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Generations soapie off air till December

by Staff reporter
22 Sep 2014 at 08:19hrs | Views
LOCAL followers of popular South African soapie Generations will have to enjoy the last seven episodes of their favourite soap after SABC announced the show would no longer be screened from October 1.

Kaizer Kganyago, SABC spokesperson, said: "There are no new episodes . . . Generations will be off air until December," he revealed.Fans of the soapie will have to look for an alternative show to follow or settle for SABC's substitute - Skeem Saam which will be taking Generations prime time viewing slot.

"SABC 1 is juggling their scheduling to move SePedi drama Skeem Saam from its 6.30PM timeslot to the coveted 8pm slot Generations used to occupy."

After a month of speculation over the fate of the soapie, it seems Generations producer and creator Mfundi Vundla is rewriting the entire show, presumably without the 16 actors, who were axed after being given an ultimatum to return to work or be fired a week after their strike action started.

This might mean characters like the vivacious Queen Moroka (Sophie Ndaba), the cunning Sibusiso Dlomo (Menzi Ngubani), the villainous Kenneth Mashaba (Seputla Sebogodi) and the outspoken Mam Rubi (Slindile Nodangala) among others will not be seen on the longest running soapie in South Africa, as either Vundla will write them out of the story or just replace them with new actors.

Filming of the popular soap stopped on August 11 when 16 principal actors started withholding their services. The 16 demanded higher salaries and a cut from the R500 million royalties the soapie earns.

Meanwhile, the 16 axed actors fired from the soap opera have approached the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to seek reinstatement. In a statement, the actors said they were "unshaken" in their resolve to secure their demands. These include a reduction to 10 working hours a day, provision of social benefits, an end to inconsistencies in remuneration, payment of royalties, and better working conditions.

Cosatu in KwaZulu-Natal has called for the SABC to terminate Generations executive producer, Vundla's contract, should he fail to re-instate the fired actors.

They demonstrated outside the SABC building in Durban along with members of the Creative Workers Union of South Africa (CWUSA).

Cosatu and CWUSA are also calling for the improvement of working conditions for creative artistes across the country.


Source - The Citizen/SABC News