Chantal Rutter Dros quits ANN7 as its main news anchor; staff discord and internal unhappiness permeates Infinity Media's news channel on DStv.

Chantal Rutter Dros is quitting the struggling ANN7 (DStv 405) and will be reading her final TV news bulletin on ANN Prime tonight while staff discord, internal unhappiness, and multiple personnel exits continue to rock South Africa's third 24-hour TV-news channel from Infinity Media known as "Gupta TV".

Chantal Rutter Dros has been ANN7's main news anchor and highest profile get when ANN7 started with a disastrous launch in August last year on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform. The channel came in for ongoing public mockery for its litany of on-air mistakes and amateur news readers - mostly female models - struggling to read and pronounce words and names correctly.

Since then the TV-news channel which has pumped hundreds of millions of rand into its operations in Midrand has worked hard to gain credibility but it's been difficult with ongoing on-air mistakes which makes it hard for viewers to trust ANN7's coverage or take it seriously.

The death and funeral coverage of Nelson Mandela, as well as the South African of the Year Awards 2014 which were both successfully executed projects helped to improve ANN7's public image.

Chantal Rutter Dros confirmed to TV with Thinus that she is leaving; asked why and what she will be doing next, she said that she "resigned for personal reasons. My last day is December 3. I am taking December off and I will evaluate my options in January".

She said that she is "not at liberty to comment on any of the other resignations as that is a station matter".

ANN7 told TV with Thinus it would announce a replacement for Chantal Rutter Dros "soon" but has been been silent; it's not clear who will be sitting behind the anchor desk at ANN7 Prime tomorrow night.

ANN7 was also only willing to say that Chantal Rutter Dros resigned for personal reasons.

Earlier this year Gerry Rantseli-Elsdon and her show Vuka Africa were gone from ANN7 barely months after the breakfast show was launched with big fanfare. ANN7's morning has been retooled with the credible Peter van Onselen and a straight news approach.

Also suddenly gone from ANN7 is the highly respected Dave McGregor who was the general manager for operations at ANN7.

ANN7 confirmed Dave McGregor's departure and tells TV with Thinus "Dave resigned in October citing personal reasons and his position has been taken by Quraysh Patel".

Quraysh Patel who worked at the IBA, the frontrunner of the current South African broadcasting regulator, Icasa, worked at e.tv as channel director and COO, later joined SABC3 and was chairperson of the Sentech board in 2010.

Also gone from ANN7 is Asanda Magaqa who was escorted off the ANN7 premises and her weekend show, Between the Lines, cancelled.

Tensions started between Asanda Magaqa and ANN7 management when she presented the daily South African of the Year Awards inserts and interviews and was supposed to host the awards, only to be dumped shortly before the ceremony for allegedly asking too much money.

"Between the Lines has been postponed for now to rework the structure of the programme and presentation due to the declining viewership numbers," says ANN7. 

"We are also resolving staff contractual issues. We will bring back the revamped show with the new features to make it more attractive to the viewers."

Also gone is the respected assignments editor Clinton Nagoor who also quit. It's not clear whether Hajra Omarjee is staying with ANN7 or also heading towards the door.

Internally, according to reports, ANN7 is a hotbed of unhappiness and staff discord, with personnel allegedly tired and fed-up with low pay, bad treatment, grueling working conditions and cost cutting.

Asked if ANN7 believe workers are treated unfairly the news channel on DStv says "all employees are treated fairly".

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) submitted a list of grievances to ANN7 management, alleging poor pay, forced overtime without pay, a shortage of vehicles to cover the news, no sick bay, unfair labour practices and ill-treatment of staff.

ANN7 tells TV with Thinus the CWU demands are "a figment of someone's very fertile imagination".

According to insiders MultiChoice is not happy with the performance of ANN7 this year, although it's not clear whether its in regard to viewership numbers, channel content like visuals and sound, news quality or other aspects.

According to insiders ANN7 has also struggled to attract advertisers who want to be associated with the channel. 

MultiChoice in response to a media enquiry is only willing to say "we constantly monitor and review the performance of all channels on DStv. We don't comment on the performance of individual channels, as we engage directly with them if there are any specific issues".

Male soap stars Stefan Ludick and Reynardt Hugo bare their butts, go 'naked for a day' for new Marie Claire Naked Issue.

