Many thought he would be announcing something larger than that (to be exact, his resignation), which caused the major broadcasters to scramble to provide adequate coverage for his potentially blockbuster address.
etv felt the need to push the channel's entire prime time schedule back by at least 30 minutes in order to cover the address, which means they really thought something major was going to happen as their two biggest tv shows (Rhythm City and Scandal) were pushed aside for the president. Interestingly, the channel decided to simulcast eNCA's coverage of the address instead of just extending Duduzile Ramela's eNews Direct bulletin, which was on air until 7pm and was created with the intention of covering major events as they happen.
The SABC kept disruptions on their free to air channels to a minimum. SABC3's schedule went on uninterrupted whilst the ongoing Afrikaans and Zulu news bulletins were going to cover the event during their standard 7pm broadcasts, which were extended to 7:32pm to cover the entire event.
History was also made as this was now the first major event covered by the SABC to not be anchored in the English language on the broadcaster's free to air platform. The only program on the SABC's schedule that was affected by the address was Noot vir Noot on SABC 2 which was completely preempted to broadcast the ANC's press conference.
Peter Ndoro and Vabakshnee Chetty anchored coverage on the SABC News Channel.
ANN7 seemed to have sent their staff home early, or given them the day off and the unexpected address really once again showed the channel's lack of talent. The recently appointed ANN7 Prime anchor, Sindy Mabe, was not in studio today which meant some inexperienced anchor had to do the job of covering a presidential address, which is not easy to do considering the amount of ad libbing required (and teleprompter reading, apparently). The channel's panel experts were not in studio, with analysis being provided purely by phone. In other words, ANN7 would do quite well as a radio station. They had the excellent Assignments Editor, Cecilia Russel, as the first analyst, followed by editor in chief, Moegsien Williams. They also had a political expert, all three by phone. Add to this the fact that the coverage was done from the couch. A presidential address, covered from the couch.
eNCA once again went all out with providing coverage of the address. They had Karyn Maughn, Xoli Mngambi, Angelo Fick and Justice Malala all in studio providing analysis. Later in the evening when Gwede Mantashe addressed the media, he was actually looking for Mngambi as he said Mngambi had camped out at the ANC's offices the prior evening believing the address would be held then.
Following Zuma's address, eNCA interviewed main opposition leader, Mmusi Maimane, by telephone to get his reaction to the president's remarks.
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