Exclusive!
TVSA can exclusively reveal that television stalwart Menzi Ngubane has been appointed as the new Chief Operating Officer of the SABC, ousting Hlaudi Motsoeneng from his long held position.
The move comes after months of heated negotiations amongst SABC board members who have been debating the change behind closed doors to keep things hush-hush. According to a reliable SABC insider, the board eventually reached the decision after concluding that Hlaudi has been the COO for too long.
The decision to appoint Menzi was motivated by various factors including the fact that he's famous. Word from our mole is that the SABC wants the COO to connect with viewers as if he was a TV celebrity. Menzi is such a celebrated actor that they consider him to be the perfect man for the job.
Another big deciding factor (which no-one will ever admit) is that the SABC wants to make use of Menzi's contacts at e.tv, specifically connections he has with the channel's eKasi Stories - the SABC wants to poach these from e.tv because of their high production values.
Menzi, who currently plays Detective Nkonzo Mazibuko on e.tv's Ashes to Ashes, will finish his stint on the show and then take up the position.
There's no word yet on when the official announcement will be made but now that the news is out, we predict it will happen sometime today (1 April). A press release is likely to go out later, from one or more of the involved parties.