eNCA Refreshes its on air look

eNCA, South Africa's most watched news channel, is set to refresh the channel's onscreen graphics package and also its website's design. The eNCA logo is also being modified since launching 2 years ago to coincide with the channel's launch in the UK.

The new logo and onscreen presentation will go live on Monday, the 1st of September 2014, though it will be rolled out on its website, enca.com, from the 31st of August, to ensure the transition is smooth.

For the website, the move is more than just cosmetic. Since launching little over a year ago, the website has been running as a beta edition, which is a term used to describe a software product that though is ready for use, has a few tweaks to be made before it is "completely ready." Some of the tweaks made include the websites background colour going from black to white, better integration of video and more information that is easily available for users. Content wise, the site's Africa section is to be expanded and also its Life section, which includes things like lifestyle and entertainment news.


Other than the logo and graphics change on the channel, everything will remain pretty much the same. The only issue I might have is that the studio will not completely match the new logo because, though the channel's logo has changed in the past, this is the first time that the colour itself changes.

A new on air ident for breakfast show Morning News Today, who will be the first show to use the new graphics:

 

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Coming to MTV ZA

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the most watched late night talk show in the US, is coming to MTV ZA, available on DStv channel 130.

The addition of The Tonight Show follows hot on the heels of MTV refining their schedule and becoming available on DStv's lower-tiered Compact and Extra bouquets on the 25th of August, coinciding with the channel's flagship event, the Video Music Awards.

The show starts broadcasting on MTV on the 24th of September in the 6pm timeslot daily, Monday to Friday (the only other American late night talkshow seen in South Africa, The Arsenio Hall Show is not seen in late night either). The channel says that "new episodes" will start broadcasting on that date, but at this moment it is unclear exactly how far behind the US air date we will be.

To whet our appetites, the channel will be airing a Best of Jimmy Fallon series in that timeslot from the 8th of September in the buildup to the "new episodes." The Best of series will include interviews of the likes of Will Smith and US First Lady, Michelle Obama.

The Tonight Show franchise is not entirely new to the African audience. The show aired at 11pm on CNBC Africa (DStv 410), which is an actual late night slot, during  the stint of Fallon's predescessor, Jay Leno. At the time, when CNBC Africa was asked whether they would continue airing the show with new host Jimmy Fallon, they simply stated they decided not to renew the rights.

One could wonder why MTV would add the show to their schedule and that it might not actually fit in with the rest of their content. (The show also marks the first time in MTV ZA history that the channel airs a none Viacom property on their network. Whether there will be more is still to be seen)However, NBC, the US Network that produces the show,this year proactively decided to swop the older Leno for the younger Fallon as to attract a younger audience to the most watched US late night talk show, who had been showing signs of an aging audience. Advertisers pay top dollar for viewers aged 18-49, so replacing the hosts was a measure to attract more viewers in that demo. The increased youthfulness of the show does speak to an MTV audience and is a much needed entertainment current affairs show on its schedule to compliment its own MTV News that currently air in 5 minute slots.

ANN7 Turns 1

On August 21st, 2013 at [slightly after] 6pm, Chantal Rutter-Dros welcomed viewers to South Africa's third news channel, ANN7.

Moegsien Williams (ANN7 Editor in Chief) with then Minister of Communications Yunus Carriem

 Launch
The channel was shrouded in a cloud of controversy even before it launched. This was mainly due to it being owned by the Gupta family that allegedly has close ties to President Zuma. The Gupta plane saga that occurred not too long before launch, too, did no favours for the channel. Then a rumour, that unto this day has neither been confirmed or denied, surfaced that President Zuma got a tour of their headquarters before launch and was promised that the channel would be pro-ANC, damaging credibility that the channel did not even have at that point.
The channel also did not try to get into the good books with those that cover the industry due to their total lack of programming information before launch, not inviting most of the press that cover things like tv channels to their launch function and just ignoring requests for tours of their facility beofre the channel went live.
Many also questioned whether the country needed yet another news channel after the SABC News channel launched a few weeks prior, joining longrunning local news channels eNCA, CNBC Africa and BDTV.

