SABC3 marketing manager, Risuna Mayimele, suddenly gone from the SABC3 after 3 years.

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Risuna Mayimele, SABC3's marketing manager is gone at the SABC after just over 3 years, where staffers at the public broadcaster's only commercial TV channel told TV with Thinus that they were only told that the marketing executive "has been relieved with immediate effect".

Risuna Mayimele was last seen on South African television last month sipping wine on SABC3's Top Billing at a De Grendel wine estate event in Cape Town - the Tswelopele Productions programme on which she's made numerous appearances over the years.

The SABC and the wider South African TV industry have been abuzz about the executive's departure, with several TV executives, ad executives, and former SABC staffers discussing the news at Discovery Network's Upfront event last week in Johannesburg after word spread about the executive no longer being with SABC3.

Risuna Mayimele joined SABC3 as marketing manager in July 2010. TV critics noted that Risuna Mayimele became the sole drop-in quotable in SABC3's press releases regarding local shows and programming over the last year and a half.

SABC3 has so far not yet responded to media enquiries and specific questions made last week regarding Risuna Mayimele's sudden departure from the channel.

The SABC has so far not yet responded to media enquiries and specific questions made last week regarding the executive's departure.

BREAKING. Strictly Come Dancing to see a 7th season on SABC3 'very soon' following successful revival of the dance floor format show.

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Strictly Come Dancing will be back for a 7th season on SABC3 very soon.

A 7th season of Strictly Come Dancing on SABC3 will be announced very soon following the successful revival of the international dance floor format show on South African television after the on-screen comeback of the Rapid Blue produced show which jumped from SABC2 to SABC3 for a 6th season.

The 6th season which just concluded with Zakeeya Patel and Ryan Hammond taking the glitter ball home, saw real-life love blossom between two pairs of contestants: the winning couple Zakeeya Patel and Ryan Hammond who are very much in love, as well as Expresso presenter Graeme Richards and dance instructor Lindsey Muckle who also found love on the dance floor.

"Season seven of Strictly Come Dancing is coming soon," says Risuna Mayimele, SABC3's marketing manager. "This is the first year for the show on SABC3."

Risuna Mayimele says Strictly Come Dancing will "come back very soon". "I know that it was around five years where there was no Strictly Come Dancing [on South African television] but it will be back very soon because it has been very successful for the channel."

"From the reaction from viewers we've clearly been sorely missed and I'm so glad to be back on air. And I hope to be back on air with a new 7th season soon," said Kee-Leen Irvine, the managing director of Rapid Blue and the executive producer of Strictly Come Dancing.

Besides Strictly revived on SABC3, Rapid Blue is responsible for new seasons of TV hits SA's Got Talent on e.tv as well as Come Dine with Me South Africa on DStv's BBC Entertainment channel.

At SABC3's Strictly Come Dancing afterparty held on Thursday night at Kong in Rosebank, contestant Damon Kalvari trashed the amateur new 24-hour TV channel ANN7 (DStv 405) in his speech, saying he was approach by an ANN7 presenter and camera team "calling me Mister De Niro" and imploring "GuptaTV", as the mistake-riddled news channel on DStv has become known, "to please continue to make us laugh".

Following her dazzling win, Zakeeya Patel immediately fell in on set with her new on-screen role in SABC1's new political TV drama series End Game which will broadcast from October for 13 episodes. Ryan Hammond isn't sleeping in either.

"I'm starting a new show in Durban in the Playhouse called Shall We Dance?, there's 80 in the cast and its for 11 days. Then I'll be teaching at our studio in Pretoria and that's what I usually do - I teach a lot of couples for their weddings and young champions to be professionals, and doing some corporate work."

The happy dance couple both had advice for contestants of the upcoming 7th season of Strictly Come Dancing on SABC3.

"I would say to the professionals make sure you have a good team behind you," says Ryan Hammond. "The team is important. Don't be scared to ask and don't be too proud to ask other people for assistance and advice."

"You need the support of your family and your team. To the celebrities I would say you really need to trust your professional partner. That was the secret of Zakeeya's success. She allowed me to put my vision into practice and she trusted me with everything and you need to trust your professional partner," says Ryan Hammond.

Zakeeya Patel's advice to celebrities forming part of the new season is "work hard. Keep your head down and your eye on the prize and it's yours."

BREAKING. Expedition Impossible to become SABC3's brand new major reality show on Mondays; to alternate with Survivor, Amazing Race.

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SABC3 tells TV with Thinus that the broadcaster is positioning and launching the popular new hit American reality series Expedition Impossible with host Dave Salmoni as the channel's new 3rd major reality show tentpole to create a new tripple play reality show franchise on Monday nights together with veteran reality shows Survivor and The Amazing Race.

