Metro FM presenter and Idols judge Unathi Msengana confirmed yesterday that she was sent an e-mail on Monday by her station manager Martin Vilakazi instructing her not to do any interviews with the Idols winner or any competitor.
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| Gareth, Khaya and Unathi |
"This morning [Wednesday] an instruction was personally given to me by my station manager not to interview Khaya. No explanation was given. I had to obey and ask no questions because he is my boss." Msengana said fellow Idols judge Gareth Cliff, who works for SABC's 5FM, received the same instructions
SA Idols spokeswoman Ingrid Lebinburg said that they do not know what is happening. Nobody from SABC said anything to them. “We are still waiting for them to come to us and explain."
SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago denied that the SABC sent an instruction like that. "This is not true and it is ridiculous. We did not issue instructions like that. To start with, Unathi is not even supposed to comment to the media. I am the SABC spokesperson."Secondly she is even conflicted by working on Idols when she works for SABC.
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| Khaya, after being announced winner of Idols Season 8 |
Kganyago then confirmed that they decided that Unathi and Gareth do not interview Khaya because they were conflicted. Idols belong to another station and not the SABC. Kganyago said that there is no cross-promotional agreement between Idols and the SABC.
M-Net communications manager Lani Lombard confirmed that "scheduled interviews for the breakfast shows on 5FM and Metro FM were cancelled on Tuesday night". However, Khaya was interviewed on Metro FM on Wednesday night.
Kaizer Kganyago stories are all mixed up; he says this today and another thing tomorrow. Is it perhaps that the SABC are jealous that they have not been able to pull off such a popular event themselves?
