It ended on the night of 20 August 2018 – being taken off air by DStv.
Broadcast satellite service DStv is expected to announce a new channel that will replace Mzwanele Manyi’s Afro World View in no time.
DStv apologised on Sunday about the inconvenience and said a replacement is yet to be found.
“You can find local news on eNCA (403) and SABC News (404),” it said on its Twitter account.
The matter which has now caused public outcry on social media networks follows DStv’s promise earlier this year that they would take the 24-hour channel off air because it tarnished the broadcast service’s image – being owned by the controversial Gupta family.
After taking the decision to not renew the former ANN7 news channel, DStv said “in light of the ongoing controversies” around the Gupta family “it will not be appropriate to renew ANN7’s contract when it ends in August”.
“Instead we are starting the process of looking for a new black-owned news channel,” CEO Calvo Mawela said at the time.
DStv, which covers the entire Sub-Saharan Africa, is owned by MultiChoice.
I watched upto the last seconds of AfroWorldView. I must confess it was heartbreaking. We can be very spiteful as a people I think. pic.twitter.com/xUQvcclpmI
— Engineer Matšhela Koko (@koko_matshela) August 20, 2018
In August last year, Afroworld View owner Mzwanele Manyi bought ANN7 and The New Age newspaper from the Gupta family at almost half a billion rands.
I went to channel 405 when i woke up this morning .. this is what i found! This is what White Monopoly Capital does to black people and their jobs..cold and heartless! #BoycottDstv pic.twitter.com/lFqA1MZFqV
— Tornado..Veteran 102 (@tyengeni1954) August 21, 2018
Having settled the R450 million vendor financing deal with the family, Manyi renamed the two – calling ANN7 the Afroworld View and New Age the Afro Voice.
It was through his company, Lodidolox Management, that Manyi got to acquire ANN7 for R300 million and The New Age for R150 million.
But at the end of June 2018, Afro Voice closed down, Manyi telling staff at their Midrand offices, north of Johannesburg, that “legal issues” were forcing them to close down.
Hundreds of people have lost their jobs at the media firm following this closure.
It estimated that close to 350 people have been left jobless by February 2018 MultiChoice decision.
“We (workers) have been informed not to report for duty until further notice,” one staff member said.
“They didn’t tell us how long this will be, so we are in the dark on this,” the worker said.
(edited by MLM)
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