SABC3 says  Expedition Impossible that will be starting on Monday 14 November at 20:00 for 10 episodes, will henceforth alternate seasons with new seasons of Survivor and The Amazing Race to establish a new tripple reality show benchmark on Monday nights on the channel's schedule.

Expedition Impossible that just finished in America proved a surprise viewership ratings success and SABC3 snapped it up immediately, together with the reality song competition The Voice (news I broke RIGHT HERE exclusively last month).

The show, created by reality raconteur Mark Burnett sees contestants in groups of 3 (a total of 13 teams) race each other in an expedition taking them across several terrains including deserts, mountains, snow and even rapids, making for adventurous, adrenalin-fuelled viewing. Of course the 3 people in a team have to work together while personalities clash. The first season of Expedition Impossible is set in Morocco.

''Mark Burnett is probably the best reality television producer in the world,'' Lefa Afrika, SABC3 programming manager tells TV with Thinus. ''A show like Expedition Impossible could only come from him. SABC3 proudly acquired yet another of his big-budget, high quality productions.''

''SABC3 will place Expedition Impossible alongside the popular American Survivor and The Amazing Race on Monday nights with new seasons of all these shows following each other,'' he says.

''In any case we as SABC3 have to be open about it - we don't have The Amazing Race as a first-run exclusive for our territory in South Africa. Some of our viewers can follow it on another channel or online. Expedition Impossible is another brand-new show that's ours strengthening our core reality shows. And when we show The Amazing Race it still does exceptionally well, which shows that our viewers do wait to watch it on our channel.''

Adds Risuna Mayimele, SABC3 marketing manager: ''Survivor and The Amazing Race have been running and are performing well; we're also now just giving our viewers variety with a new, big, third reality show. Instead of just Survivor, Amazing Race, Survivor, Amazing Race, we're bringing in some more variety. And Expedition Impossible is definitely going to bring new viewers to the channel,'' she says.

FACT CHECK: O my word. Talk is cheap - even about The Oprah Show - but SABC3 should really get the facts right.

SABC3's marketing manager Risuna Mayimele made a few embarrasing mistakes talking about Oprah at the channel's screening of the final Oprah Winfrey Show at the Hyatt in Johannesburg.

In attendance were Basetsana Kumalo, Rosie Motene, Anele Mdoda, Keketso Semoko and Sonia Sedibe amongst others. An insider with knowledge of the event tells me SABC3 asked Oprah Winfrey to please work in a once day visit to Johannesburg while she was visiting Bloemfontein in South Africa (of course to be at this event) but she of course refused.

''Today's event is so significant,'' said Risuna Mayimele to SABC3's Top Billing who spoke about the show at the event.  ''It's one of those historic moments in television. We've been so lucky as SABC3 to broadcast Oprah since 1996. In fact we're the only broadcaster in Africa that has broadcasted Oprah.''

Whoo. Embarrasssing.

In September 1998 e.tv actually stole The Oprah Winfrey Show away from SABC3 for a few years. The Oprah Winfrey Show then went back to SABC3 only in 2005, so e.tv at least have definitely broadcast Oprah. Could there be more? Of course.

The M-Net East as well as the M-Net West channels in Africa has the current and final season of The Oprah Winfrey Show too, at this very moment, and had the show for a number of years. Then there's the local terrestrial broadcasters in African countries that has the show as well.

The Oprah Winfrey Show is watched in Africa [excluding South Africa] in Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Marocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Zambia, Zanzibar and Zimbabwe.

ALSO READ: First episode of 3 part Oprah finale on SABC3 in primetime lures massive audience; almost doubles the viewership of the timeslot.

TOLDJA! TV to the Power of 5 ready to launch on SABC3 in February with presenters Grant Nash and Anele Mdoda.

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I was first in November RIGHT HERE to break the news that SABC3 is planning a new lifestyle show called TV to the Power of 5 on Fridays for 2011 on conjunction with the SABC radio station 5FM and now I can exclusively first reveal the logo and break the news that Grant Nash and Anele Mdoda (who also does SABC3's Top Billing) will be the presenters.

From the logo its clear that SABC3 will use the spelling of (TV)⁵ for TV to the Power of 5 for the new show that will debut on Friday, 4 February at 19:30 as ''5FM on television'' for 26 episodes. (TV)⁵ will also include Thomas Msengana on sports news, Sureshnie Top 3 of the Top 40 and Power Nites presenters DJ Fresh, Euphonik, Bongi Mbelu, C-Live and Jon Savage with the best of their weekly shows as well.

''SABC3 is excited to be launching a local entertainment show powered by an innovative and edgy brand like 5FM,'' says Risuna Mayimele, SABC3's marketing manager. ''This is a powerful media platform that brings the power of radio to TV and we believe that the fusion of these two brands will enable SABC3 to connect with the younger market in a fresh manner.''