The male soap stars Stefan Ludick and Reynardt Hugo agreed to drop trou and go naked to show the world their butts; the two soap stars of Binneland on kykNET (DStv 144) will appear without clothes in the new annual Marie Claire Naked Issue.

Atop a high rise in Sandton Stefan Ludik - who who starred in Egoli - posted photos this week of himself and co-star Reynardt Hugo starkers.

Sources tell me both the soap stars stripped to be photographed for the annual Marie Claire Naked Issue.

Stefan Ludick said he's going "naked for a day".

"Sometimes the work requires us to be a doctor, MC, singer, or just being naked for a day for a good cause - believe it or not. Will tell more later."

The public saw Stefan Ludick bare all before in 2003 when he was the first contestant to represent Namibia in the first season of Big Brother Africa. Controversy also erupted in 2008 over his nearly nude and provocative music video "Black Girl, White Boy".

New 'clowns' on SABC1's 'boring' Generations The Legacy 'will be thrown away as well,' by Mfundi Vundla, warns NFPYM party.

As viewers and critics on Monday night and today panned and savaged SABC1's reset primetime soap Generations The Legacy now filled with clearly inexperienced actors, the National Freedom Party Youth Movement is urging for a viewer boycott and warning the new actors that executive producer Mfundi Vundla will throw them away as well once he's done with them.

On Monday night SABC1 aired the first "new" episode of Generations, now entitled Generations The Legacy after a two month absence due to a forced shutdown of the primetime soap, South Africa's most watched TV programme.

The production which only started filming again on 27 October grinded to a halt after a scandalous implosion in August when the principal cast of 16 experienced actors balked and walked away from the MMSV Production.

For more than a year they pleaded for their promised three year contracts and back payments for rebroadcasts as promised by the SABC in July 2013 by the public broadcaster's famously matricless acting CEO, Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

The cast, organised as the Generations Actors Guild, took the production company and the SABC to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and court.

On Monday night viewers blasted the returned soap on social media for being boring and uninteresting, mocked the lack of experienced actors and Mfundi Vundla for getting rid of the old cast who were better, and with several vowing to never watch again.

Viewership figures for Monday's night's first new episode will be available this coming Monday.

Now the National Freedom Party Youth Movement secretary-general Maria Busi Tshabalala has called for a boycott of the soap and for viewers to stay away from SABC1 and the "clowns" of Generations The Legacy.

"We are very disappointed at the manner in which the SABC and the big-headed Mfundi Vundla handled the matter of the ex-Generations actors".

"We strongly believe that not watching this soap will show the SABC and Mfundi Vundla that we mean business when we demand that they bring back our talented actors".

The NFPYM also had a warning for the inexperienced Generations The Legacy actors who took the jobs of the experienced and fired cast during open auditions.

"To the clowns who agreed to work in this new boring soap, we warn them that once Mfundi Vundla has used them, he will throw them away as well and look for new buffoons."

"As the NFPYM we are not apologetic in our firm support of the axed actors. We are 100% behind them and we call on all South Africans to do the same by boycotting Generations."

MultiChoice's DStv Explora decoder named one of the 12 Most Beautiful Objects in South Africa for 2015.

Deserved. MultiChoice's DStv Explora, the powerful new-generation DStv decoder from the African satellite pay-TV platform has just been chosen as one of the 12 Most Beautiful Objects in 2015 in South Africa.

The DStv Explora, nicknamed "the pebble" by MultiChoice insiders for the sleeker design of the latest PVR version, is manufactured by Pace in South Africa.

The DStv Explora cracked the nod on the latest Design Indaba list, with the South African public who gets to vote and decide the ultimate winner and most beautiful object for the year.

MultiChoice's premium decoder shares the list with beautiful objects like the "Boomslang" - the winding and curved walkway bridge of steel and timber at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, a haywire chandelier made from timer and quickly becoming one of the top design collectables in the world, and a De Steyl storage tower.

Also on the list: the puppet Chester Missing from Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola fame on eNCA (DStv 403), a black silk dress by ERRE, repurposed schoolbags by Rethaka made from 100% recycled plastic shopping bags and a mohair and wool felted cape from Milk.

According to the Design Indaba Expo the most beautiful objects are chosen as part of a reflection of the local creative industries "and to bring to light little-known or unforgettable products and projects" that's standing out.

Is Scandal! actor Sello Maake ka Ncube getting paid for the multiple use of his likeness and photos shown in SABC1's reset Generations?