As the only of the three general news channels (the other two being eNCA and SABC News) to not have a sister television channel on the air prior to launch (eNCA has etv and SABC News has the rest of the SABC's tv channels), the channel needed to do what neither of the other two had to do, truly start from scratch (Which also meant that they had to work much harder than the other two as they did not have a brand name like eNews or SABC News behind their name).

This led to a major hiring spree of more than 150 people in the news industry, most fresh from college. The channel was also able to draw some big names to the channel, including then Carte Blanche investigative reporter, Chantal Rutter-Dros, who was also an anchor at etv's eNews when that channel started, to be the host of the channel's primetime show, Prime. Her morning counterpart, Gerry Rantseli-Elsdon, wasn't unkown to viewers either. Other big names the channel signed at launch, and as time progressed, includes eNCA's Hajra Omarjee to be their their Chief Politcal Correspondent, and eNCA's Peter Stemmet, to be their prime time sports anchor, among others.

Finally on air, but...
The channel went live and what followed was nothing short of total comedy: untrained staff, incompotent newsreaders (who were mostly models before joining the channel) and major technical errors which became the topic of conversation far and wide. The error-prone channel was the topic of many coversations, from being blasted on internet radio station Ballz Radio to being spoofed by eNCA's Late Night News (though they referred to it as "ANN8"). People even joked that DStv placed the channel on the wrong number as it should have been placed closer to the comedy channel.
All the criticism led Sheena Deepnarain, who was part of the channel at launch though left not too lonmg after to persue acting, to go on a now infamous rant on Facebook that was covered in many publications and blogs(Google her, it is all you will see).

The channel also struggled in the ratings, only getting a mere 2% audience share in their first few months on air and to this day struggle to attract commercial advertising (try finding an advert on the channel not about ANN7, The New Age, DStv or Sahara Computers).

Developing an identity, a unique selling point
Nevertheless, the channel pushed on and continued to evolve as their first year progressed. Their all out coverage on the passing of former president Nelson Mandela was noticed by many viewers for their on-the-ground perspective. Events like these led the channel to discover one if its niches, covering live events (their other selling points include "information and analysis"). So now whenever there is major news happening, including events like the elections, the opening of parliament, other major parliamentary events, the Marikana enquiry, COSATU events, the BRICS Summit, or the Oscar trial, among others, you can expect the likes of Hajra Omarjee or Chantal Rutter-Dros to be providing live commentary to the live picture.

Other than their live coverage, they say their main selling point is being the information and analysis channel. This is evident when one considers how their schedule has evolved to include less straight news casts and more magazine shows and chat shows covering a wider range of topics than the considerably fewer magazine and chat shows on the other channels, including topics like cars, entertainment news, health & fitness, and even Bollywood.[The only problem I have with these shows is that their production values aren't exactly up to standard]. These shows are presented mainly by presenters who were previously tested as news anchors (or weather girls) on the channel, but did not exactly make the cut.

ANN7's anchor team after a training session. Seated is main anchor Chantal Rutter-Dros, surrounding by the likes of breakfast show anchor Peter van Onselen, mid morning anchor Abigail Visagie, afternoon anchor Nzinga Qunta, sports anchor Peter Stemmet and ANN7 Buzz anchor Liezle Wilson, among others(some I have not mentioned have left the channel, like Nadine Johnson, who left broadcasting entirely).

ANN7 Today
 Eventually, the amount of anchors actually doing news on the channel decreased to a talented small group that are no longer making the bloopers seen on the channel at launch. They include breakfast host Peter van Onselen (who took over the show after Gerry left after not even half a year), Abigail Visagie (who was an absolute pro when the building was evacuated while she was still on air due to the recent earthquake),  Gladys Sithole, who also rotates with weekend and late night anchors occasionally, and the ever talented Chantal Rutter Dros doing prime time.
The better chat shows on the schedule includes Between the Lines and also Political Edge hosted by Hajra Omarjee, both on Sundays.

