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Why Muvhango didn't enter the SAFTAs

Written by TVSA Team from the blog News on 18 Mar 2016
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The SAFTAs are upon us this weekend and to mark the occasion we delved into the details of how the voting works, which we featured here.

We've also been investigating why Muvhango is nowhere to be seen. It's one of the Top 3 shows in the country yet it's notably missing from the soapie categories including the viewer voting category of Most Popular Soapie.

The reason for its absence is that the show didn't enter the awards. We asked them why and Associate Producer Morishe Matlejoane gave us this statement on behalf the show:

The Muvhango team has taken a decision to sit out of the SAFTA awards indefinitely until a marked improvement is noted in the category nominations and selection process of judges.

In any contest where judges are selected ‘within' the system and not independently set to be true independent critics, there will always be room to question. For a number of years there has been growing scepticism around the processes followed by the organisers.

On the grounds alone that the Awards are not independently run to fully encompass every broadcaster to give a true reflection of the South African TV landscape, is enough reason to give it a pass until that’s adjusted to a fair position for everyone who forms part of our industry.

There are people working alongside those who are nominated, people working for rival production companies which all leads to major credibility issues.

Just reflecting on the years passed that Muvhango has entered in every possible category in the soapies division for the SAFTAs, it’s been incredibly disappointing to see very little acknowledgement, if any, awarded to our hard-working team.

It’s not by accident that Muvhango has moved from strides of hitting just over a million viewers to souring heights of five million plus in the close to two decades of running successfully. Growing to a 5 day soapie through the years just based on its running success and in the last season alone, comfortably sitting in the top 3, most watched soapies in the country.

We’re not opposed to being placed under the microscope and criticism of our peers in the industry nor being set against them. With every production that is submitted, evaluated, scored and either selected for nomination or not, there is always spaced set for a marked improvement and we are no exception but what is the benchmark set against?

Surely there should be acknowledgement set aside based on the success of a production? Within the facts surrounding the success of any production, lies the truth of what quality is. Telling resonating stories that live on for years and grows viewers in numbers and boasts societal impact is worth a mention.

So until a solid and fair approach is taken on in the selection process, we just think it’s unjustifiable to place our incredible cast and crew ensemble under the scrutiny of a system that is arguably standardised.


Channels in this post: SABC2



5 Comments

Show-Time
18 Mar 2016 15:06

Wow! Aren't these strong allegations? Would be interesting to see a response from the organisers of the SAFTAs. I find it hard to believe their claim that they have an incredible cast when virtually half of it is mediocre. Can viewership be used to determine the quality of a show? I am wondering because Uzalo has an average cast yet its viewership rose exponentially last year, whereas Ashes to Ashes couldn't even reach a two million mark even though it is widely said it has a stellar cast. I wish the industry expects could explain these things.

max85
18 Mar 2016 15:35

SAFTAs are about quality and not viewership .isidingo might have crappy viewership but I still consider the production quality .so its not about viewership at all .poor acting always let's muvhango down so they must improve both the quality and the acting before they can even think about crying about awards .

BryanL
19 Mar 2016 15:54

I totally agree with Muvhango for not participating in these awards, there is so much talent in the show, a show can't have so much viewership if there is nothing. We have many actors and actresses who have not been nominated ever since, categories that are not there, such as a villain category. SAFTAS are not made for SABC shows, as so the awards should only be broadcasted on Etv and on DStv because many shows are from DStv channels, stop embarassing our shows we like them as they are. #SAFTASpanel must fall nje!

snrmohanoe
21 Mar 2016 11:55

SAFTAs are about quality and not viewership .isidingo might have crappy viewership but I still consider the production quality .so its not about viewership at all .poor acting always let's muvhango down so they must improve both the quality and the acting before they can even think about crying about awards . Max 85. I would like to emphasise your sentiments........ It is so true... They should also get their terrible deurmekaar script and storylines in order..... They never finish a storyline,,,, what happened to Carol and Morapedi????? No man... Your show does not make sense.... Look at the Imani storyline mxm...

Robyn...
24 Mar 2016 18:09

I also agree wth what the muvhango guy is saying. Popularity is not essential bt it is also a lil factor. Ashes 2 ashes cast are generations old cast but they ddnt get noticed when they were on Gen. Y r they recognised now n y are Gens new cast not recognised? U can't deny Lucy/smanga nor nolwazi. Aniwai muvhango, Generations n 7de Laan I feel were overlooked. Saftas are just biased


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