Leanne Manas marks 20 years as SABC2's Morning Live anchor.

by Thinus Ferreira

Leanne Manas has just marked two decades on the air as anchor of SABC2's Morning Live show since she joined on 1 August 2004.

Leanne Manas joined the late Vuyo Mbuli and replaced temporary co-anchor Michelle Garforth who sat in after Tracy Going abruptly left, 20 years ago this month.

Leanne Manas remarked that she now has a "little fuller, more eyebrows" than 20 years ago.

Looking back at a clip of her first day's first broadcast, Leanne Manas on the show she now co-anchors with Sakina Kamwendo, said she remembers "being so nervous".

"I was starstruck because this was Vuyo Mbuli. You aspired to be next to him. I never in my wildest dreams, ever, ever believed that I would still be sitting here."

Leanne Manas revealed that Morning Live for her "was going to be a short stint. Because of the mornings. I don't like the mornings. And broadcasting is short stints. You never stay. You don't do that. But something happened. Something happened and it just became bigger than me. And it always has been and it always will be."

She explained that Morning Live and the SABC, before the advent of the digital era, "had a fax machine in the office and you'd ask the question of the day, and say 'send us your views'. They then had to fax it through to the office, and then you'd read the answers the next day".

"So nothing was immediate about it. There were no cellphones. We couldn't take selfies. There was no Twitter, there was no Instagram, there was nothing. Facebook came around but that was about it. So we had fax machines."

About Sakina Kamwendo joining as co-anchor six years ago, Leanne Manas said "when we came together here it was a brilliant turnaround. The one thing that people have always said about Morning Live is the consistency of it. You become a family. And when that consistency gels with a brilliant partnership, then you know you're in for success".

‘Sakina, we’re live’: The SABC's Morning Live presenters mock Namibia's NBC presenters Jessica and Elmarie after their awkward on-air spat.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's public broadcaster, known for several of its own on-air gaffes over the years, on Thursday had some fun mocking its Namibian TV neighbour when the presenters of Morning Live worked in a skit and did their own version of a sensational video that went viral overnight of the awkward on-air fight between two presenters at the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC).

On Wednesday night a clip surfaced of the cringe-worthy interaction between Elmarie Kapunda, a news anchor on NBC's nightly TV news programme on Namibia's public broadcaster, and the sports presenter Jessica.

After Elmarie apparently "intruded" on the content or lines that Jessica wanted to say, Jessica started to scold Elmarie  with a "No,we are not going to do that! You're just going to greet me and say, 'Take it away", after which Elmarie had to remind her fellow presenter: "Jessica, we're live". 

Awkward silence, dead air and cold stares followed, after which the NBC News technical director cut to a commercial break.

Namibia's NBC has so far not released any statement about the incident and it's not clear whether any of the on-air talent has been suspended on taken leave.

On Thursday, Morning Live, broadcast on SABC2 and SABC News (DStv 404) reported about the incident in its daily trending topics. Later anchor Sakina Kamwendo and presenter Vaylen Kirtley had fun poking fun at their NBC colleagues' on-air moment.

Sakina Kamwendo and Vaylen Kirtley substituted their names and Vaylen had to tell her colleague: "Sakina, we're live", after which Sakina blankly stared into the Auckland Park TV camera for a few seconds - after which she cracked a smile.

On Wednesday night the SABC and SABC had its own on-air problem when anchor Vuyo Mvoko suddenly had to deal with an unexpected connection blackout during the The Watchdog timeslot:

SABC to establish an internal ombudsman for SABC News complaints.

The SABC will introduce an internal ombudsman for SABC News complaints from the public and establish a ring-fenced office to deal with queries and issues regarding SABC News editorial and coverage, the South African public broadcaster announced on Monday night.

Chris Maroleng, SABC COO, in an interview with Ashraf Garda on SAfm on Monday night, said "we, through the reform and transformation of the newsroom will also introduce what we are describing as an internal ombud who will allow the public to complain".

The surprising move - not prompted through any external pressure on the SABC - is the latest in a sudden string of positive self-correcting changes at the SABC.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation in the past few weeks announced an inquiry into undue influence on SABC News and its editorial processes, an inquiry into allegations of sexual harassment and sexual abuse inside the SABC, as well as a rebranding of the SABC News service on television and radio.