Another thing that has become a staple part of their schedule is having a daily live show dedicated bigger news topics, including a one hour world cup show for the duration of the tournament, and SA Decides in the buildup to the elections. Now, while there are no major events to cover, the channel decided to create its on event, The South African of the Year Awards, along with its excellent companion show, I Am South African, which though seems to slowly drift away from its initial purpose, is developing into one of the country's better talk shows.

By far, the best program on the channel's schedule is ANN7 Prime, which is hosted by Chantal Rutter Dros, who is joined by a sports anchor, Peter Stemmet, an entertainment anchor, and also a business anchor, Tirrin Cosway. The show includes segments covering things like top Google search terms and Twitter hashtags, among others. It also involved analysis on all of the days top stories, not just reporting them.

With shows like I Am South African, Political Edge and Ann7 Prime all depending heavily on getting a large amount of guests on the shows, I have been surprised by the channel's ability to attract top guests in fields ranging from entertainment to politics (though politics these days seem to resemble entertainment).

One thing they can improve on greatly is their studio. Though it is quite interesting to have a news channel whose set is in the actual newsroom, it has become very tired after just one year due to it being shown none stop.
One thing I personally dislike about the channel's evolution is that they canned their weather girls, now doing just a uncommentated weather, which has terrible graphics as well.

Speaking on the occasion, ANN7 editor-in-chief Moegsien Williams said: “We have been constantly augmenting our resources to enhance our reach to smaller towns and to make our content relevant for the man on the street and we will continue to do so.

“ANN7 survives as a positive voice against all odds, and is here to stay.”

Looking at the blooper videos  from the channel's earlier days, one can clearly see ANN7 has come a long way in its first year as South Africa's only news channel not part of a larger broadcast corporation with a pre-established news brand. As their on air quality has steadily improved, viewers have been taking notice: The channel's audience share has grown from 2% to 7% in its first year. Consisting mainly of young talent, the channel has so much potential to grow in the years to come.
 

eNCA Silently Ends Africa Edition

eNCA, South Africa's most watched news channel, seems to have ended its African news bulletin, eNCA Africa Edition, seen on the channel between 9pm and midnight outside SA and between midnight and 6am on its South African feed.

The launch of eNCA Africa Edition coincided with the channel's rebrand from the eNews Channel to eNCA in August of 2012 when the channel launched on the UK's Sky satellite platform and also the online platform livestation.com.

The three hour bulletin was anchored by the likes of Lindy Mtongana, who moved from anchoring late nights and weekends on eNCA to anchoring the African bulletin for the international feed. She was joined by the likes of Nigerian Richard Nta, who though was meant to be the sports reporter, sat as main anchor quite often, and also new Africa 360 host,  Sisonke Msimang.

The team was led behind the camera by the excellent eNCA Africa editor, Chris Maroleng, who recently left the channel. Whether his departure from eNCA has anything to do with the ending of the show is unkown.

Due to the show only being shown on the SA feed after midnight, eNCA was the only of the local news channels to broadcast new, though not live, news after midnight.

Signs that the show had silently ceased to be slowly started to appear: First the programming guide no longer listed it, then the overnight hours when the show traditionally aired in SA started re-airing whatever had aired on eNCA's SA feed during the 9pm-12am slot. The final sign that confirmed my suspision was when the likes of Lindy Mtongana, who had been used exclusively on the show started anchoring on eNCA again, I knew the show had ended.

At this point it is unclear whether eNCA Africa Edition will ever return, though I personally hope it does.

Though I am glad the likes of Lindy are back on eNCA after being shown exclusively aftr midnight for over two years, the addition of the eNCA Africa Edition anchors to the rotation of anchors that do weekends and late nights on the channel means that the likes of Fenly Foxen, Duduzile Ramele and Mabale Moloi are all going to be seen less due to having to squeeze so many on air anchors into a limited amount of hours.

