call her, and they went on a blind date to Johannesburg ballet to see Romeo and Juliet.

BREAKING. SABC News quietly cuts back Prime Time News to just one hour starting at 18:30 from today; adds the new News at 8.

The SABC and SABC News (DStv 404) today quietly cut back Prime Time News, the public broadcaster's flagship daily news bulletin to just one hour; moving Business Review earlier and adding a new news bulletin, News at 8.

The change - not communicated by the SABC overall nor SABC News - now means that Prime Time News is half an hour shorter daily.

It means that Prime Time News with news anchors Peter Ndoro and Vabakshnee Chetty on SABC News - simulcast on SABC3 - from today starts at the same time.

Previously Prime Time News on SABC News started at 18:00 until 19:30, with SABC3 taking the simulcast feed from 18:30 until 19:30 after the show was on for half an hour already.

Business Review with the excellent Francis Herd also moved today from 20:00 to 18:00 - two hours earlier. This means that Business Review now serves as the new lead-in to Prime Time News.

The SABC and SABC News made the change without informing the press of this schedule change on its 24-hour TV news channel as well.

Also not communicated by the SABC or SABC News' publicity departments and spokespeople is the addition of News at 8 from today, a new half hour long live news bulletin.

The Afrikaans news bulletin on SABC News at 19:30 remains unchanged in the same timeslot.

The SABC, in response to a media enquiry, told TV with Thinus on Tuesday that there was "a strategic need to reposition the business slot because it is a good time to update and interpret the movement on the stock market which closes at 17:00".

"This also gives us an opportunity to turn the show into a love and interview-driven programme, something that has not been possible to do when the show was in its previous slot".

"Where we had Business Review at 20:00, we now have a news programme called News @ 8. This gives us a vantage point to update viewers about the latest news developments in the country and elsewhere. We believe that the new schedule is dynamic and will serve different viewership preferences," the SABC tells me.

'IT'S BIZARRE': SABC News literally wastes time on showing bull(sh*t), instead of covering the real news like the protest against the SABC.

This is how totally bullsh*t bad the South African public broadcaster's SABC News has become: On Thursday evening the SABC's flagship daily news bulletin in primetime on SABC3 couldn't find the time to report on a public protest from civil society against the SABC but had the time to waste on a totally bull(sh*t) irrelevant foreign story about ... a runaway bull.

"How bizarre," remarked a schmaltzy Peter Ndoro to the South African nation on Thursday evening's broadcast on SABC3, complete with faux laugh next to co-anchor Natasha Thorp as they grinned and pleasantly bantered over an escaped bull from a farm in Romania which ran over a busy intersection.

Peter Ndoro introducing "the shocking story" and remarking "how bizarre" it was, came across as highly ironic, since civil South Africa today picketed the SABC over rampant censorship and other concerns - although none of that was to be seen on the SABC's most important news bulletin today.

Yet the hour long SABC News Primetime bulletin found and had 35 seconds to devote to a story filled with bull on television.

Scores of people protested this afternoon at the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters, amidst ongoing and growing concern from the public about censorship at the SABC, skewed SABC editorial practice, as well as undue internal editorial interference.

The picketing at the SABC was prompted by the sudden and unexpected cancellation by the SABC of its own locally produced current affairs talk show The Big Debate which was pulled off of the SABC2 schedule on instructions of the broadcaster's famously matricless acting chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

(The runaway bull in Romania was finally concerned in an alleyway. Also, in my opinion, the SABC's news coverage has become a veritable sh*tfest of sadness.)

Morning Live now longer: SABC2's morning breakfast show also on SABC's new SABC News TV channel will now continue for an hour longer.

You're reading it here first.

Morning Live, the SABC2 morning breakfast show which is also simulcast on the SABC's new 24-hour TV news channel, SABC News (DStv 404) will henceforth continue for an hour longer on the news channel after the two hour live show signs off on weekdays on SABC2.

There's been no official announcement, press release or statement from the SABC, SABC2 or SABC News, but Morning Live broadcast on weekdays between 06:00 and 08:00 on SABC2 will now continue for an additional hour until 09:00 on weekdays after the show with anchor Leanne Manas ends on SABC2.

The other big change for Morning Live is that the business news anchor Peter Ndoro is gone. Leanne Manas will now cover and do the business news and business news slots on Morning Live as well for the time being.

Peter Ndoro moved over to the SABC News channel  to become the new primetime news co-anchor opposite Vabakshnee Chetty.

Friday was the first day with a longer Morning Live for the SABC News channel. Leanne Manas mentioned on Friday the longer Morning Live and the tart of the SABC's 24-hour news channel, saying "good luck to everyone going forward. A nice turning page in the history of the SABC."


