The South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) and popular soapie 7de Laan are at war. It is also likely that the ceremony will not be broadcast this year.
There is beef between 7de Laan and the Saftas
The Oscars of SA have showed the SABC 2 soapie the middle finger and told them exactly where to get off. The Saftas are announcing the nominees tonight in Melrose Arch and Makisto will be at the do to bring you all the action and goss. For up to the minute tweets about tonight, please follow
Makisto on Twitter,
@dimakatsomokwen 
Golden what? Is that Golden Shambles I hear?7de Laan told Channel24 that they didn’t enter their actors in any categories because they are not happy with how the selection of nominees is conducted. Still speaking to Channel24, 7de Laan said they assumed their soapie will be automatically entered into the best soapie category even if they didn’t enter any of their actors.
All other South African soapies are in the running to be voted the best soapie of SA by their loyal viewers except for 7de Laan. It is worth noting that 7de Laan has been winning the best soapie category for the past three years, as voted for by viewers.
7de Laan cast members
In my humble opinion, there are better shows in South Africa than 7de Laan. Isidingo and Rhythm City will forever be the best soapies of SA. However, it isn’t whites’ fault that blacks are stingy with their airtime and do not vote for their fave shows.
This isn’t the first time the Saftas are having off-screen drama. In 2009, the entire Generations cast and crew boycotted the ceremony, allegedly because they were also not happy with the selection of nominees, despite their actors winning in many categories. Anyway, who cares? It is not like Generations and 7de Laan are the best soapies. We cannot begin to tell smart people like yourselves that quantity isn’t quality.
Hlengiwe of Seskhona and Linda Sokhulu of Isidingo at the Saftas two years ago
A shadow of lack of credibility is now hovering over the Saftas as the National Film and Video and Foundation, which is the mother of the Saftas, isn’t giving TV and film critics an opportunity to be part of the judging panel, reports Channel24. Channel24 continues to report that Saftas judges are former winners of various categories and industry people.
Last year, the awards first didn’t have a best actor in a drama category and TVSA reported on the matter, questioning if indeed South Africa lacks a best actor in all our TV dramas. In a turnabout after the TVSA article, the awards quickly and suddenly had a best actor in a drama category.
Kaos and Zizo Beda at the Saftas in Pta two years ago
The awards are always marred by controversy as seen in their failure to plan, organise, lead and control. For the past five years, some of the nominees have only discovered on Twitter and Facebook that they have won awards. This because, they have not been invited to the event and were not even informed of their nomination. Sade Giliberty is one such TV personality who has in the past learnt that she won best TV presenter award on social media.
The awards have also been criticised for being SABC awards and not giving enough attention to channels such as etv, M-Net, Mzansi Magic and others. If the Saftas are to be taken seriously, I would like to see Kuli Roberts tonight being nominated best TV presenter or at least her show in some category. We are just simply sick and tired of the awards sucking up to the SABC. It is sickening to say the least.
Makisto at the Saftas in Melrose Arch last year
The dates for this year’s Saftas are being shifted to a day before to accommodate the non-fiction category, reports Channel24. In the past, the ceremony was broadcast by SABC2 or SABC1, anyway, I am too Safta-ed to remember the exact channel. Last year the whatever channel refused to broadcast the ceremony, let alone a delayed or edited version of the ceremony, saying they are tired of the Saftas.
Isidingo cast members
The organisers started running around like headless chickens trying to find a broadcaster. They approached etv and Mzansi Magic who stated they were interested in broadcasting the ceremony but said they were consulted late. Mzansi Magic even told TVSA that they were prepared to broadcast the ceremony this year live.
Now, history is about to repeat itself as the ceremony is now gonna be broadcast on SABC3, if there is any truth to this sentence. Channel24 reports that SABC3 is very much likely to broadcast a delayed/edited version of the ceremony way much later after the excitement about the show has worn off. Read the Channel24 article hierso:
http://www.channel24.co.za/TV/News/7de-Laan-dumped-by-the-Saftas-20120215