CAPE TOWN - Afro Worldview boss, Mzwanele Manyi is reportedly demanding R144 million from the South African Broadcasting Commission (SABC) for a contract that was terminated between ANN7 and the SABC.
According to Manyi, the money is reportedly owed to the Guptas/ANN7 for business breakfast shows that they held with the SABC.
This dates back to breakfast shows that the SABC hosted in conjunction with The New Age where the broadcaster reportedly paid R1 million per breakfast briefing, , reports My Broadband.
In total, almost R20 million was spent on these business breakfasts, before the deal was terminated.
Manyi reportedly claimed that the deal was terminated illegally. Business Report then contacted Manyi to which he declined to comment.
Meanwhile, the SABC reportedly filed papers in the High Court in Johannesburg to interdict the arbitration proceedings.
According to the report, the SABC said that Manyi does not deserve a cent.
In other news surrounding the ANN7 boss, Manyi was just last month involved in a public feud between his employees. Media company, Vila Kasi Holdings accused Manyi of mistreating employees who want to exit the embattled news channel and join Vila Kasi Holdings.
According to a spokesperson for Vila Kasi Holdings, Nicolas Manyike, Manyi has reportedly been ill-treating his employees after discovering that they want to join Vila Kasi Holdings.
ANN7 employees have reportedly been attending job interviews at Vila Kasi which is set to go on air in August this year.
This is a personal right for employees to secure their future and seek employment, said Manyike to Business Report.
He added that the future of ANN7 remains uncertain, following MultiChoice’s decision to end ANN7’s contract which is set to come to an end in August.
This comes after media giant, Naspers announced in January that it will not be renewing its contract with ANN7, citing the channels previous ownership under the Guptas and accusations of the news channel unduly influencing government.
MultiChoice, the biggest pay-TV provider in Africa, said an investigation found the company had not done proper due diligence on ANN7 but there was no corruption in its contract.
The investigation followed a report by South African media about payments made by Multichoice to ANN7.
This decision has left ANN7 employees with a grim outlook and essentially lack of job security. Hence, they sought out employment at Vila Kasi Holdings. However, in doing so, they were reportedly victimised.