ALSO READ: Imtiaz Patel, MultiChoice CEO, watches SABC2's Morning Live breakfast show every day.

'My name is Zandile," the SABC chairperson tells news anchor Peter Ndoro on the new SABC News channel when he wrongly calls her Andile.

Barely an hour into the start of the broadcast of the SABC's new SABC News (DStv 404) 24-hour news channel, the very first on-air embarrassment took place.

The new primetime SABC News anchor Peter Ndodo didn't know and use the correct name of the interim SABC chairperson Zandile Tshabalala - mistakenly referring to her as Andile, after which she publicly corrected him on live television.

With the tumultuous turn-over of the SABC board and SABC board members the past few years it is difficult for journalists to keep up but Peter Ndoro, and on a SABC channel, should have known.

When Peter Ndoro, who will now be co-anchoring the SABC's flagship news bulletin on the SABC News channel on weeknights with Vabakshnee Chetty mistakenly called Zandile, Andile, she called him out on it.

"A point of correction, my name is Zandile. Zandile, not Andile," said Zandile Tshabalala.

"Sorry, sorry for that mistake," said Peter Ndoro.

BREAKING. SABC News launches as new 24-hour channel with Peter Ndoro and Vabakshnee Chetty, 'telling the story that South Africans want to hear.'

You're reading it here first. 

SABC News as the SABC's new 24-hour TV news channel launched at 18:00 on MultiChoice's DStv channel 404 anchored by Peter Ndoro and Vabakshnee Chetty using the news studio used for SABC3's daily news bulletin at 18:30

Besides a skeleton grid schedule neither the SABC, nor MultiChoice, released to the press and TV critics by the end of the business day on Thursday any programming line-up profiles or summaries, programming or presenter information, show information or what is coming up in magazine show's for the week or launch episodes, or what viewers will be seeing on the SABC News channel.

SABC News is getting an investment of over half a billion rand from the satellite pay-TV provider over the next few years.

SABC News - the SABC's second attempt at a continuous TV news channel - replaces the SABC News International channel which was launched in July 2007, ran for a few years, also on MultiChoice's DStv platform, and cost millions of rands but which was then shut down three years later at the end of March 2010 when the public broadcaster starting running into cashflow problems.

The new SABC News channel has gone through various permutations the past three years and several false starts over the past two years, and has been described as a vanity project the SABC, recovering from near collapse in 2009, can ill afford. The channel is also not available to all South African TV viewers who are compelled by law to pay a TV licence.

Peter Ndoro from SABC2's Morning Live breakfast show where he has been seen covering business news will from now on be the new co-anchor on weeknights on the SABC's primetime flagship English news bulletin.

That new news bulletin will start at 18:00 on the SABC News channel, until 19:30, with the broadcast which will be simulcast on SABC3 from 18:30 until 19:30.

"Telling the story that South Africans want to hear," said Vabakshnee Chetty about the new SABC News channel after which president Jacob Zuma was the first in-studio on-air guest to be interviewed on the new South African TV news channel.

SABC News as a 24-hour TV news channel now joins the existing and independent eNCA (DStv 403). ANN7 as a third South African TV news channel will be launching soon on MultiChoice's DStv channel 405.

"It's a historic day for us here at the SABC, we're entering new territory in launching this dedicated news channel," said Vabakshnee Chetty.

"This is a dedicated news channel, the new kid on the block as it were," said Peter Ndoro. "But we've been broadcasting for 37 years, so we're not quite new to the news game but this is certainly newer for us in terms of a dedicated news channel," said Peter Ndoro, omitting the fact that the SABC already had a dedicated news channel before.

"It's the 77th anniversary of the SABC, and the 37th anniversary of the first television broadcast in South Africa," said Peter Ndoro.

Just before the SABC 24 Hour News Channel launched at 18:00 president Jacob Zuma spoke at the SABC's launch event function, saying that "the SABC 24 Hour News Channel must seize the opportunity to cover South Africa beyond crime and corruption".

The SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo who also spoke during the launch event noted "the bottles of real champagne" for guests on the tables at Henley Studios and saying that the SABC staff working on the SABC 24 Hour News Channel will have a "tough task ahead".

President Jacob Zuma, speaking to Vabakshnee Chetty, said "I think this news channel is long overdue as a country and the continent. That is has happened now is exciting."

The SABC is primarily using Studio 9 for the SABC News channel - the one viewers have seen so far on SABC3. The SABC News channel is using a sQ Server system from Quantel, which will replace the Vortex Pinnacle. In addition the SABC changed the newsroom system from Newstar to ENPS.

Although SABC News launched in standard definition 16:9 aspect ratio, all systems are HD capable.

The SABC says the public broadcaster has 11 existing newsrooms across the respective provinces, that each newsroom is fully staffed with journalists and that these newsrooms have the capacity to produce between 30 and 40 stories daily.

