The SABC is silent as the public broadcasters biggest money spinner, Generations on SABC1, was forced to shut down production entirely as the cast refused to return to work. MMSV Productions was forced to let the lights of the Generations set go dark as actors demand the better contracts the SABC promised, better remuneration, and the payment of years of royalties due from the SABC.
It will not be possible for the SABC or the production company to dismiss, fire, or get rid of the entire striking Generations cast and to start over with new actors without immense damage to the show.
Such a basically wholesale talent dismissal and dramatic on-screen reset would likely destroy the long running local soap and not only damage the show's huge appeal but also dent viewership numbers - although creator Mfundi Vundla last year ominously warned the cast that no-one is bigger than Generations when the first strike took place which lasted weeks.
Channel24 has learnt that production on Generations shut down on Monday this week - 10 months after the Generations cast also brought filming to a halt when production in October 2013 was brought to a standstill for weeks.
The Generations casts decision to stay away was taken on Thursday last week, according to sources.
Channel24 has further learnt that the Generations cast has now organised and formed the Generations Actors Guild to collectively bargain and protect the actors interest on the SABCs number one rated show.
Generations earns hundreds of millions of rands for SABC1 and the SABC. It is the most watched soap, drawing a national average audience of around 7.5 million viewers on weeknights on SABC1.
Cast ordered' to work or face immediate dismissal'
On Tuesday this week, 12 August, the SABC has sent communication - according to the Generations Actors Guild - ordering the Generations cast to report to duty by Wednesday 13 August or face immediate dismissal - with no reference whatsoever to their unfulfilled commitment to address cast grievances.
The Generations cast declined and has not been on set this entire week. Channel24 was told that nobody has any intention of returning if long running complaints are not resolved and this time in writing.
The SABC has not commented as drama swirls behind the scenes.
This is very, very bad'
This is very, very bad. This is going to be very, very bad, an insider told Channel24.
This time it looks like is going to be detrimental for the SABC and the soap because nothing has been done and the actors are tired, furious and finally out of patience with the broken promises. The situation is really bad, the insider said on Thursday.
This time the Generations cast will definitely not be back before every single issue has not been sorted out. This time it can really mean that viewers will be left with Generations suddenly vanishing from SABC1 when theres no further episodes to screen.
The SABC has not responded to written media enquiries made about Generations and the cast issue that was made last week, and again multiple times on Thursday.
The issues are exactly the same, another insider told Channel24. The Generations cast went back to work in good faith with assurances that the parties involved and the SABC would come back to the table. They didnt. And this situation cant continue.
Another insider told Channel24 on Thursday that its about the future. Its not about short term goals but about what is right, what is proper and what is fair in a professional TV industry. Nobody wanted this to happen but core issues about on-air talent and what is fair, have not been addressed. How much longer?
The Generations cast was coaxed back to work in November 2013 after the legal action first set in motion in October 2013. They said they believed that the multiple issues would be addressed. According to them, it was not.
Failure to address ongoing issues
Now Channel24 is told the strike - which completely shut down Generations and led to a production standstill, is in response to the production company, MMSV Productions and the SABCs failure to address the terms that all the parties agreed to in November 2013 - which then resulted in the cast returning to work.
The Generations Actors Guild legal representative, Bulenani Mzamo from Mzamo Attorneys, told Channel24 on Thursday that the issues remain the same.
The SABC and MMSV Productions left the Generations actors little choice but to revive the strike.
In a statement the Generations Actors Guild says nothing has been resolved.
We came back to work after the first strike in good faith, on the understanding that all the issues that wed brought up would be addressed by the SABC by March 2014.
Since then, they have missed their own deadline, and pushed the date out, with no discernible resolution to our grievances in sight.
Threatened with dismissal
Instead weve been ordered back to work and threatened with dismissal, with no explanation of why our issues have not been resolved, says the cast.
The Generations cast who are adamant to not return to the biggest TV show in South Africa are some of South Africa's most famous TV faces: Anga Makubalo (MJ), Atandwa Kani (Samora), Katlego Danke (Dineo), Mandla Gaduka (Choppa), Menzi Ngubane (Sibusiso), Nambitha Mpulwana (Mawande), Patrick Shai (Patrick), Slindile Nodangala (Ruby), Sophie Ndaba (Queen), Seputla Sebogodi (Kenneth), Thami Mnqolo (Senzo), Thato Molamu (Nicholas), Winnie Ntshaba (Khetiwe), Zenande Mfenyana (Nolunthu), Zikhona Sodlaka (Priska) and Zolisa Xaluva (Jason).
Striking over contracts issues, no royalties paid
Although the SABCs chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng promised three year contracts, the Generations cast says they havent all been given these longer contracts especially in light of the fact that the intensity of the shooting schedule means that the cast is
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
The SABC is silent as the public broadcasters biggest money spinner, Generations on SABC1, was forced to shut down production entirely as the cast refused to return to work. MMSV Productions was forced to let the lights of the Generations set go dark as actors demand the better contracts the SABC promised, better remuneration, and the payment of years of royalties due from the SABC.