*Overnight refers to the hours 12am-6am
**Late night refers to the hours 9pm-12am
(Forgive me for any errors in this post, but Im having to type this on my cellphone due to cable theft leaving me unable to access the internet from my pc)

CNN's South African-based Correspondent to relocate to Atlanta

(Picture courtesy CNNFan)

CNN's excellent South African-based, and also South African in nationality, correspondent, Robyn Curnow, will be relocating from Johannesburg, where she had been the lead South African-based correspondent since 2008, to CNN Headquarters in Atlanta, where she will now be an anchor for the channel.

Curnow leaving the African news beat follows not too long after Nkepile Mabuse left CNN last year to return to eNCA where she started investigative magazine show, Checkpoint, and also Errol Barnett, who had been an African based correspondent and former host of Inside Africa, that also left covering African news to become an anchor for CNN in Atlanta.

Curnow has in the past provided excellent reporting on the region and played an important role in the channel's  coverage of events that has happened in the region including the passing of former presdient Nelson Mandela late last year and the Oscar Pistorius trial that is slowly drawing to a close. Whenever there is major news to cover in the region she would often appear extensively on both CNNi and CNNUS. (I personally felt that though her reporting was excellent, she always seem to paint the region in a more negative light than it really is)

Earlier this year in January Robyn was in Atlanta anchoring shows like CNN Newsroom on a temrorary basis and reviews of her anchoring skills were generally positive. It was not her first time anchoring, however, as she had been a full time London-based anchor for about a year for the channel, after which she left the channel before returning in 2008.

Her move to Atlanta follows not too long after CNN announced it was cutting all but one hour of its daily output from its CNN Hong Kong bureau, moving the cut news casts to Atlanta. It is now speculated that the slot Curnow is most likely to take up would be the current CNN Newsroom Live for Hong Kong slot, which currently airs at 12am SA time.

She does not move to Atlanta alone though. Her husband, Kim, who happens to be CNN's South African bureau chief will be leaving with her for Atlanta where he will take up a position at the news organisation's Foreign Desk. This then leads yet another, and extremely important, position in the region vacant. 

SABC News Celebrates One Year on the Air

 

At 6pm on the 1st of August 2013, the SABC News channel went live on DStv Channel 404 with a live (and very laid back) interview of President Jacob Zuma conducted by Prime Time News anchors Peter Ndoro and Vabakshnee Chetty.

A News Channel From The SABC: Attempt Number 3
It was not the SABC's first attempt at a news channel. It was not even their second. First was their primarily news with a bit of entertainment channel, SABC Africa, which aired exclusively on the DStv platform before being cut from the platform in 2008 due to low viewership. (That channel ceased broadcasting on August 1st as well)

Next was SABC News International which they launched on Sentech's Vivid platform in 2007. However, that platform in itself was never quite popular and the channel shut down soon after, even though the SABC slated it for their bouquet of channels when Digital Terrestrial Television finally takes to the air. The channel itself, which cost a reported R85 million per year,  was silently closed in 2010.

The SABC News Channel: The Start
Though it was pushed out multiple times since a launch in April 2011, the SABC's third attempt at a news channel finally went live on the 1st of August 2013.

Many were skeptical about the launch of the channel, saying things like it would end up being a propaganda channel while others questioned why the SABC would attempt to launch another news channel after the previous two failed and considering the financial position the SABC was in at the time of launch.

Though the channel was relatively dull compared to other news channels on DStv, when yet another local news channel, ANN7 went live two weeks later with all their on air errors, people started realising the SABC News channel is not too bad afterall.

Over their first year on air, the channel has slowly expanded and improved their lineup from what it was at launch. At launch, the channel's schedule was filled with wildlife shows and even the kids news show that airs on SABC1 as well as a way to ensure they have something to air at all hours.

However, these soon fell away as the group expanded news programs like the excellent Newsroom with Eben Jansen (which is also the only news show in the country simulcast live on Youtube daily )to ensure more live news throughout the day.

