With the State of the Nation Address occuring on the 12th of February, Parliament has released the list of people in the media that will be covering tje proceedings from the Parliamentary Precinct.
Here are some highlights from the list:
What is ANN7 thinking?
South Africa's youngest, and most troubled, 24 hour news channel is going to be covering the event with a mere 9 people.
This is comprised of one reporter, the Cape Town-based Kevin Brandt, one analyst and... entertainment reporter Avashnee Vandier (yip, the red carpet itself is now that important), along with 6 behind the scenes workers.
What makes this situation sadder is that certain international organisations like the BBC, that will just be covering the event in a segment or two will have more staff there than a South African channel that is clearing its schedule for the event.
For interest sake, I looked at what their list looked like for last year's SONA address (the channel's first as they were not on the air before then) and their lineup looked so much more promising than the crime reporter covering parliament: the excellent Hajra Omarjee as anchor with the likes of Asanda Magaqa, among others, as reporters in the crowd, along with decent analysts.
Left out of their list for this year (who is the rest of the channel's staff but I will only focus on one) is Nzinga Qunta who has been pretty vocal on Twitter about wanting to cover the event. She, of course, anchored the channel's coverage of the ANC's birthday celebrations earlier this year. Earlier this week she tweeted what seemed to be disappointment around not getting to cover the SONA address.
However, it should be noted that just because they will only have three on screen reporters inside parliament's walls for the event that there wont be others. The channel's coverage will probably just be done from their studio in Johannesburg, which would be rather disappointing.
eNCA
eNCA will be broadcasting live from parliament from at least 1pm as both Andrew Barnes and Bhavna Singh, the anchors of the Cape Town-based News Day, are accreditted for the the event, though Andrew is expected to contribute outside of News Day's typical broadcast time.
Conrad Koch (the man that pulls Chester Missing's strings) is also listed as part of eNCA's team, so we can expect a few appearances from Chester on the broadcast. Last year, Chester Missing's name was listed on the Media Accreditation list, but his organisation was listed as Late Nite News and not eNCA due to last year he was there mainly to record material for LNN.
It seems as if all of eNCA's Cape Town based talents will be workong that eveing, with the likes of Leigh-Ann Jansen, Lester Kiewet, Michelle Craig and Annika Larsen all working the event. Even Tanya Nefdt, the lady thatvdoes the feel good story at the end of a news bulletin, will be on hand.
An interesting name on eNCA's list is investigative reporter Nkepile Mabuse, host of Checkpoint. Can't wait to see how she will be used, if she will even be used as she might just be there to tape something for her show.
As always, Iman Rappetti will be anchoring the primetime coverage, which will be simulcast on eTV as well
Siki Mgabadeli is also listed as a member of eNCA's team for the SONA address. This is her first year as part of eNCA's team, but she is not new to eNCA's broadcast of the State of the Nation Address as she has appeared in the past when she was part of PowerFM's team that did crossovers with eNCA for the broadcast in the past.
Could we see Hajra Omarjee back on eNCA?
It is unclear whether the relationship with PowerFM will continue this year, but if it does, it could mean that eNCA viewers could see former political reporter, Hajra Omarjee back on their screens, though for one night only.
Omarjee left eNCA for ANN7 back in 2013, where she was their senior political reporter until late 2014 when she resigned.
She has now reappeared on PowerFM and is listed on their list of talent that will be there for SONA2015, so look out for her on the eNCA broadcast, it will be interesting to see whether she would be acknowledged as a former eNCA reporter.
SABC News
The SABC's broadcast will be simulcast on both the SABC News Channel (I still love that name, for some weird reason) and SABC2. But as you expect, they will have reporters covering the event in all eleven official languages for other broadcasts and radio as well (along with their website). As such they have the largest group of people accredited to cover the event, more than 100 (*coughs*ANN 7 *coughs again* I mean nine).
Looking at their list, it is hard to see who would be anchoring the broadcast as the likes of Vuyo Mkvoko and Leanne Manas are not included. Not even Peter Ndoro, who will be emceeing the now annual The New Age breakfast briefing with the president the next day is listed.
It will be interesting to see how they going to get this broadcast perfect without the big names listed.
Other Broadcasters
Other tv broadcasters that will be having a presence at the State of the Nation Address is CNBC Africa, who will have a skeleton staff at parliament whilst hosting a panel in their Johannesburg studio. BDTV is expected to do the same, though the list does not distinguish BDTV staff from their counterparts at the Business Day newspaper.
Kyknet's news and current affairs brand, Kyknet Aktueel, will also be represented.
Even religious broadcasters Faith Broadcast Network, iTV Networks and Loveworldsat will have representitives covering the address from parliament.
But whichever channel you decide to watch, or listen to if you prefer listening to the radio for whatever reason, the ultimate message will be the same despite how certain channels may spin it: an address by President Jacob Zuma on the State of South Africa, ph and a bit of fireworks is expected as well.
(the full list of accredited media can of course be viewed at parliament's official website and includes not only the listed organisations above but the newspapers, radio stations and even online platforms, like The Daily Maverick, as well)
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