The SABC's internal ombudsman will function independently, and in addition to the existing Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) whose Broadcasting Code of Conduct the SABC already subscribes to.

The SABC is currently busy with a long-overdue review of the public broadcaster's editorial policy that started in July 2017, trying to bring it up to date since it was last reviewed 14 years ago in 2004.


SAfm changed explained
About the changes at SAfm and listeners who are unhappy with the news and current affairs changes, Chris Maroleng said the anger has to do with how people have become "accustomed to consuming their news and current affairs. The first thing is that we were over-delivering on SAfm on news and current affairs".

"What we were doing is we were producing 6 hours of news and current affairs and the problem with news and current affairs apart from the crucial importance, the way in which we packaged it, is it could not perform commercially to the extent that it supported the broadcast network which is quite extensive for SAfm."

"It was costing us several million. The other thing that we did, we needed to migrate the way that news and current affairs was consumed to a format that was more accustomed to the way that some of our competitors - and more importantly, the global trend of global news consumption - has changed."

"So we developed opportunities around talk radio format content, mixed in with our current affairs obligation, without dropping the mandated, regulatory provision for that current affairs content. So the value judgment we had to make, is how do we develop news content and a news platform that develops conversation and that allows debate in a vibrant, independent way, without putting too much of a burden on the commercial imperative."


Sakina Kamwendo: We should have informed public better
About the shocking removal of Sakina Kamwendo from SAfm's morning slot that saw SAfm producers abruptly censor her and yank her off air during her last show, leaving people listening to music to fill dead air, Chris Maroleng said that the SABC censorship and lack of communication "is a personal regret of mine".

"In our haste to try and fix it and to try and put right things that needed to be made better within the SABC we need to bring along people. We need to understand that it is ultimately people who come from  a very difficult period of abuse, of abuse of power, of unfair decisions being made which were not necessarily in the interest of the SABC."

He said the censorship of Sakina Kamwendo and her abrupt removal "was not an intention to shut [her] down". "We could have done much better in ensuring that the way in which we communicated the rationale of the change, could have been done much better," said Chris Maroleng.

"What we did wrong - I think what we should have done better is also inform our public a bit better," he said.

The SABC that launched an internal investigation into what happened on the day has refused to make the findings public.

SABC CENSORSHIP. Public broadcaster's SAfm execs abruptly censor presenter Sakina Kamwendo and pull her off the air halfway through her final morning show.

In the latest shocking recurrence of brutal censorship at the South African public broadcaster, executives at the SABC's SAfm radio station on Friday morning abruptly pulled the brilliant presenter Sakina Kamwendo off the air halfway through presenting her final The Forum @ 8 morning show, once again leaving South Africans asking why they should bother to pay their SABC TV licences to an organisation that tramples on freedom of speech as enshrined by the South African constitution.

The latest censorship scandal at the SABC saw SAfm execs pull the plug on Sakina Kamwendo halfway through her show at 08:30, awkwardly playing just music for half an hour with no explanation to viewers as to what was going on as SABC management shut her down.

In her final morning show, Sakina Kamwendo told SAfm listeners that she was kept in the dark about what her future would be at SAfm when her freelance contract ended. She also spoke about how difficult it's been for SABC staffers who are severely demoralised.

SABC execs didn't want that talk on the public broadcaster and decided to censor the show and immediately pulled Sakina Kamwendo off the air, making things worse as viewers started blasting the SABC and SAfm for removing her without the chance to say goodbye.

The Right to Know Campaign (R2K Campaign) said "The censorship of Sakina Kamwendo is a throwback to the era of Hlaudism. A clear reminder that South Africans must still fight to free the SABC of censorship".

The South African Editors' Forum (Sanef) in a statement slammed the SABC over its latest censorship incident, saying "this incident with Sakina Kamwendo was extremely poorly handled and smacks of censorship" and that Sakina Kamwendo should have been given the space to explain to her listeners what had transpired with her show and with the termination of her contract as the show's presenter.