(TV)⁵ plans to integrate 5FM DJ Gareth Cliff's ''News to use or lose'' segment as well, together with the character of Tyren - the popular radio feature on The Fresh Drive who delivers ''Tyren's Top Five'' daily.

BREAKING. A change is as good as a holiday, but for SABC3 top execs change IS a ''holiday'' . . . in lovely Mauritius!

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She's always been too busy to meet the press, but I can exclusively reveal that SABC3 channel head Mate Mosito-Okaba and SABC3 marketing manager Risuna Mayimele now appear to have some time in their busy schedules to jet off to Mauritius tomorrow for a few days of pampered, luxury island living.

I can tell you that the Top Billing presenter search final stretch is taking place on Mauritius from this weekend and will be filmed by Top Billing with Risuna Mayimele who had no qualms with inserting herself into the glossy magazine show as one of the Top Billing presenter search judges. Mate Mosito-Okaba (pictured) is now joining the Top Billing presenter search gang for this last stretch. She will most probably show up in the insert on the Top Billing presenter search island finale when its broadcast in a future Top Billing episode.

Insider sources are telling me Risuna Mayimele and Mate Mosito-Okaba are flying tomorrow and will be back at SABC3 next Thursday after about a week in the Mauritius sun.

ALSO READ: What SABC3's new marketing manager has no problem marketing very well: herself.

HUH? SABC3 bumbles with a ''black'' Brothers & Sisters that it doesn't yet have the broadcasting rights of.

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SABC3 made a big boo-boo at its latest quarterly press screening where it rolled out its new shows for the fourth quarter for TV writers and journalist covering the television industry.

Instead of showing footage of the actual Brothers & Sisters the channel's promo reel showed black family histrionics with people falling down a staircase and a mom fainting while the words Brothers & Sisters flashed on screen. What the press was treated to was in fact another drama series and not the one about the Walker family from California.

It got even more akward afterwards. Risuna Mayimele, SABC3's marketing manager apologized to the press for showing the wrong family and incorrect clip during the presentation. ''Also, please note that SABC3 has not yet secured the rights to Brothers & Sisters,'' Risuna Mayimele said matter-of-factly.

Which means that not only did SABC3 get their own selection of preview content wrong, the channel also tried to sell a show to the press of which it has not yet cleared the broadcasting rights of. A day later SABC3 repeated the mistake when the Johannesburg TV press was shown the reel.

BREAKING. 3Talk with Noeleen on SABC3 relaunching in January with a daily, live studio audience.

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3Talk with Noeleen on SABC3 with talk show host Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu will be relaunching the weekday afternoon talk show in January 2011 with more interactive components as well as a daily, live studio audience.

The 3Talk with Noeleen relaunch which I've kept track of since the beginning of this year, was pushed back to June to originally co-incide with the 10th anniversary of the show on SABC3. Then the relaunch was moved to August after the 2010 World Cup, then September, then October and now its January. 

''It is coming. It is happening,'' Risuna Mayimele, SABC3's marketing manager told me earlier today when I asked about 3Talk with Noeleen's constantly moved relaunch date. ''We've decided to start the new year of 2011 fresh and that's the new date for the 3Talk with Noeleen relaunch. The show will get a complete makeover with a live studio audience, interactiveness and Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu going more on location for specific shows.''

What SABC3's new marketing manager is marketing very well - herself of course.

SABC3's new marketing manager Risuna Mayimele is doing one heck of a job as a marketer and doing marketing . . . for herself!

Risuna Mayimele who joined SABC3 in July has not yet so much as emailed a journalist covering television in South Africa to introduce herself or give her contact details, let alone picked up a phone or visited publications. Yet the ''strategist'' who worked at ad agencies has seen it fit to injected herself into a TV show as one of the judges in the new Top Billing Presenter Search.

Sources tell me that that's basically all that Risuna Mayimele seems to talk about the whole time: the Top Billing Presenter Search. ''Apparently at every meeting that she's in, that's all that she wants publicity for,'' a source inside the SABC tells me.

SABC3 says Risuna Mayimele has ''intimate knowledge of the SABC3 brand'' - but I wonder . . . Wouldn't that then mean that you would be working more strategically behind the scenes, looking and evaluating what specific SABC3 properties and on-air talent need or could do with more exposure, and then rather insert those on-air presenters into the show to get the much-needed air time? Now Risuna Mayimele is criss-crossing South Africa with the other judges Jeannie D and Alan Ford (now a consulting producer for SABC3's No Reservations after he left 3Talk) . . .while a lot of people are not even aware that SABC3 has a new marketing manager yet.