South Africans must say goodbye to last Afrikaans show on SABC 2

Voetspore’s 14th season will likely be the last viewed on SABC 2, after an extensive battle over the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC’s) decision to stop payments in December 2024.

The series is SABC 2’s last remaining Afrikaans programme. Rapport reports that Voetspore producer Kew Productions sued the SABC on Tuesday, 22 April 2025, for legal costs and outstanding fees of R578,345.

The SABC also allegedly ignored inquiries surrounding its non-payment. On Friday, 25 April, the public broadcaster reportedly paid more than R500,000 to Kew Productions.

In June 2022, the SABC and Kew Productions entered into a contract for the production of the 12th, 13th, and 14th seasons of the series, valued at R10.9 million.

Kew Productions executive producer Johan Badenhorst said the SABC had made erratic payments for more than a year before stopping entirely in December 2024.

He added that the payments the public broadcaster had made did not include interest.

The show’s final season covers travel through South America, and is currently airing on SABC 2 on Friday evenings.

However, the broadcasts are frequently disrupted. Voetspore’s broadcast time was recently moved to later in the evening without prior notice.

“It’s important that a broadcaster informs you if there’s a delay or change in broadcast time so that you can communicate with your viewers,” Badenhorst told veteran television journalist Thinus Ferreira.

The ninth episode of the current season was set to air on Friday, 25 April. However, it was replaced by a soccer broadcast.

He said the SABC’s non-payment forced him to borrow money to pay his staff on time, putting Kew Productions under significant financial pressure.

He said the show had good innings after 25 years on air and that Voetspore as a TV series has become too expensive.

R3.2 billion down the drain

The SABC is facing significant financial strain and missed several operational and viewership targets in the 2023/24 financial year.

The Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA), in a presentation before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts last week, said the SABC has shown no real financial improvement despite the R3.2-billion bailout it got in 2019.

AGSA deputy business unit leader Nathan Lawnet also said the public broadcaster missed 48% of its targets in the 2023/24 financial year.

“We are concerned about some of the key targets, where they have not achieved a lot of them,” he said.

The SABC had set prime time TV ratings targets of 22% for SABC 1, 6% for SABC 2, and 3% for SABC 3.

However, it only achieved a prime time share of 18.8%, 4.1%, and 1.5% for SABC 1, SABC 2, and SABC 3, respectively.

“Why that target is important is because it indicates the number of viewers that are tuning in to watch the various channels that the SABC has to offer,” said Lawnet.

This is key to attracting advertising clientele. The SABC’s failure to meet its targets could result in a ripple effect of declining revenue.

As viewership slips, advertising revenue follows a similar trajectory.

Lawnet added that the declining viewership directly relates to the number of top 20 shows offered by the SABC.

“Obviously, the more top-rated programmes that you are showcasing mean that you are attracting viewers to come watch your shows. Higher the viewership directly correlates to advertising,” he said.

He highlighted several other targets that the SABC missed:

• Implementing an operational news production system — Not achieved
• Implementation of and training for a new scheduling system — Not achieved
• Target of 20,000 hours of TV content digitised — 16,333 hours digitised
• Target of 16 SABC websites completed — Not achieved
• Target of 16 completed SABC mobile apps — Not achieved

“The SABC, trying to save money by doing it in-house, has impacted its performance in terms of delivering these initiatives,” he added.

Lawnet said the R3.2-billion bailout given to the public broadcaster in 2019 and its three-year turnaround plan had proven ineffective.

“The SABC in 2019 did receive a R3.2 billion bailout tied to a 3-year turnaround plan. Despite the turnaround plan, we haven’t seen a significant improvement in the financial position of the SABC,” he said.