Francis Herd joined the SABC news channel as prime time business anchor from rival news channel, eNCA

The on air talent seen on the channel were primarily part of the SABC before the channel launched. If not as part of  the SABC's television news division, they came from SABC Radio. There are, however, two anchors that were poached from eNCA: Morning Live's news anchor Ayanda-Allie paine and prime time business news anchor, Francis Herd. 

The channel does, however, have a rather weak primetime to late night schedule. Its main prime time block from 6pm and 9pm was recently adusted to make way for more live news at 8pm, where there was previously a business bulletin.

Their main news bulletin, Prime Time News with Vabakshnee Chetty and Peter Ndoro, which at 90 min was already the shortest of all prime time news bulletins on South African news channels (eNCA's NewsNight is three hours long while ANN7's Prime is 2 hours and has only one anchor) was recently shortened to 60min, from 6:30pm-7:30pm. with rest of prime time filled with a daily sports show, a business show (the only one on the 3 news channels), a 30 minute News @ 8 bulletin then reruns of the SABC's African language bulletins that were broadcast earlier in the night on their free to air channels.

The SABC News Channel: The News as Seen on SABC 1, 2 and 3
The one issue I do have with the channel is the near lack of original content: Its breakfast show, Morning Live, is just a simulcast of the show that existed before the channel on SABC 2, with only one hour exclusively on the channel, which is basically free considering its the same staff just staying on air another hour. Its lunch time hour business-centric bulletin is the same as on SABC3, so no additional costs there, their primetime show is simulcast on SABC3 as well, and so is their Afrikaans news bulletin.

After their final live news bulletin ends at 8:30pm, much earlier than the midnight benchmark set by the other news channels, they rerun African language news bulletins that aired earlier in the evening on SABC 1 and 2 and finally at 11pm they have a pretaped one hour news bulletin.

With a schedule like this, one can clearly see why this channel is not exactly the most expensive news channel around.

Vabakshnee Chetty and Peter Ndoro anchors the SABC News channel's Prime Time news bulletin that is also seen on SABC 3

The Way Forward
As the SABC News channel celebrates one year on air today (though one wouldn't know as there was no mention of it on air nor did any anchor tweet about), I can't help but wonder where it goes from here.

It has been said that when Digital Terrestrial Television eventually launches in South Africa, the channel will be part of the SABC's free-to-air bouquet, though there is the possibility that this might not happen considering the large price tag the channel has and particular wording in a recent press release that made me question whether the channel will go free-to-air.

One thing that one cannot ignore is exactly how cramped up the channels prime time schedule is as it tries to squeeze in as many languages as possible. By doing so, the overall quality of the news content suffers as this means the last news bulletin with fresh content ends at a very early 8:30pm to accomodate the other languages. If it was up to me I would launch a second SABC news channel dedicated to African languages, which is only fair if you think about the fact that the SABC lacks African laguage news in the morning and for most of the day, and make this channel the best English service it could be considering the vast resources already under the control of the SABC.

One thing I would like to see is the improvement in the channel's on air presentation not only in its news but also its magazine programming. When one looks at the SABC Africa magazine shows that still air after midnight on SABC 2 (SIX YEARS after that channel closed) and compare them with the magazine shows on the new SABC News channel, you will easily see how superior the older shows are to the magazine shows on the new SABC News channel. These include everything from production values, includuing the graphics, to the better presenters on the older SABC Africa shows.

There are also some bright spots on the channel as well. The main one, for me at least, by far is its excellent coverage of live events. Be it the passing of former president Nelson Mandela, the elections, the opening of parliament or any other live event covered by the channel, one really go an all hands on deck kind of feel to the coverage and they really go all out. It is coverage like this that I would like to see from the channel moving forward. Think about it: More and more people are getting their news from the internet instead of watching television. It is because of this that international channels like CNN are slowly moving away from generic news bulletins towards providing rolling coverage of live events and happenings. SABC News is in the perfect position to lead that trend in the South African market considering the resources under their control and their abilities to provide amazing live event coverage.

