The SABC and e.tv have announced their reasons for supporting the intention of the National Association of Broadcasters, the NAB, to resign from audience research organisation, SAARF.

The two broadcasters’ decision follows the rejection of the proposal from the NAB to have greater representation of broadcast media on the SAARF Board.

SABC and e.tv say was further compounded by a recent audit of SAARF’s Television Audience Measurement Survey which provides the daily audience ratings for television viewership. They called for the audit after noticing serious shortcomings in the ratings last year.

SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago says, “In the past year we have seen a reduction in the LSM’s ratings 4 to 6 which are basically the audiences of both free to air broadcasters. We found out the way which they deal with the TAMS is not correct, and we felt that it is also because of the fact that they do include in the board or the panel of SAARF television and broadcasters. And when we went to ask for that to happen, they refused in a meeting which was held today.”

Among other things, TAMS is accused of failing to keep up with the evolving South African demographic profile; failing to balance the panel by individual LSM; as well as failing to manage the declining efficiency of the panel.

Not only is this morally unacceptable in South Africa in 2013, it has a direct financial impact on the free-to-air broadcasters who broadcast programming to the majority of South Africans

As a result, the essential effect of the findings was that upper income television households were over-represented on the TAMS Panel as compared to middle-to-lower income television households that were significantly under-represented.

This, according to the statement released by the two broadcasters, effectively translates into an over-representation of white television viewership and a serious under-representation of black television viewership.

“Not only is this morally unacceptable in South Africa in 2013, it has a direct financial impact on the free-to-air broadcasters who broadcast programming to the majority of South Africans,” reads the statement in part.

“Of even more concern to the SABC and e.tv was that this state of affairs had been on-going for many years without any intervention from SAARF executive management.”

The SABC and e.tv are still calculating the loss of advertising income experienced as a result of the failures of the TAMS Panel but it is estimated to run at hundreds of millions of Rands.
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A 56 year old man has been arrested for allegedly cohabiting with a 15 year old teen in the impoverished Tonga village, Mpumalanga.

The police accompanied by Social Workers and officials from the Commission for Gender Equality pounced on the man just after midnight.

Inside the house, three kids were found sharing a room with the 56-year-old and among the kids was the 15-year-old girl. She was sharing the bed with the visibly ailing man.

The disoriented 15-year-old had been living with this man for the past five years.

Apparently the man was married to the little girl’ sister but the sister has since left, leaving the child behind.

The other two were allegedly sneaked into the country.

Police and the officials of the Commission for Gender Equality believe they have a water-tight case against the man.

“We are going to lay two charges, the police are going to assist us, one is going to be statutory rape. The second charge is for abduction. If we had a human trafficking chatter in South Africa, we were going to lay a human trafficking charge because there are elements of human trafficking and maybe there will be other charges that we are going to negotiate with the police to be actually added to the charge sheet,” says Commission for Gender Equality’s Mfanozelwe Shozi.

All the children have since been taken to a place of safety.
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South African Football Association (SAFA) President Kirsten Nematandani is still optimistic that Bafana Bafana could qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Nematandani says they are hopeful, despite the fact that Group A leaders Ethiopia are still favourites. He says a lot rests on the ruling regarding Ethiopia’s fielding of a suspended player.

SAFA says their understanding is that the likelihood of Ethiopia being docked three points after the disciplinary hearing is a reality. Its president says the player was not supposed to play, and the same player did play whilst Bafana played Ethiopia away but the question is, was the player supposed to play in their game or not?

Nematandani was speaking at the relaunch of the SAB League. It’s already unearthed a host of talent – some players have been good enough to be absorbed by big name Premiership clubs.

Former Bafana Bafana captain, Neil Tovey, says the new Kaizer Chiefs signing Simphiwe Mtsweni is one of those players to get spotted by big teams.

Tovey says he was part of Farouk Khan’s academy but the platform was created with regards to SAB giving him exposure.

“Kaizer Chiefs signed Simphiwe as a left fullback. You know left fullbacks are vital to any team and Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter liked him a lot for the season; and it’s only five months since he was identified,” says the former Bafana Bafana captain.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za