BBC Worldwide Africa continues to beef up BBC Brit by broadening the channel; moving EastEnders and Strictly Come Dancing over to BBC Brit.

As part of the ongoing process to beef up the offering and to lift ratings of the male-skewed BBC Brit (DStv 120), BBC Worldwide will now be adding female-focused programming from other BBC channels.

The British soap EastEnders is being moved from BBC First (DStv 119) to BBC Brit from 19 June, to 18:30 on weeknights, while Strictly Come Dancing is being moved from BBC Lifestyle (DStv 174) to BBC Brit.

While DStv subscribers lose EastEnders as a high definition (HD) show since BBC First is an HD channel, BBC First is adding the medical drama Holby City from 19 June at 19:00 on weeknights that is "back by popular demand" for the 18th season.

BBC Worldwide Africa says it's broadening BBC Brit. DStv subscribers have been vocal in complaints about too many repeats and too little new programming on the channel, something the BBC has been addressing the past few months.

The movement of BBC channels content means that DStv Extra and DStv Compact subscribers will get access to EastEnders and more newer shows.

BBC Worldwide Africa says BBC Brit will continue to be the channel for series like Top Gear and The Graham Norton Show, but will now also see Strictly Come Dancing moved to BBC Brit, as well as new drama and comedy series like Michael McIntyre's Big Show.

"We know our African audiences have an insatiable appetite for entertaining British soaps," says Kully Kaur-Bains, BBC Worldwide's head of programming for Africa.

"We are excited to introduce the scandals, romances and family dramas of EastEnders to even more DStv viewers on BBC Brit. In addition, firm favourite Holby City is back with a bang and will have our BBC First audiences hooked."

"South Africa is the only market in the world to host BBC Worldwide's fullsuite of channels and over the past 6 months we have seen record viewing figures and an impressive 17% uplift in share, proving that we are the ones to watch," says Kully Kaur-Bains.

M-Net's Carte Blanche: 'Devastated by the loss of Johann Botha, one of our finest producers'.

M-Net's Carte Blanche where Johann Botha (53) was a producer has issued a statement following the brutal death of the well-known TV presenter and producer who was shot and killed on Wednesday evening during a Jeppestown robbery at the Zebra Inn.

Besides Johann Botha, his friend and owner of the Zebra Inn restaurant and bar, Werner "Swazi" Perchtold (73), was also shot dead.

"M-Net's Carte Blanche team is devastated by the loss of Johann Botha, one of our finest producers," says George Mazarakis, Carte Blanche executive producer.

"Johann was immensely talented and had a depth and breadth of experience which makes him simply irreplaceable".

"Johann was a brave, creative investigative journalist with a kind and gentle nature.He could executive stories on the Johannesburg billing crisis - his most recent report - with as much ease as a piece on the penguins of Betty's Bay; he was comfortable reporting on politics or the arts".

"His loss is a loss for the entire broadcasting industry and he will be sorely missed," says George Mazarakis.

"We are outraged that yet again, a precious life has been lost to the scourge of crime."

"We extend our sincere condolences to his family and his friends."

kykNET doing dramatic schedule changes from July: soaps Suidooster and Getroud moving timeslots; magazine shows Kwêla and Bravo! shunted to Sundays.

kykNET (DStv 144) is doing dramatic schedule changes from July that will force viewers to adjust to new times and days to tune in to their shows and weekday soaps as part of a new schedule that's being rolled out for the Afrikaans pay-TV channels on DStv.

kykNET says the Afrikaans channels set on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform had to rethink its programme schedule from July "to make room for all our new content".

From 10 July the Cape Town based soap Suidooster set in the fictitious suburb of Ruiterbosch will be blowing in later when it's moved to 18:30 on kykNET (DStv 144) and kykNET & Kie (DStv 145).

It will be followed by the Afrikaans eNuus that stays put at 19:00, simulcast on both channels.

Suidooster is moved from 18:00 to get out of the way of the SABC's Afrikaans weekday soap 7de Laan on SABC2  that was abruptly moved to 18:00 in February.

Currently Suidooster was at 18:00 on kykNET and 20:00 on kykNET & Kie, but will now be at the same time on both channels, at 18:30.

While soap Binnelanders will remain at 19:30, the soap Getroud met Rugby that used to be at 18:30 is moved a lot later to 21:00 from 10 July on kykNET and kykNET & Kie.