Is actor Sello Maake ka Ncube getting paid for the multiple use of his likeness and photos of him shown in SABC1's reset Generations?

Sello Maake ka Ncube portrayed the character of Archie Moroka for years in the soap before he moved on to e.tv's Scandal! to become one of South Africa's highest paid TV stars.

Generations has now been reset to Generations The Legacy and returned to SABC1 on Monday night for the first new episode with a new cast.

It followed the implosion of the soap behind-the-scenes of the MMSV Productions show which saw the soap shut down and grinding to a halt following a strike by the principal cast which saw the 16 actors fired for demanding their promised three year contracts, better pay rates and residuals which they've never received.

It's not clear whether Sello Maake ka Ncube is getting paid or will be paid for the multiple use and inclusion of his photos in Monday night's first new episode.

Sello Maake ka Ncube actually indicated that he wasn't and isn't willing to return to Generations, although creator and executive producer Mfundi Vundla says it was him who approached Sello Maake ka Ncube to return and then decided to drop him during the later planning stages for the new soap.

The same goes for the image of actor David Phetoe - his likeness and photo also appeared in Generations The Legacy where he played the character of Paul Moroka for years. It's not clear if he is getting paid for that appearance.

Several American TV actors who've left TV shows on a bad footing are notorious for in the past having forced producers to blur out or crop out their images and photos when they've refused consent to appear in episodes - or were simply not happy with the money offered to make a new "appearance" although just in a photo or a "backflash".

The most notorious is of course Shannen Doherty's whose face was blacked out of the finale of Beverly Hills, 90210 when she refused that she be seen - even in an old cast photo.

SABC News reporter Chriselda Lewis makes a cameo in reset Generations on SABC1; 'covering' Paul Moroka tomb stone unveiling.

Between covering the real news SABC News reporter Chriselda Lewis took time off to make a cameo appearance in the first episode of the reset Generations, now entitled Generations The Legacy on Monday night on SABC1.

Doing a straight-to-camera reporting piece, Chriselda Lewis held a SABC microphone with a SABC outside broadcast van or OB unit parked strategically, with SABC logo visible, in the background.

Of course no other real-life news and media brands were seen in-show at the fictional unveiling of Paul Moroka's tomb stone.

Double-speak SABC reveals Skeem Saam would never have moved to SABC2, Generations' Mfundi Vundla mentions 'painful past' as soap restarts.

After the SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kgangayo last month dabbled in vague statements, alluding that youth drama Skeem Saam woulda coulda move to SABC2 instead of giving informed, precise and accurate answers, it was revealed today that Skeem Saam never would have moved away from SABC1 ...

... while Generations The Legacy creator and executive producer Mfundi Vundla has the audacity to use words like "painful past" ... but ironically not in relation to him firing the principal cast.

Why the SABC continue with confusing double speak when real answers exist is anybody's guess, but the South African public broadcaster shamefully ended up exposed yet again today in head-shaking double speak.

While SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago last month said Skeem Saam could be moving from SABC1 to SABC2 after inhabiting the Generations timeslot where the show increased not the timeslot's viewership but its own former ratings, but that the SABC will see what happens, SABC1 channel head Maijang Mpherwane in a statement today said Skeem Saam would always have moved back to its former timeslot and definitely on SABC1 - no channel hopping was ever considered.

"As communicated from the onset, this was always a temporary arrangement which would see SABC1 reverting back to its normal schedule upon the return of Generations The Legacy and so we are confident that Skeem Saam will continue to do well for the channel on the weekday 18:30 timeslot," said Maijang Mpherwane.

Mfundi Vundla in the statement mentions "painful past" - but not in relation to the scandalous implosion that happened backstage at his own MMSV Productions soap.

"For a variety of reasons, some no doubt related to our painful past, our development as a people has been stymied. Generations The Legacy in its own way will address this issue," he says.

Connie Ferguson and Rapulana Seiphemo return to Generations as Karabo and Tau while the fired 16 actors and industry veterans asked established actors to please heed the call and boycott the soap, MMSV Productions and the SABC and not work on the new Generations.

The new Generations The Legacy cast include Tau's sister Tshidi (Letoya Makhene), Gaddaffi (Vuyo Dabula), Jonathan (JT Medupi), Mazwi (Musa Ngema), Mary (Kopano Zimba), Lucy (Manaka Ranaka), Getty (Andisiwe Dweba), Angela (Lebogang Mthunzi), Smanga (Moopi Mothibedi), Namhla (Thulisile Phongolo), Cosmo (Ronnie Nyakale), Simphowe (Asanda Foji) and Gog'Flo (Ivy Nkuta).