"Limiting Sakina Kamwendo's freedom of speech and expression in this blatant manner is a serious issue and Sanef would not want to see a return to the SABC’s days of censorship."

"The media industry should be supporting all women in this sector – and especially highly competent, courageous black women such as Sakina Kamwendo. We need to ensure the diversity of voices in the industry. Sanef will be engaging the SABC on the matter."

The SABC's chief operating officer, Chris Maroleng, who was blasted on social media on Friday and Saturday, said its not SABC top management who took the decision to censor Sakina Kamwendo and he blamed SAfm executives for the disgraceful act.

In response to a media enquiry from TVwithThinus, the SABC said that its "executive management has noted with concern the incident that occured on the programme, The Forum@8 on SAfm" and that the SABC's executive management "has requested a full report on the incident and will engage with all involved to get the facts on what really happened and why".

The SABC said it's committed to "deal with this matter in a fair and transparent manner in the interest of the SABC and the public of South Africa".

Social media was flooded with support for Sakina Kamwendo and a non-stop barrage of criticism for the SABC and SAfm over its inept and shocking censorship and bad, amateur and unprofessional handling of the situation.

Veteran TV and radio presenter Redi Tlhabi said "I've seen abusive, toxic, incompetent anchors being treated better than this. Whose ego had to be accommodated at Sakina's expense? Not even a dignified exit after 10 years' service? Pulled off air in middle of show? Never heard of it."

Veteran radio presenter Jenny Crwys-Williams said "the cretins who pulled you off air are the ones looking stupid, they are the ones contemptuous of their audience and they are the ones who need to be sent to a radio gulag to learn what radio is about".

Listener Oageng Tidikwe said "I'm a villager based in the rural part of the Northwest province and I regularly pay my TV licence. Is it that difficult to announce SAfm's new line-up? I can't say I'll listen on the radio because you're likely to play music like you unexpectedly did on Sakina's show."

Listener Neo Nala said "for SAfm to kick her off midair was not just disrespectful to the listeners but immensely disrespectful to her".

"Spent 40 years in radio. Ran 5FM and Good Hope FM. I did strategy for all 18 SABC stations, including SAfm. I've never seen such a shocking decision," said another listener.

Listener WaMphuthi said "the way the SABC and SAfm treated Sakina this morning was disrespectful. There is a way you manage people's exit and what happened this morning is not one of them. Hope Chris Maroleng and team will enlighten us as listeners and be big enough to explain this morning".

Listener Ken Bonant said "I thought Hlaudi Motsoeneng was bad, but this new authoritarian dictatorship at the SABC is astonishing. And then to go and censor the free speech of Sakina Kamwendo's SAfm last show and pull it halfway ... abominable!"

Tshegs said "I thought there'd be a farewell speech from Sakina before the 09:00 news but we were instead left listening to music, which I thought was odd. The SABC must leave Hlaudi tendencies in the past."

Listener Ntobeko Khuluse said "Wow! The more things change at the SABC the more they remain the same. Sakina Kamwendo was not given an opportunity to say her goodbyes on SAfm because the management didn't like what she and listeners were saying, so disappointing. Change, what change Chris Maroleng?"

Listener Aziel Luka Khaile said "Hi ausi, I suspect you've been unceremoniously removed from the studio, they played music non-stop until 09:00. I share your pain as we are equally devastated by your removal as the AMLive host".

Last week on her show, the COPE political party's spokesperson Dennis Bloem called in and said "That's the reason why these people, Chris Maroleng and them, want to remove you from SAfm because these people don't want us to hear such things".

"You are too open, too bold, to expose these types of things. If they are going to remove you and other people, they must know that we will fight. We fought Hlaudi Motsoeneng and now Hlaudi's gone. He will also be gone. We want an open and transparent SABC, not an SABC who's hiding things. You are doing an excellent job for 6 years. I have never listened to SAfm, especially The Forum@8. Now they want to remove you to bring in stooges of them."

SAfm listeners slam Hlaudi Motsoeneng as an illiterate dictator, while the controversial SABC boss berates Sakina Kamwendo on-air: 'You need to talk like SABC employee'.

