by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa’s biggest TV channel by reach, the South African public broadcaster’s SABC1, is on its second acting channel head in a year with Thuli Nhlapo currently holding the reigns as acting SABC1 channel head.

There’s as yet no indication of when the SABC will appoint a permanent new SABC1 channel head.

Thuli Nhlapo quietly replaced Jerry Baily as acting SABC1 channel boss, who in turn was quietly appointed as acting SABC1 channel boss to fill the gap after Phumzile Zonke quit as SABC1 channel boss a year ago.

“Look our situation is dire but that does not mean we have to fold our arms. A lot of our viewers, whom by the way surpass most of our rivals, rely on us to produce, curate and unleash productive content,” Phumzile Zonke said at the time.

“Our strategy as the whole team is to work with the little we have in our coffers but at the same time this launch, after a while, means that we’re ready to engage with stakeholders.”

That was the last time the media covering South Africa’s TV industry heard from him. Phumzile Zonke quit as SABC1 channel boss to head up Black Swag Productions since April 2021. 

Jerry Baily took over in an acting position, after which Thuli Nhlapo – who started her own media company Thuli Nhlapo and also worked as a SABC News reporter and producer before – took over and is currently in an acting position to steer SABC1.

Last week media were invited to a very badly organised SABC1 media event. 

Scheduled for 11:00 but by 12:00 showing no signs of starting, media who were all left waiting without any communication or told what’s going on, left the amateurly run event in droves. Many are openly wondering what exactly is going on at SABC1 and what happened to the channel’s management.