After toning down the show's content when it changed from a drama series to an early prime time soap, it's likely that the producers and kykNET will once again ramp up the risque content in Getroud met Rugby when it moves to outside the so-called "watershed" time period.

The week's entertainment magazine shows on kykNET are removed from the week's schedule and moved to weekends with Kwêla moving to Sundays from 9 July at 20:00 and Bravo! moving to Sundays from 16 July at 19:30.

The 10th season of the talk show Jou Show is moving to Saturdays at 19:30 from 15 July and Fiësta moves to Saturdays at 18:30 from 15 July. The 10th season of Jukebox on kykNET will now be on Saturdays at 20:00.

The new comedy Elke Skewe Pot about an internet dating site company with Franci Swanepoel, Marisa Drummond, Carien Botha, Carine Rous and Hannes Brümmer will kick off on Monday 10 July at 20:00 on kykNET.

It will be followed by the new panel discussion show Parlement Parlement at 20:30 with Joey Rasdien, Louw Venter and Elana Afrika-Bredenkamp as the moderator.

Hond se Gedagtes with presenter Lizma van Zyl starts on Tuesday 4 July at 17:30 and will look at how the dog became man's best friend.

The second season of the Afrikaans drama series Die Boekklub following the antics of a rural town's bookklub members will kick off on Tuesday 11 July at 20:00 with some new characters in the mix.

Lise Swart is the presenter of the cooking show Kook & Geniet, based on the iconic recipe book, starting on kykNET on Wednesday 5 July at 20:00, followed by the third season of the popular Groen Namibië on 12 July at 20:30.

Cricket lovers can also tune in to kykNET & Kie for the brand new season of BVP with Johnny Davids and Fanie de Villiers at 21:30.

More episodes of Legendes van Afrikaanse Musiek profiling Afrikaans singers like Gé Korsten, Rina Hugo and Johan van Rensburg, Lucas Maree and Boet Pretorius will be broadcast from Thursday 6 Julie at 20:30.

Afrikaans films on Sunday nights at 21:00 in July will include Modder en Bloed, Noem My Skollie and Treurgrond.

 Jý Geld is with presenter Lynelle Kenned is a new finance programme aimed at women guiding viewers to personal finance money matters, starting on Sunday 9 July at 18:00 on kykNET.

It will be followed by the second season of the weight-loss reality show Slank II at 18:30 with presenter Leandie du Randt Bosch.

From Friday 7 July the interactive chat and music show chatNOU! will be simulcast on kykNET and kykNET NOU! (DStv 146) at 15:00, while the new season of Jan Braai will be broadcast on kykNET on Fridays at 18:30, followed by Toks en Tjops at 20:00.

"The kykNET platform is now bigger than ever. We had to rethink our programme schedule from July to make room for all our new content," says Karen Meiring, director of kykNET channels.

"Our biggest priority, as always, remains our viewers and this was the biggest consideration in the decision-making around changing schedules. We serve a growing and diverse audience and people's behaviour and needs are constantly changing."

"Our audience also expects us to stay ahead of international television trends but still bring them the best in local storytelling. Our new schedule represents all these considerations and behaviour shifts."

BCCSA finds racist white farmers in Sechaba storyline of Endemol Shine Africa's Isidingo soap on the SABC's SABC3 didn't breach the broadcasting code.

The Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) found that episodes of the SABC's Isidingo didn't breach the Broadcasting Act and that the SABC3 weekday soap isn't guilty of promoting violence between races or hate speech because it's a TV drama.

Several complaints were lodged with the BCCSA in April and May after Isidingo showed scenes in which a black character Sechaba, was assaulted and buried alive by two white Afrikaans farmers after he visited his dad's grave on their farm.

Viewers were shocked and thought the character died, but in the next episode he was dug out and returned home with injuries.

The BCCSA received 109 complaints over the Endemol Shine Africa soap's episodes broadcast on 26 April, and 1, 2 and 3 May ranging from incitement of hatred, racism, offensiveness, irresponsible broadcasting and perpetuation of anger to breaking down racial harmony in South Africa.

Of these 35 complaints complied with the requirements of valid complaints and were accepted.

The SABC argued before the BCCSA that "the Sechaba story is intended to address an important and complex part of our history and the present day South Africa."

The SABC said "the story hopes to speak to the preconceived notions and stereotypes on both sides of the colour divide that still needs to be addressed in order for the country to find healing."