Furious listeners on Wednesday morning vented their anger at the SABC's Hlaudi Motsoeneng with several calling him a dictator, while the controversial boss who struggled to answer basic questions, disappeared after a break.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng's disastrous SAfm interview (listen to it here) is his latest cringe-worthy live interview after he was attacked three weeks ago by LotusFM listeners, made shocking remarks on eNCA's Maggs on Media on Sunday where he slammed media experts for knowing nothing about journalism, and appearing on JacarandaFM on Monday in another mind-boggling interview with Rian van Heerden.

The belligerent chief operating officer (COO) of the SABC who banned visuals of public protests on SABC TV News was supposed to be the guest on SAfm for an hour of The Forum at 8 but was gone after a few callers voiced hefty criticism to suddenly attend to an "emergency" according to presenter Sakina Kamwendo.

As he did on LotusFM, Hlaudi Motsoeneng suddenly berated Sakina Kamwendo live on-air when she asked him basic questions regarding his SABC News censorship decisions that he struggled to answer.

"This thing of intimidating, suppressing the workers there in SABC, it will end. He took away The Editors on Sunday. It's dictatorship," said COPE spokesperson Dennis Bloem.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng said "SABC can't show visuals that can harm the community". He attacked Bloem, saying "Dennis Bloem is not a leader. I don't know who'll vote for Dennis Bloem. He's also a parent. I don't know what kind of parent he is".

'You need to talk like SABC employee'

When Sakina Kamwendo asked Hlaudi Motsoeneng if his new censorship decision meant that the SABC has always been contravening the Broadcasting Act, he berated her on-air for her questions.

"Sakina, when you talk there, you need to talk like SABC employee. You as SABC people need to know what the SABC policy is saying. It is important for you as journalists of the SABC to represent the public, to represent the SABC".

"In any editorial newsroom in South Africa, when journalists sit down and discuss stories, they just discuss negative stories. Even at the SABC. I said 'That can't happen' and I'm not apologetic about it."

'LesediFM has been turned into a clown'

A listener slammed Hlaudi Motsoeneng for his "autocratic style", another one said "our Sesotho radio, LesediFM, has been turned into a clown. It's only clowing there".

Unathi said "Hlaudi wants to do the very same thing that was done by the Apartheid government. And I will not be surprised if I read in the media in the next few days that you [Sakina Kamwendo] have been removed as a journalist or host of this show because this guy is a dictator. He can't dictate to us as a nation what visuals we must see. If a person does not want to see visuals, he must change the channel."

'The man has gone too far'

By 8:35am, after a barrage of caller criticism and probing questions by Sakina Kamwendo, Hlaudi Motsoeneng was suddenly gone.

"This morning on The Forum at 8 we were meant to host Hlaudi Motsoeneng to engage, to unpack the corporation's vision for the future and also to answer some of the questions you've been posing to us that we have not been able to answer," she said.

A caller from Klerksdorp called Motsoeneng a "disaster" who "must be locked away", saying he "must be declared the worst person in the world. We watch Uzalo. Violence. People shooting each other. Is he happy about that?”

Eddie from Odendaalsrus said "the man has gone too far. Hlaudi most stop behaving like a politician".

Ithumeleng in Mahikeng said "please Sakina, I heard Motsoeneng, I'm worried because he was getting angry as you went probing and probing. Be careful when you speak to these guys, tomorrow you might not be sitting in that chair".

Vincent in Cape Town also slammed Hlaudi Motsoeneng's “dictatorship mentality" and said: "I've been hearing everyone calling and disagreeing blatantly with everything Motsoeneng is doing. When kids go to school in thousands they see their schools burnt. So it doesn't matter if SABC airs it or not, they are affected by schools that are burnt".

"You can even see when you interviewed him, he has a dictatorship mentality. He was opposing everything that you were saying, instead of listening to the facts and addressing the facts. He's attacking the person holding the ball, not the ball".

Alex from Johannesburg said "the banning of protest images is intellectually bankrupt" and that "the SABC is screening violent movies. Very violent American movies. The point that they're making about violence is not consistent with the total programming when you watch SABC television".