Nzinga Qunta joins SABC News Channel

Former ANN7 Prime anchor, Nzinga Qunta is back on our screens in a regular role, now anchoring the SABC News Channel's Midday Report and, by consequence (due to simulcasting), SABC3's News at 1.


She has been in the role since the middle of February but I have only recently been able to confirm the move is not a temporary arrangement.

Since leaving ANN7 back in June 2015, Qunta has become a mother and planned to be a stay at home mom, but as she tweeted today, the news bug bit and she could not resist a return to screens (@NzingaQ: I was but I missed news and life changes 😬).

Nzinga brings SABC News an asset very few other on-air personalities on any news channel have: the ability to organically connect with younger people on social media and cleverly try to convert these tweets to viewers. She engages with her over 26 000 Twitter followers as if she is just another one of them and not some news person just delivering the same news in the same way just on another platform.

Though the 1pm hour is business centric, having such a strong social media user anchoring during the afternoon is an added benefit during hours when the things trending online usually is a direct result of live broadcasts happening during these hours (Parliamentary sessions, press conferences, court proceedings, etc).

Qunta is also a former Channel O presenter, presenting the channel's then flagship show, O-boma from 2007 to 2009 (Remember that show? It feels like a real lifetime ago).  She holds a BA degree from Wits in English Literature and Law.

ANN7's SA Decides set to return later this year

SA Decides, ANN7's daily election programme that aired during the last election cycle, is set to return later this year.

As with the last 'season' of the show (the channel refers to its shows as seasons, as if it is episodic fare) the show aims to deploy a team to each of the nine provinces in the country getting the on the ground sentiment from ordinary South Africans.

Therefore, anyone wishing to be a part of these teams and want to get both experience and exposure on a platform as such should contact the channel.

The show will also continue to get the opinion  of various political commentators and party representatives in the lead up to the local elections taking place this year.

Like the elections, no set date has been given for the return of the show but one thing we do know is that its former anchor, Nzinga Qunta obviously wont be back considering that she has left the channel, and it is unlikely to air in its former timeslot as GameOn! airs in part of that block.

ANN7 Anchor Shake Up (Yet Again)

With Nzinga Qunta out as ANN7 Prime anchor, ANN7 has taken the opportunity to shake up their anchor line up.

Sebenzile Nkambule and Candy Harris. ANN7 Prime, June 22nd 2015

Firstly, and most importantly, mid morning anchor, Sebenzile Nkambule, who joined the channel late last year from Radio 702 makes the giant leap to ANN7 Prime.

Following the success of the double anchor format of Vuka Africa with Peter van Onselen and Abigail Visagie, ANN7 Prime now too becomes double anchored. Sebenzile is joined behind the desk by ANN7 original, Candy Harris, who most recently anchored weekends.

I think their first broadcast together today, June 22nd, was a bit messy and can be cleaned up going forward. Then again that is what I have come to expect with ANN7 recently: things getting better with time. [I don't want to come across as old fashioned or anything, but two female anchors anchoring a news bulletin is not what I am used to, but will allow it to grow on me]

Chante Jantjies (ANN7's youngest permanent anchor), an ANN7 original who anchored the mid-morning slot before Sibenzile then moved to weekend breakfast because of her studies, takes over from Juliet Newell on Express Lunch, a bulletin Chante has occasionally anchored on Fridays. Express Lunch also changes from airing from 12pm to 2pm to airing from 12pm to 3pm, adding an hour. On leaving weekend Vuka Africa behind, she tweeted: "After a year .. my @ann7tv  @VukaAfrica Weekend journey has ended. Thank you to all the early birds who tuned in :)"

The channel's late night block, 10pm to 12am, is now anchored by a rotation of trainee anchors, most of whom are from the ANN7 Anchor Search

BREAKING: Nzinga Qunta Resigns From ANN7

The anchor of ANN7's Prime Time bulletin, ANN7 Prime, has resigned.

Nzinga Qunta announced this on her Twitter timeline earlier today (22 June 2015).

