Johannesburg - Prophet Paseka Motsoeneng pulled the plug on his gospel show that was due to air on ANN7 on Sunday, claiming that the controversial Gupta family still had links with the channel.
Though Motsoeneng, better known as Prophet Mboro, would not give clear details about how the Guptas were still linked to ANN7, he said he had discovered that they were still involved in some way.
“It was supposed to have started yesterday (Sunday) between 8pm and 9pm. There were issues that I was not happy with. I discovered that the Guptas were still in ANN7.
“I felt there were a number of things that needed to be corrected, also in the running of the station. I don’t want to be part of a disorder and something that has no legitimacy, integrity, that will affect my reputation,” Mboro said.
Former government spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi acquired the 24-hour news channel and The New Age newspaper from the family in August last year.
The news channel management issued a statement on Monday confirming that it had an agreement with Mboro for a gospel show.
The statement said the issues that Mboro had raised had been ironed out and that the show would be aired soon.
Watch: Prophet Mboro give reasons why he cut ties with #ANN7 last night. His new gospel show was scheduled to go on air. pic.twitter.com/xwYMTUHtjr
— The Star Reporter (@ReporterStar) March 5, 2018
The channel said there had been a communication breakdown with Mboro, which had since been resolved.
“The channel would like to emphasise that from November 1, 2017, Mr Mzwanele Manyi took ownership of the two media houses without any Gupta ownership lingering.
“Manyi agreed with Prophet Motsoeneng and committed the channel to continue working on the project under strict supervision,” according to an ANN7 statement.
Mboro said that if the channel provided him with the necessary proof, the show would be aired on Sundays.
He noted that there were archives which had Guptas history and that these contradicted what he had been told about Manyi having bought the company.
“When I came across those things, I did not want to be linked with them. The mistake perhaps that Manyi made was not to change the trading company names or existing brand names,” Mboro said.
The Guptas have been implicated in state capture together with former president Jacob Zuma, his son Duduzane and several ministers and executives of a number of parastatals.
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