Drastic times call for drastic measures and the cast and crew of Uzalo have taken a drastic, punchy stand against the SABC's financial mismanagement which has crippled South Africa's TV industry for too long.
The cast and crew have decided to stop production on the show until they receive their salaries which haven't been paid.
They were supposed to receive their salaries on 25 August but didn't.
This turn of events comes in the wake of the SABC's inability to pay South African production houses for their services to the broadcaster.
In July the SABC sent producers a letter stating that the broadcaster was unable to settle its July payments to producers and would settle by 15 August instead.
Clearly this promise hasn't been honoured.
This statement just in from Uzalo's production house Stained Glass Pictures...
Production on the popular Mzansi telenovela, Uzalo, has been paused for the remainder of this month. This follows an amicable decision by the cast and crew to suspend their services until such time as they are paid their August salaries, which came due on the 25th of August.
Stained Glass Pictures, which produces the series, has been engaging with the SABC throughout. They confirm that the corporation has committed to honouring outstanding payments by the end of August 2018.
In early August, the company’s leadership called a meeting with all affected staff to explain the situation and give them the option of either continuing to work until month-end or taking immediate leave until payments could be made.
The overwhelming majority of the crew elected to keep working until the end of August, so production continued. This demonstrated the team’s continued dedication to the production, their craft and industry as a whole.
“As a company, we carried the costs of production for as long as we were able to, while waiting for the outstanding payments to be settled by the public broadcaster,” explains Pepsi Pokane, Executive Producer of Stained Glass Pictures.
“Since we were unable to make payments on ‘payday’, the 25th of August, the staff have exercised their right to withhold services until they receive their August salaries.
"We respect that decision and appreciate the work that they have put into the show this month despite the uncertainty. We are in constant communication with the broadcaster and are confident that this will all be resolved in the next week.”