"The absence of Generations on SABC1's schedule for the past two months was unfortunate and we would once again like to apologise to our viewers for the turn of events that led to the show taking a break," says Maijang Mpherwane.

Generations' real legacy: Actors Sello Maake ka Ncube, Pamela Nomvete refuse to return to SABC1 and Mfundi Vundla's new Generations.

Stalwart actors Sello Maake ka Ncube who played Archie and Pamela Nomvete who played evil Ntsiki both say they refuse to return to SABC1 and producer Mfundi Vundla's reset Generations ever again and that they won't be "sellouts" like Connie Ferguson and Rapulana Seiphemo.

Just like when he fired the principal cast of Generations and Mfundi Vundla held a press conference, followed by the cast, with both sides saying completely opposite things, now again someone is blatantly lying - with totally opposite stories.

According to Sello Maake ka Ncube, currently appearing in e.tv's Scandal! after years in Generations as Archie Moroka and now one of the higest paid actors on South African television, he rebuffed attempts by Mfundi Vundla to lure him back to the show.

Yet today in a press conference about the new Generations starting tonight on SABC1 and relaunched as Generations The Legacy, Mfundi Vundla said it was Sello Maake ka Ncube who approached him, and offered to return to the soap, and that it was Mfundi Vundla who rejected Sello Maake ka Ncube's  offer because the character of Archie Moroka was killed off and Generations is "not a fantastical show, we can't bring people back from the dead".

Yet Sello Maake ka Ncube says he doesn't want to be on Generations out of solidarity with the TV industry and established actors who are siding on the part of the fired actors and who are refusing to be on the show.

Pamela Nomvete who was on the soap for 6 years is as vocal according to reports, saying "I wouldn't go back to Generations" and that South African actors "are still exploited to this day. There is a lot of suffering in our showbiz industry".

Pamela Nomvete also sides with the actors who were fired by MMSV Productions and the SABC for wanting better 3 year contracts and better pay rates from Generations similar to the other SABC soaps and those on e.tv.

Pamela Nomvete says "actors are miserable and I hope this is going to be a turning point in our TV industry".

Generations returns to SABC1 ... with a tarnished legacy. As Connie Ferguson reclaims Karabo, what the restart really says about SA's TV biz.

What was the biggest show on South African television, Generations, returns to TV screens tonight – with a tarnished legacy, some old faces to make it look familiar and lure viewers back, and a lot of unanswered questions about the maturity of the local TV biz, the public broadcaster, and how and why local TV talent are treated as little more than on-set props.

Generations The Legacy will debut on SABC1 tonight at 20:00 after a shocking absence of two months when the production grinded to a halt, the South African public broadcaster ran out of filmed episodes, and neither the production company nor the beleaguered SABC management could successfully keep the show on the air.

The Generations actors went on strike after months of pleading with the SABC, executive producer Mfundi Vundla, and production company MMSV Productions for the three year contracts they were personally promised by the SABC’s famously matricless acting CEO Hlaudi Motsoeneng in July 2013.

The cast who organised as the Generations Actors Guild is currently taking the SABC and the production company to the CCMA and to court.

They wanted the promised three year contracts instead of one year renewals, higher pay rates similar to other TV soaps at the SABC and e.tv, as well as back payments or residuals as promised in their existing contracts, and which they've never received, for rebroadcasts and repeats – as well as for the sales and international sales of the broadcasting rights of the soap to other TV channels as well as broadcasters in Africa.

They were prompty fired in August, followed by dueling press conferences by the SABC and the actors, the caustic Mfundi Vundla saying he felt "betrayed" and that he will "never take them back" – and then jetting off to a foreign locale for a holiday.

In the past two months SABC1 lost millions of viewers in the 20:00 timeslot as well as millions of rand in advertising after the public broadcaster was forced to lower advertising rates.

Now the rejigged show with new actors and some old faces which started filming on 27 October at the SABC's Henley Studios will be back. 

The first new Generations The Legacy is bound to – similar to American shows which tried a reboots like Dallas, Melrose Place and 90210 – lure a big audience tuning in out of the curiosity factor.