Since launching a year ago, the SABC News channel has grown to become the second most watched news channel on the DStv platform, behind eNCA and is expected to bring in R25 million in ad revenue to the SABC this year alone.

Though the channel has come a long way since launch exactly one year ago, the only way the channel can go from here is still up. With the three South African news channels on the air at the moment, each needs to find their perfect identity that distinguishes it from the rest of the pack.

Jessica Pitchford Joins eNCA's Check Point

Picture from TVSA

Award winning broadcast journalist, Jessica Pitchford has joined eNCA's investigative journalism program, Checkpoint, show presenter Nkepile Mabuse announced via Twitter earlier today.

Jessica graduated from Rhodes University in the 80's, then began her career in radio news in 1986 and then to television in the early 90's. She is a former CNN African Journalist of the Year for Political Reporting. Her CV also includes other investigative shows like Special Assignment, which she joined in 2000. At the SABC she not only contributed to Special Assignment but also other news and actuality programming as both a reporter and a producer.

 She later moved to MNet's long running investigative magazine show, Carte Blanche, where she was most recently a managing editor. At Carte Blanche, she also penned the show's highly publicised memoir, so to speak, Carte Blanche: The Stories Behind The Stories. (More on that book here).

Checkpoint, which is broadcast on both eNCA and free-to-air channel eTV, launched on the 8th of April this year as the broadcaster's replacement to longrunning investigative magazine show 3rd Degree, which ended when host Deborah Patta left eNCA to join CBS News as a correspondent. Pitchford's addition to Checkpoint will add a certain level of credibility to a show that still trying to gain prominence in a market with other investigative magazine shows like Carte Blanch and Special Assignment.  

ANN7 Announces Nominees of their inaugural "South African of the Year" Awards

ANN7, South Africa’s third news channel, announced the nominees of their inaugural “South African of the Year” Awards that will be taking place at the Sandton Convention Centre at a star studded event this past Thursday, July 31^st.

Building up to the nominees announcement, ANN7’s companion show to the awards, I Am South African, was broadcast from the same venue in Sadton at 6pm with Hulisani Ravele.

The buildup continued in a shortened 30 minute edition of Prime, when Prime anchor, Chantal Rutter-Dros, who was at the event in Sandton while Peter Stemmet sat in the anchoring chair, did live crossings which included interviews with Prime’s entertainment correspondent who gave a perspective of just how star-studded the event was.

At slightly past 7:30pm, Hulisani Ravelele kicked off the announcement of the nominees in front of a crowd that did not seem to be paying much attention to what was happening on stage, rather continuing their own conversations. 

Group Editor of ANN7 and The New Age, Moegsien Williams kicked things off with an introductory speech that would have seemed more suited for the actual awards show.  Moegsien, who appeared awfully  nervous, which is odd as he usually seemed quite comfortable on camera when he is in studio, proceeded to read his entire speech off from cue cards.

This was followed by the announcement of the first nominees, before a performance from Zahara. However, there were technical problems with Zahara, so they decided to instead have an interview with Mafikizolo, who was nominated in the first category earlier in the evening. Eventually when Zahara got on stage the music still was not ready so she just ad-libbed the words to her song, Loliwe, before the music finally started. 

This was followed by the announcement of the next batch of nominees.  During these announcements, Hulisani announced that they decided to no longer continue with the previously announced categories of Best Matriculant of the Year and Best Student of the Year due to the lack of quality in the prospective candidates’ nominations.

The show then closed with Cantal Rutter-Dros doing another interview before throwing back to Peter Stemmet who proceeded to anchor another half hour of Prime.

The event intermittently  suffered from technical issues, which I overlooked seeing that when nominees of awards are announced it is usually just a small press conference (with the exclusion of the big ones like the Grammys and the Oscars, of course). One thing I did not like about the presentation of the event was the over excited and cheap cuts to cameras in the crowd that would move around as if they showcasing a dance off when in fact it was guests that did not seem much interested in being there to start off with.