The SABC said Endemol Shine Africa noticed an incident reported in November 2016 in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, where two white men allegedly forced a black man into a coffin and threatened to pour petrol over him and to put a snake with him in the coffin. "This ostensibly inspired the writers of Isidingo to cast this in the episode complained about".

The BCCSA said "it takes no special knowledge of the South African psyche to realise that these scenes stirred up deep emotions among black and white people alike: for black people the indignation about one of their kin being humiliated in this way, and for white people, the way in which they are still being stereotyped as racist and cruel to black people".

"The gist of the complaints is that the broadcast was irresponsible, very offensive to black and white alike, damaging to what has been achieved in the area of race relations and causing hatred between the races and perpetuating anger and racism".

The BCCSA in its judgment said that "freedom of speech and freedom of expression are hard-won rights in our democracy and should not be easily limited".

"Although we realise that many viewers of the Isidingo episodes which are the subject of these complaints, were upset and offended by what they saw, that was not sufficient to find that the broadcasts amounted to hate speech".

"We were informed that with these episodes the SABC intended to promote democracy by setting up a debate about racial relations and the struggle for land."

"Even if we had found that the broadcasts constituted hate speech, the SABC would still have been saved by clause 5 of the Broadcasting Code because our finding is that Isidingo is a TV drama and therefore not subjected to the limitations to freedom of expression contained in clauses 3 and 4 of the Code".

SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago in a statement from the public broadcaster after the judgment said the Isidingo episodes "portrayed scenes where a black character was assaulted by two white farmers".

"The BCCSA reviewed the episodes and found that the public service broadcaster was not in contravention".

"The SABC as a public service broadcaster will always strive to depict what is happening in our society as they are, whilst upholding its editorial policy and the BCCSA's Code of Conduct.

TV presenter and producer Johann Botha who worked on the SABC's 50/50 and M-Net's Carte Blanche shot and killed during robbery.

TV presenter and producer Johann Botha (53) has been shot and killed on Wednesday night in a bar in Johannesburg's Maboneng Precinct during a robbery.

The owner of the Zebra Inn bar in Jeppestown and a friend of Johann Botha, Werner "Swazi" Perchtold (73), was also killed.

According to Captain Kay Makhubela, police spokesperson, 4 people entered the bar - three men and a woman - bought food, and then pointed a gun at the owner. The owner was then shot as well as Johann Botha. Both were shot in the upper body and died on the scene.

Johann Botha is a former producer, presenter and executive producer of the SABC's environmental programme 50/50 on SABC2, and a former presenter and producer of the environmental programme Projek Aardwolf that was broadcast on kykNET (DStv 144), M-Net's Afrikaans packaged channel on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

Johann Botha currently worked as a producer on M-Net's Carte Blanche investigative magazine show, mostly doing environmental impact stories where he's also presented some inserts in the past.

After having studied drama, Johann Botha started working for the SABC in 1988.

In his career Johann Botha also worked as a SABC radio presenter on the public broadcaster's Afrikaans radio station RSG where he used to present several shows in the past, notably successful youth centred music programmes.

TV presenter and producer Johann Botha has been shot and killed on Wednesday night in a bar in Johannesburg's Maboneng Precinct during a robbery.

The owner of the bar, Werner "Swazi" Perchtold, was also killed. No arrest have been made yet.

According to Captain Kay Makhubela, police spokesperson, 4 people entered the bar - three men and a woman - bought food, and then pointed a gun at the owner. The owner was then shot as well as Johann Botha. Both were shot in the upper body and died on the scene.

Johann Botha is a former producer, presenter and executive producer of the SABC's environmental programme 50/50 on SABC2, and a former presenter and producer of the environmental programme Projek Aardwolf that was broadcast on kykNET (DStv 144), M-Net's Afrikaans packaged channel on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

Johann Botha currently worked as a producer on M-Net's Carte Blanche investigative magazine show, mostly doing environmental impact stories where he's also presented some inserts in the past.

After having studied drama, Johann Botha started working for the SABC in 1988.

In his career Johann Botha also worked as a SABC radio presenter on the public broadcaster's Afrikaans radio station RSG where he used to present several shows in the past, notably successful youth centred music programmes.

Since the beginning of the year Johann Botha was a radio presenter at PretoriaFM of the Sunday night show, Nagmusiek.

50/50 in a Facebook post said: "Johann's exuberant energy on camera and investigative journalistic insight made him a champion for the environment and his love for wildlife his seen him lauded with numerous environmental awards. The environment, the animals, and his close friends and family have lost a truly courageous human being, who made a tremendous difference to the world, that will be felt still for many years to come."