Qunta had been with ANN7 since the channel's start, initially as one of the rotating young anchors (most of whom were models, but there were great ones like Qunta among them) the channel hired. Within a few months, she was named the anchor of ANN7's Weekend Prime anchor. During the 2014 Election cycle, Qunta anchored the daily 2 hour programme, SA Decides, and also anchored the 10am block on election day. After this, she remained the channel's late afternoon block before being promoted to ANN7 Prime anchor in January of this year, filling the void left by Chantal Rutter Dros.

In addition to being ANN7's Prime anchor, the youngest prime time anchor on South African tv, Qunta has also been a full time student at Wits University this year.

Both of these, in my opinion, helped Qunta to do something better than most other anchors: connect organically with social media users.

As anchor of ANN7 Prime, Qunta has had the opportunity to anchor the channel's coverage of major events like this year's State of the Nation Address.

Her last night on air was June 19th last week.



[I won't lie, I initially wasn't the biggest fan of Nzinga's style, but then she started growing on me and it has been amazing just to see her grow in prime time. Plus she has my respect for being able to anchor a prime time news bulletin and be a full time student at the same time. Really going to miss her on screen]

CONFIRMED: Nzinga Qunta the New Anchor of ANN7 Prime

Nzinga Qunta has confirmed via Twitter that she is now the permanent anchor of ANN7's ANN7 Prime. The tweet can be seen below:

Yes :) "@ThembiMrototo: Are you there permanently now? RT @NzingaQ: So exciting anchoring Prime :)"
— Nzinga Qunta (@NzingaQ) February 16, 2015

She has been anchoring the show for two weeks now, currently her third, which included doing the channel's State of the Nation Address Coverage last Thursday.


Nzinga has been with ANN7 since the start of the channel and has previously been the anchor of the weekend edition of the show.


There is currently no word yet on what now happens to Juliet Newell who joined the channel in December and was even announced as the anchor of ANN7 Prime, replacing Chantal Rutter Dros who departed in December, but then lost that position barely a month later. At the moment, she does anchor a mere 30 minutes of news at 2pm on the channel, but that cannot last too long.


Nzinga, who is studying this year while being a Monday to Friday anchor at ANN7, now becomes the youngest anchor in South African prime time news. She is also the only anchor in prime time that is NOT a journalist, as she pointed out a while ago on Twitter, but based on her on screen presentation, one would not even notice.

What On Earth? Juliet Newell Now Anchoring Afternoon News?

In late December 2014, Juliet Newell joined ANN7 and anchored the channel's prime time bulletin ANN7 Prime. In mid January this year, she was named the official anchor of ANN7 Prime.

But now, for some reason, she has not anchored ANN7 Prime for well over a week, with Nzinga Qunta taking up that slot.

So where is Juliet? Anchoring the 2pm slot of news (which is an unbranded straight news bulletin), Nzinga's old slot.

Nzinga Qunta, who has been with ANN7 since inception, has anchored various slots over the year and a few months that the channel has been on air, including weekend prime time, before settling in the 2pm slot.

However, she decided to go back to university this year and has been off air for a while before reappearing as the Prime anchor last Monday

At this point, the channel has not stated whether the timeslot swap is permanent or not to accomodate Nzinga's studies, in the same way they accomodated Chanté Jantjies' studies by moving her off a daily slot to weekend breakfast anchor.

Juliet is still featured on the promotional material for ANN7 Prime, even though she has not appeared on the show in over a week.

Though it is not uncommon for news channels to shift anchors around (I last recall it happening at eNCA when Joanne Joseph was moved from Afternoon News to the midmorning slot), it is odd when it happens to the Prime Time anchor. Imagine Jeremy Maggs all of a sudden just starts anchoring eNCA's News Day with some other anchor takong his slot on News Night without eNCA stating why it is occuring.

Either way, viewers can see Nzinga Qunta is enjoying being the youngest prime time anchor on South African news. She smiles wider than she ever did before during the opening of ANN7 Prime, though I don't remember ever seeing her smile before and she does what Juloet doesn't: promote the heck out of the show on Twitter before it airs, informing her over 18 000 followers about who she is about to interview, something Juliet never did.