The test will be however whether the show will be able to not only lure back, but keep, its erstwhile big audience, or whether there will be a viewership drop-off following viewer disillusionment with how the show ended – it’s backstage implosion and scandalous destruction well-publicised, and the abrupt ending which saw no resolution to any of the previous storylines. 

Collin Oliphant who've written for SABC3's Isidingo  in the past is the new head writer.

Picking up two years later – with Karabo and Tau

Generations The Legacy will restart tonight, set two years later, with a funeral, and with Connie Ferguson returning as Karabo Moroka and Rapulana Seiphemo as Tau Mogale "returning from London to South Africa", suddenly living with their grown children, Jonathan (JT Medupe) and Angela (Lebohang Mthunzi).

Connie Ferguson, now herself a TV producer for M-Net, has already been in the firing line for why she returned to a show where her friends like Sophie Ndaba and others were fired, and which apparently treats South African actors with little or no respect.

Connie Ferguson told the SABC's new digital magazine, Evoke, that returning to Generations was not part of her plans but that the "recent developments" at the soap "bothered" her and "forced her into action for the sake of the show's legacy".

Connie Ferguson told Evoke that she isn't returning to Generations The Legacy to save the show, saying "I don't think I can 'save' anything. It’s a team effort. I couldn't let the show's legacy be remembered the way it ended."

Both Connie Ferguson and Rapulana Seiphemo were roped in to create a familiar "anchor" to viewers who haven't seen the show in two months and which won't have any other of the former well-known faces. It's not clear how long they will remain in the show – Connie Ferguson appears in, and produces her own drama Rockville for M-Net’s Mzansi Magic channel on DStv.

A younger cast

The restarted Generations The Legacy with a younger cast, will concentrate on the new generation of the Moroka family – Archie's children and grandchildren.

Other new faces in the reinvented Generations The Legacy include Letoya Mahkene, Denise Zimba, Ronnie Nyakale, Manaka Ranaka and Ivy Nkuta. 

Despite multiple media requests the past five weeks the SABC and the production failed to provide any episode synopses, character bio’s or publicity information usually issued for serialised local soaps.

The lack of information from the SABC for the revamped show prior to its debut tonight raised eyebrows in the TV biz, given that, according to conventional wisdom, broadcasters usually put a lot of marketing and publicity power behind new primetime shows in an attempt to reach potential viewers and to break through the noise.  

The soap will have a new title sequence which echoes that of SABC2's Muvhango and e.tv's Scandal!:  luxury vehicles, tall facades, women in heels and men in designer suits.

Unanswered questions

Generations The Legacy returns with many unaswered and ignored questions. As the biggest TV show on South African television, the biggest local TV production, the public broadcaster's biggest revenue earner, Generations is a bellwether for the local TV biz.

The damage in financial, reputation and image of the unmanaged implosion behind the scenes has been immeasurable for the SABC, the actors, the production company and also impacted the local TV industry.

That the SABC's biggest TV show can suddenly collapse and disappear off air with no experienced, hands-on and acute SABC top management intervention was yet another symbolic indicator of the unstable situation regarding programming the South African public broadcaster finds itself in.

Irrespective of who's right and who's wrong, the scandal has revealed the ugly behind-the-truth: how expendable South African on-screen talent are and how quickly and easily they can be dumped and replaced. 

The contracts for the new batch of actors on Generations are no different than those they've replaced.

The Generations fall-out will also make other actors, their agents and crew on shows, all think twice – if the biggest show on TV muscles legacy actors like Sophie Ndaba out who had portrayed a famous character for over two decades because the actress dares to speak out and complain, what chance does talent on lesser shows have?

The SABC's Hlaudi Motsoeneng promised in August that an independent panel would be set up to look at musicians and actors' contracts, employment working conditions, and some of the pressing issues which were highlighted during the Generations meltdown mess. 

Three months later, and there's been no word since about the establishment of this panel supposed to check international standards in dealing with these issues.

The real legacy of Generations The Legacy is that South Africa's on-screen talent in TV and film are not yet united enough in a strong, consolidated, unionised voice to act on behalf of and in the interest of actors.

If Generations can suddenly disappear from the SABC, what does it signal about the SABC's capability to handle and cope with talent and show disputes and to keep productions going?

And as viewers tune in for Generations as it becomes Generations The Legacy, will viewers return for a new generation so that the show can reclaim its ratings crown, or has the SABC's Generations brand been damaged irreparably?