In a statement from M-Net's Carte Blanche, the weekly investigative magazine show says "M-Net's Carte Blanche team is devastated by the loss of Johann Botha, one of our finest producers."

"Johann was immensely talented and had a depth and breadth of experience which makes him simply irreplaceable," says George Mazarakis, Carte Blanche executive producer.

"Johann was a brave, creative investigative journalist with a kind and gentle nature.He could executive stories on the Johannesburg billing crisis - his most recent report - with as much ease as a piece on the penguins of Betty's Bay; he was comfortable reporting on politics or the arts".

"His loss is a loss for the entire broadcasting industry and he will be sorely missed," says George Mazarakis.

"We are outraged that yet again, a precious life has been lost to the scourge of crime. We extend our sincere condolences to his family and his friends."

Famed Afrikaans writer and playwright PG du Plessis has died; made massive contribution to South African television and film over several decades.

The famed Afrikaans writer and playwright PG du Plessis, responsible for several hit South African TV shows in the earlier decades of the SABC and who had made an immense contribution to South African television and to Afrikaans drama and literature over several decades died on Wednesday afternoon. He was 82.

PG (Pieter Georg) du Plessis suffered from prostate cancer since 2010, but the exact cause of death is not known. He died in Wednesday afternoon in the MooiMed hospital in Potchefstroom.

As usual, there was no statement or acknowledgement on Wednesday from the SABC about PG du Plessis or his decades long, and massive contribution to South Africa's public broadcaster and to South African television.

PG du Plessis, besides a litany of dramas and books, in SA television terms will always be remembered for TV series like his talk show on the SABC's erstwhile TV1 channel, P.G. gesels met… and he appeared on screen as the other half in the popular Afrikaans talker Spies & Plessis.

Even in P.G. Gesels met... PG du Plessis would push the boundaries of what was deemed "acceptable" during the Apartheid-SABC era, for instance interviewing Justus Chungu and telling South Africans with TV sets that he's talking to "a black man as my guest in an Afrikaans talk show".

His short stories Koöperasiestories was likewise transformed into a hit as a similarly titled Afrikaans TV series, with both Spies & Plessis and Koöperasiestories that saw multiple repeats across the SABC over many years, and was again shown on the SABC's library-channel SABC Encore (DStv 156) running on MultiChoice's DStv.

It was the success of Koöperasiestories that led him to establish his own production company, Sommatel.

Several of PG du Plessis' Afrikaans plays were filmed like Siener in die Suburbs and 'n Seder Val in Waterkloof and broadcast on SABC television and even SABC radio, and he wrote several radio dramas - all of which received numerous accolades and prizes of several years.

PG du Plessis made a massive contribution to not just the SABC as South Africa's public broadcaster, but to South African television and the local TV industry.

His first TV drams series, Anderkant Sesriem, told the story of a young man's experiences in the Namib desert and his single drama 'n Rand ’n droom won the SABC prize for Afrikaans TV-drama in 1978.

PG du Plessis wrote the TV series TJ7, Maplotters, Andries Plak, Dryfsand and Feast of the uninvited (a reworking from his book Fees van die ongenooides).

He reworked the Mikro stories into the script for the hugely successful, often repeated TV series Mattewis en Meraai on TV1, as well as Pandjieswinkelstories on kykNET (DStv 144).

In film he wrote the scripts for Nag van die 19de, Liewe hemel, Genis, Weerskant die nag and the Bles Bridges biopic The devil and the song.

Besides the novelist's TV and film writing work, the profilic PG du Plessis who was also an academic, journalist, editor and teacher and enriched South African and Afrikaans literature with numerous books, short stories, plays and opinion-editorial pieces.

Competition Tribunal fines MultiChoice's advertising sales division, DStv Media Sales, a hefty R180 million for price fixing.

South Africa's Competition Tribunal has fined MultiChoice's advertising sales division, DStv Media Sales, a massive R180 million for price fixing and fixing trading conditions that's against South Africa's Competition Act.

The Competition Tribunal fined MultiChoice's DStv Media Sales R22,3 million. MultiChoice will also have to pay the  Economic Development Fund R8 million over 3 years. In addition DStv Media Sales willhave to pay 25% in bonus airtime for ever R1 of airtime bought by qualifying smaller ad agencies.

