eNCA shakes up actuality programming

eNCA has over the past few days announced new additions to the channel's already strong lineup of actuality programming.


BackChatis the channel's new show geared towards the country's youth encouraging them to challenge everything.

The weekly show is anchored by Busisiwe Gumede and Sia Leita.

BackChat premieres this Thursday evening at 9:30pm.

Unfortunately, the show is not live, and next Thursday's episode was already recorded the Friday before. A six day lag is massive in aever-changingng world and for a show that incorporates social media aspects.

The second new addition to the lineup is PolitiBureau, for which the channel did send out a detailed press release, found below:

"

Seasoned and senior political reporters, Thulasizwe Simelane and Xoli Mngambi bring their extensive field reporting experience to The PolitBureau studio.

The PolitBureau, hosted by Thulasizwe Simelane and Xoli Mngambi, makes its debut on eNCA this Sunday, 21 May at 10:30am. The show promises to go beyond the spin, analyse the policy, and reveal what’s really at stake in the battles between personalities and ideologies in South Africa’s political space.

eNCA Channel News Director Mapi Mhlangu says eNCA is dedicating its top talent to helping viewers navigate the choppy political waters of 2017. “Simelane and Mngambi have a record of asking the tough questions on issues that matter, of people who do not necessarily want to answer. They will now use this experience to examine South African politics on a weekly basis; what was said, who said it, what it means and sometimes what was not said, and why," she says.

Thulasizwe Simelane has more than 15 years’ experience in the media space and a regular stand-in anchor on the channel. “As a South African journalist, I feel privileged to live in a country where the media can still help citizens interpret the extraordinary political events of our time”, says Simelane. “In writing a history of our present, things look both strange and familiar. My experience as a journalist on the rest of the continent allows me to see South Africa at 23 in a special light. How do we learn from what has gone before, from our neighbours near and far, and avoid making the mistakes in Africa’s post-independence political history.”

Xoli Mngambi, who joined the station in 2008, has proven that he is ready to tackle a bigger anchoring role and the station sees his step up to The PolitBureau as a natural progression for the talented broadcaster. “I’ve been talking to politicians and ordinary people since the road to Polokwane. A decade later I am struck by the echoes, but I am also intrigued by how much has been forgotten and how much people have erased, willingly or unwittingly. To live through these events and be given the privilege to help tell these ordinary and extraordinary stories of our times on a platform like eNCA: I am honoured." says Mngambi.

Regular contributors to the show will include our team of top reporters; Karyn Maughan, Lester Kiewit, Nickolaus Bauer and Annika Larsen. The station has also secured the services of analysts, who will further enrich the show’s political offering.

The PolitBureau will premier this Sunday, 21 May, at 10:30am with a repeat at 7:30pm.

"

To make way for PolitiBureau, Maggs on Media vacates its long-held 10:30am slot for 11:30am, still on Sundays.