As the announcement date for nominees in the 2018 SAFTA’s quickly approaches, South African film and TV fans and industry insiders alike are all wondering who will make the cut. One thing is for sure though, SABC soapies Muvhango and Generations will NOT be on the list.
This is because both shows are reportedly locked out of the ‘Most Popular TV Soap’ category after boycotting the awards show and not submitting entries for the awards.
The category is voted for by viewers so industry pundits are wondering how the final result can even be considered accurate when two of the country’s most popular soapies are not even on the list?
Muvhango has long been a thorn in the side of the SAFTA organizers and are using their clout to raise awareness with the issues they have with the judging process among other things. Last year, their campaign was joined by the SABC soapie, Skeem Saam.
In a recent interview with independent TV critic, Thinus Ferreira, the NFVF stated that their CEO, Zama Mkosi, and the SAFTAs overall chairperson, Firdoze Bulbulia as part of last year’s 11th SAFTAs post-review, endeavoured to engage with the production houses that did not enter the 11th SAFTAs, in an effort to explain the SAFTAs entry process. The meeting ended in an agreement that the shows would enter this year’s SAFTAs. However, they did not.
Ferreira also spoke to the Generations team who said that despite entering since the inception of Generations - The Legacy in 2014, their team has not received the recognition they had been hoping they would.
"We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our growing share in viewership and would like to thank our viewers for making us one of the biggest shows in the country; it’s their consistent recognition that propels us to keep telling ground-breaking stories that create a discourse in our society," they said in a statement.
The 2018 SAFTAs nominees will be announced this coming Friday, 2 February 2018 and ZAlebs will be there to bring you the freshest news.
The 12th annual SAFTAs will be returning to Sun City in the North West province for the second time and will take place on the weekend of 22nd March, 2018.
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Related: Everything you need to know about the 11th Annual SAFTAs
Main image credit: twitter.com/SAFTAS1