==========================================================================

The Nominees in the Inaugural South African of the Year Awards are: 

1. Trendsetting Celebrity of the Year

To vote for Trendsetting Celebrity SMS CELEB + [Nominee Number] to 43043 or Email CELEB + [Nominee Number] to satyvoting@ann7.com

1. Bonang Matheba
2. DJ Clock
3. J' Something
4. Kid X
5. KO from Teargas
6. Mafikizolo
7. Minenhle Dlamini

2. Campaign of the Year Nominations

To vote for Campaign of the Year SMS CAMP + [Nominee Number] to 43043 or Email CAMP + [Nominee Number] to satyvoting@ann7.com

1. 67 Blankets Nelson Mandela
2. KFC- Add Hope
3. Kelloggs #breakfastforbetterdays
4. Knorr- Masters of Time
5. Mxit Music
6. Share a Coke Campaign
7. Tiles 4 Change (Anti-Drug Campaign)

3. Sportsperson of the Year Nominations

To vote for Sportsperson of the Year SMS SPORTS + [Nominee Number] to 43043 or Email SPORTS + [Nominee Number] to satyvoting@ann7.com

1. Chad le Clos (Swimming)
2. Hashim Amla (Cricket)
3. Itumeleng Khune (Soccer)
4. Johan Cronje (Track and Field Athlete)
5. Lucas Sithole (Tennis)
6. Marsha Cox (Hockey)
7. Simon Magakwe (100m Sprinter)

4. Businessperson of the Year Nominations

To vote for Businessperson of the Year SMS BIZS + [Nominee Number] to 43043 or Email BIZS + [Nominee Number] to satyvoting@ann7.com

1. Basetsana Kumalo (Media Mogul)
2. Daphne Mashile Nkosi (Exec. Chairman of Kalagadi Resources)
3. Nicky Newton King (CEO of JSE)
4. Patrice Motsepe (Mining Magnate)
5. Reuel Khoza (Non-Executive Chairman of Nedbank)
6. Santie Botha (Independent Non Exec. Director of Tiger Brands)
7. Stephen Saad (Group CEO of Aspen Pharmacare)

5. Spirit of Humanity Nominations

To vote for Spirit of Humanity SMS HUMAN+ [Nominee Number] to 43043 or Email HUMAN + [Nominee Number] to satyvoting@ann7.com

1. Beka Ntsanwisi (Limpopo's "Mother Teresa")
2. Dr Imtiaz Sooliman (Gift of the Givers)
3. John Perlman (Dreamfields)
4. Justin Foxton (The Peace Agency)
5. Lesley Osler (Hantam Community Project)
6. Rev. Eunice Marubelela (Community Builder)
7. Sbu Buthelezi (Community Builder)

6. Young South African of the Year Nominations

To vote for Young South African of the Year SMS YOUNG + [Nominee Number] to 43043 or Email YOUNG + [Nominee Number] to satyvoting@ann7.com

1. Afeefah Patel (Rhino Conservation)
2. Ethel Phiri (Scientist and Researcher)
3. Kyle Shepherd (Jazz Musician)
4. Nkululeko Mboniswa (Film Producer)
5. Samantha Baynon (Social Activist)
6. Sandile Kubeka (Youngest Doctor)
7. Simphiwe Mashexa (Founder of BEAT Magazine SA)

7. South African of the Year

To vote for South African of the Year SMS SATY + [Nominee Number] to 43043 or Email SATY+ [Nominee Number] to satyvoting@ann7.com

1. Archbishop Desmond Tutu
2. DJ Sbu
3. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma
4. Johnny Clegg
5. Jonathan Jansen
6. Leslie Sedibe
7. Thuli Madonsela

 

 

Hulisani Ravele getting ready to broadcast live from the Saxton Hotel where ANN7 announced the nominees of their inaugural "South African of the Year" Awards