"This aims to help smaller agencies participate in the market. The bonus airtime will be provided for a period of three years and is subject to a total annual airtime cap of R50m," says the Competition Tribunal in a statement.

The hefty fine concludes an investigation from November 2011 that found that, through the Media Credit Co-Ordinators (MCC), various media companies agreed to offer similar discounts and payment terms to advertising agencies that place advertisements with MCC members.

MCC accredited agencies were offered a 16,5% discount for payments made within 45 days of the statement date, while non-members were offered 15%.

This practice restricted competition the Competition Commission found, among the competing companies as they did not independently determine an element of a price in the form of discount or trading terms.

"This amounts to price fixing and the fixing of trading conditions in contravention of the Competition Act".

MultiChoice says DStv Media Sales engaged in a longstanding practice that was used in South Africa's advertising industry.

"The Competition Commission has now concluded its investigation and found that this practice does indeed contravene the Competition Act. DStv Media Sales cooperated with the Competition Commission in its investigation and has accepted responsibility for being party to this industry practice."

StarSat finally launches its first PVR capable decoder in South Africa; here's all the details about StarSat's new Combo 3 decoder.

Pay-TV operator StarSat has finally launched its first personal video recorder (PVR) capable decoder in South Africa, making it possible for subscribers to digitally record programmes available on StarSat's TV channels for the first time.

The new StarSat decoder called the StarSat Combo 3 decoder, costs R399 and includes a satellite dish and free installation.

The black with orange trim decoder is similar to the black and lime green trim Combo HD decoder that StarSat's Chinese parent company StarTimes introduced elsewhere in Africa in late-2016, with only a different outer shell and the exact same remote control.

The StarSat Combo 3 decoder is so-called since it incorporates 3 abilities. Besides the ability to be used as a PVR if a subscriber attaches an external hard drive or big enough USB, it combines the features of digital terrestrial television (DTT) and digital satellite direct-to-home (DTH) technologies on the same decoder.

This enables StarSat subscribers to get access to subscription pay-TV channels like the various bouquets offered by StarSat, but also the free-to-air digital TV channel signals that might be available.

While South Africa is lagging far behind with the switch to DTT, a process known as digital migration, and with almost no DTT channels available, StarSat subscribers with the new decoder can now for instance pick up the SABC News (DStv 404) channel as well that so far has only been available to DStv satellite viewers.

While the SABC News channel is available exclusively to MultiChoice's DStv subscribers as part of a SABC channels deal, SABC News is already being broadcast as a digital terrestrial channel as well, with people who can receive it with a proper DTT set-top box (STB) able to decode the signal like the new StarSat decoder.

The RF In and RF Out feature also allows StarSat subscribers to connect more than one TV set to the Combo 3 decoder.

The new StarSat Combo 3 decoder has "only" 21 buttons, with users who can also customise menu transparency and has options to change the interface colour.

The new StarSat Combo 3 decoder is the third decoder for the company in South Africa. StarSat, formerly known as TopTV, launched in May 2010 and quickly promised the introduction of a PVR.

After initial promises that didn't come to fruition, TopTV multiple times over the past years promised the introduction of a PVR decoder to the market but it never materialised.

After the struggling On Digital Media (ODM) that entered business rescue got a cash bailout rescue from the Chinese pay-TV operator StarTimes and renamed TopTV to StarSat, StarTimes Media South Africa introduced a new white decoder in November 2013.

Use of this second, white decoder that was R599 but also without digital recording capability, became compulsory in 2016 for StarSat subscribers.

The new third decoder, the StarSat Combo 3, offers "a vastly improved viewing experience to our customers in high definition (HD)," says John Yan, StarSat CEO.

Asked why StarSat is now introducing a new decoder with a PVR ability, the pay-TV operator says it is "constantly striving to improve its service and commitment to the customer experience, with emphasis on providing the highest possible quality digital signal".

"The Combo 3 is capable of providing a full HD 1080p signal, thus ensuring that StarSat is able to deliver on this commitment to its customers".

Asked about the recording capacity and how many hours the StarSat Combo 3 decoder can record, the company says the decoder's recording functionality "is facilitated through any external USB storage device by the customer, either a flash drive or external hard drive, thus not limiting the customer to a set number of hours on an internal hard drive".

Asked what will happen to StarSat subscribers using the white decoder they were forced to upgrade to a year ago or lose their signal, the company says "the white decoder is still an active device and supported by StarSat."