SABC and THE NEW AGE BROADCAST BUNGLE: SABC turns the live Brics breakfast briefing into a babelic technical disaster.

The SABC and The New Age newspaper's SABC The New Age Brics Breakfast Briefing in Durban which was broadcast live on SABC2 on Wednesday morning was once again a terrible television fiasco, marred by amateur production values, sound problems and a babelic mess with no translation for viewers for the Chinese, Russian and Portuguese heard.

The SABC's acting chief operating officer, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, defended the gibberish teletrash shown to South African viewers on the public broadcaster, saying that it is "part of a learning curve" for the public broadcaster.

After Morning Live presenter Leanne Manas threw to the outside broadcast which the SABC showed live from Durban's International Convention Centre (ICC) for the 5th Brics Summit, viewers had to wait for 20 minutes of small talk before the first speech actually started. Sound problems and sound level problems were already evident.

Awkwardly Peter Ndoro had to walk from table to table to start asking questions from guests, trying to kill time as Lulama Mokhobo, the SABC's CEO was spotted at one of the tables. (Interestingly, the Russian president Vladimir Putin also turned down an offer from the SABC for TV make-up.)

Soon after the SABC TNA Brics Breakfast Briefing started, viewers on SABC2 were confronted with speakers from both the platform as well as using the handheld mic at the tables, speaking in languages which ordinary SABC viewers couldn't understand. Viewers saw guests sitting at the tables with little black headsets, getting translation services.

Meanwhile even the audio level of whatever was heard, fluctuated throughout the broadcast - even at the end when Peter Ndoro again spoke but viewers heard nothing. Then when Peter Ndoro was audible, he was drowned out with a surprised looking Peter Ndoro looking around when the moderator drowned him out with: "Members of the business council can you please come on stage, you are also in the photograph?"

Viewers started trashing the SABC and The New Age on social media for the shoddy live broadcast.

"SABC, what is going on?", "SABC2 attribute names to speakers! Turn up translation! I'm sure I'm not alone in not understanding Chinese or Russian", "Poor planning and total disregard for viewers", "Some idiot at the SABC forgot that all this dignitaties will be speaking in their mother tongue,so we get no translation", "SABC not translating the foreign languages", "Couldn't they at least try subtitles?" were just some of the comment from exasperated and upset viewers.

 "Technical issues are turning this into a disaster" said yet another viewer.

The New Age tried to do damage control with a puff piece spin story in its newspaper, calling the SABC TNA Brics Breakfast Briefing "highly successful".

Nazeem Howa, CEO of The New Age said that the response to the breakfast was "overwhelmingly positive, so it is very sad to see the continuous carping from some competitors" without actually mentioning what carping there was, or why.

The story included only comment from the Communications Workers Union (CWU) - interestingly the only SABC trade union publicly sympathetic to Hlaudi Motsoeneng - saying critics were inspired by their own hidden agendas. The newspaper story didn't make any mention of why there was criticism or what is was.

REMEMBER HER? Nadia Bilchik, the former M-Net continuity presenter, is back on South African television talking to Peter Ndoro.

She was synonymous with M-Net and was the beautiful, well-spoken face of the South African pay TV broadcaster - and today the erstwhile, awesome and eloquent continuity presenter Nadia Bilchik was back on South African television.

Nadia Bilchik who've moved to America 15 years ago, is now the president of Greater Impact Communications and an editorial producer at CNN. Visiting South Africa, Nadia Bilchik spoke to Peter Ndoro this morning on SABC2's breakfast show Morning Live - a full circle moment since Peter Ndoro himself is a former colleague and a former M-Net continuity presenter.

Speaking to Peter Ndoro about brands, Nadia Bilchik said that "a brand for a product is like a reputation for a person".

"What is the perception people have of me? The reality is that we're all being branded, whether we're consciously involved in the process or not. First say: How do I want others to perceive me? And then: Am I taking the actions to be perceived in that way?"

"I have a lot of broadcast journalists, young, aspiring people who come to me and say: How do I get onto television? And I say, you've got to show people. You can't tell people your brand, you have to demonstrate it."

"Fifteen years ago we were together, and I remember you were in a flat panic. You've spent your life creating a brand in South Africa, and you had to go over there and start from scratch," said Peter Ndoro.

"Peter, I had to recreate the brand from the beginning. Peter, when I left M-Net and my world, and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, I didn't know a single person. The only person I knew was the head of security at CNN Center, because he knew the head of security at M-Net," said Nadia Bilchik.

"And you remember those demo tapes I made? That got me into CNN. And my first job at CNN was anchoring for the CNN Airport network. And now I'm an editorial producer at the weekends, and I present but unfortunately you won't see me here because I work for CNN domestic."