Ferial Haffajee
Deputy president Thabo Mbeki and Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting Jay Naidoo have been drawn into the e.tv fray.
Warring factions in the Midi consortium – which owns e.tv – have reportedly approached their offices to seek intervention in the new channel’s internal and external battles.
The approaches to government have provoked a “get-tough” response from the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), which has accused e.tv of failing “to take the IBA seriously”. The IBA is hoping that senior advocate Jules Browde will begin his inquiry into e.tv’s licence contravention next week.
e.tv failed to broadcast its much- vaunted news product on December 1, citing customs ineptitude and a two- and-a-half-month start-up delay caused by threatened legal action from consortia who lost the bid. The new channel this week also lost its second head of news, Rapitsi Montsho, who was suspended pending an internal investigation.
In August David Niddrie quit as news chief after clashes with MD Jonathan Procter. e.tv only advertised the position of head of news last week and it is understood that high-profile applicants are still waiting for a response. For now, Procter has taken over the news reins and has promised bulletins will definitely begin in February and perhaps even sooner.
In the high-pressure environment, schisms on the board of directors widened this week with the different factions involved in a very public slinging match.
Chair of the board Nomazizi Mtshotshisa took the spat on to national television when she appeared on the rival programme, AM2DAY, to blame Procter for the non- appearance of news.
Mtshotshisa is now chair of the board in name only. The former trade unionist Marcel Golding, who is her deputy, has taken on the role of official representative of the troubled channel. Montsho was an independent TV producer of some reputation and is allied to Mtshotshisa. He is regarded as her appointment.
Montsho was suspended after he went against a board decision and announced that his news product was ready to air. But e.tv insiders claim his news programme was not polished and at one stage he proposed airing a taped news bulletin. e.tv is partly owned by Time Warner and is sculpting itself as a slick Hollywood-type entertainment channel. Executives say its news product must have a similar feel.
But its failure to broadcast news may have been a strategic mistake. It appears to have been the last straw for the IBA, which has already made concessions on e.tv’s limited broadcasts, local-content and advertising proportions. The authority is keen to see the station succeed because the e.tv licence is the most expensive and coveted granted to date.
“It’s a much bigger problem than a failure to broadcast news by e.tv. It’s about respect for regulation and the systems we’ve put in place,” said the IBA’s chair, Felleng Sekha, who put her honeymoon on hold this week to deal with the e.tv problem.