StarSat gives subscribers the opportunity to upgrade. "Any customer wishing to upgrade to the Combo 3 decoder will be able to do so, at a cost of R299, through a StarSat customer experience centre in Gauteng, Durban or Cape Town, or directly through the StarSat customer service centre who will courier a decoder to the customer."

"Customers will also be able to upgrade their older decoders to the Combo 3 through the retail distribution channel in due course".

StarSat subscribers often complain that its electronic programme guide (EPG) is often wrong, out-of-sync with days and time, and some channels EPG grid empty. The EPG is however needed and used to enable PVR recordings.

StarSat was asked if EPG improvement is something it's looking at doing, and if so, what kind of improvements are being made.

"The software innovations in the Combo 3 decoder have facilitated a more responsive, easy-to-use, interactive remote control, as well as improving the accuracy of the EPG, thus facilitating the recording functionality in a simple or uncomplicated manner," says StarSat.

StarSat was asked how many new Combo 3 decoders have been manufactured so far and how much stock is being placed in South Africa in the first batch to market. "Stock of the Combo 3 is en-route to all StarSat retail partners, with sufficient quantities of decoders available to satisfy customers or market place demand," the company says.

StarSat was asked how long StarTimes has been working on the new StarSat Combo 3 decoder, where it's manufactured and what influenced the design and colour.

"The StarTimes headquarters is located in Beijing, China, and this is also the prime location of the group's R&D and manufacturing facilities," says StarSat that recently moved its South African headquarters from Woodmead to Midrand in Johannesburg.

"As a recognised technology provider, continually working on innovative products and services, StarTimes was motivated to deliver a decoder that was sleek and streamlined in design, with a touch of class, and believe that the Combo 3 delivers well on this brief".

eNCA fires reporter Nontobeko Sibisi a year after 'doek' incident; TV news channel says her dismissal was not related to the 'doek' issue.

eNCA has fired reporter Nontobeko Sibisi but says it didn't show the journalist the door over the "doek" wearing saga exactly a year ago that plunged the South African TV news channel into scandal.

On Wednesday eNCA fired Nontobeko Sibisi, one of the channel's youngest reporters and primarily focusing on the entertainment and infotainment beat. eNCA took away her cellphone and she had to leave the building at the channel's Hyde Park headquarters.

While Nontobeko Sibisi was allegedly fired, according to insiders, for serious journalistic lapses, distraught eNCA staffers said Nontobeko Sibisi's firing "felt like retaliation".

Upset eNCA staff couldn't get hold of the reporter. "Where is she supposed to go? How will she provide for her family?" asked one.

Exactly a year ago Nontobeko Sibisi filed a story for eNCA, wearing the African head dress known as a "doek", which at the time was against eNCA's on-air policy.

eNCA said the story couldn't air because of editorial problems. Nontobeko Sibisi lashed out at eNCA's "self-censorship" in an open letter and said she was told that her story on Africa Day will not be broadcast and was dumped because she appears in it with a doek.

The instant controversy her open letter created, engulfed eNCA in a PR nightmare, with the resulting bad publicity that forced eMedia Investments TV channel to relook its on-air appearance policy and also laid bare internal staff acrimony within eNCA ranks.

After eNCA staffers told TVwithThinus that Nontobeko Sibisi was fired, eNCA confirmed it on Thursday in response to a media enquiry, saying the reporter was axed "following an extensive disciplinary process".

eNCA didn't want to say why Nontobeko Sibisi was fired, but according to insiders the journalist was found guilty of improper involvements that negatively impacted her editorial integrity and that of eNCA.

eNCA said that "Nontobeko Sibisi was summarily dismissed from eNCA on 31 May 2017. To respect company policy in matters of this nature we will not comment on the reasons for her dismissal. However we must make it clear that her dismissal is in no way linked to the "doek" issue from May 2016."

"This was resolved some months ago, with the adoption and implementation of a new progressive policy, developed with staff participation and agreement, including Nontobeko."

eNCA says the phone it took back from Nontobeko Sibisi was a company cellphone and that she left the building shortly afterwards.

Asked if she was paid for May, eNCA said "all dismissed employees are paid for the period that they work for the company. Given that Nontobeko was dismissed on 31 May 2017 she would have already been paid for May".

Nontobeko Sibisi couldn't be reached but on social media on Thursday cryptically wrote "I am officially unemployed and looking for radio and TV jobs, the talent and gift I have demands I still soar".