SABC soapie cast revolts

According to the City Press, show creator and executive producer Mfundi Vundla are at loggerheads with numerous cast members, who are demanding that he increase their wages and extend their contracts to three years.

Among the contract rebels are Sophie Ndaba, Katlego Danke, Menzi Ngubane, Anga Makubalo, Thami Mngqolo, and Xolisa Xaluva.

An anonymous insider claimed that the trouble started after acting SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng announced during the show’s recent birthday celebrations that the broadcaster had signed a three-year contract with Vundla’s Morula Pictures for the first time ever.

“The cast members jumped up and down with excitement when he made this announcement because they too expected to sign two- or three-year contracts,” said the source.

“But to their disappointment they were given one-year contracts with no increase in call-out fees. That is when they refused to sign.”

Vundla is reportedly reluctant to accede to the actors’ demands because three-year contracts would remove his right to write “nonperforming” cast members out of the show.

He is said to have made it quite clear that he won’t budge, insisting that he has enough episodes to carry on without them and that he wouldn’t hesitate to write them out of the show if they don’t back down.

– TeamTalk