Black-owned Afro Worldview takes over Gupta-linked TV channel
MZWANELE Manyi says he is “quietly confident” that the rebranded ANN7 news channel – which Nelson Mandela’s granddaughter now has an interest in – has what it takes to keep its spot on DStv.
MultiChoice said in January that owing to the “controversies” associated with Gupta-linked ANN7, it would not renew its contract with the channel when it expired in August.
DStv said in March 60 groups were interested in taking over ANN7’s spot. It wanted a black-owned “independent, unbiased and critical” replacement.
Manyi said on Tuesday that Afro Worldview, the new name for ANN7 as of April 30, was “advanced in the bidding process” for the new MultiChoice contract. Being black-owned and managed, and having amended its editorial policies to align with the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of SA, “we are quietly confident that MultiChoice will do the right thing because we are exceeding their requirements”, Manyi said.
Afro Worldview cut financial ties with the Guptas in April. when Manyi settled debts related to his 2017 acquisition of the channel and its sister publication, The New Age (now Afro Voice). Both entities are held by AfroTone Media Holdings.
Manyi announced that Zamaswazi Dlamini-Mandela, the granddaughter of Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, had become an AfroTone shareholder. The share deal had increased Afro Worldview’s black ownership from 90% to 100%, he said.
Media Monitoring Africa director William Bird said that “serious questions remain about the role of ANN7 and whether or not it was involved in issues relating to state capture”.
“All in all the core questions that we raised … remain, until and unless we are shown clear evidence to the contrary,” Bird said.