SABC responds to Afrikaans news blackout

Many Afrikaans-speaking South Africans were disappointed to find that the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) did not broadcast any Afrikaans news bulletins on SABC 2 over the weekend of 5 and 6 April 2025.

TV with Thinus reported that no warning or explanation was given for the lack of Afrikaans TV news bulletins over the weekend.

This raised concerns that the SABC had quietly pulled the Afrikaans news off-air.

The public broadcaster has since issued a statement acknowledging that the bulletin didn’t air in its regular time slot on Saturday and Sunday and attributed the change to a scheduling error.

“The South African Broadcasting Corporation wishes to address concerns arising from the non-broadcast of the Afrikaans television news bulletin this past weekend,” it said.

“This should not have happened.”

The broadcaster acknowledged the concern the error may have caused, particularly in Afrikaans-speaking communities, and issued an apology.

The SABC said it was treating the error with the “seriousness it deserves”, adding that its consequence management processes are already underway to address the internal oversight.

“We want to assure the public and our stakeholders that there is no plan or decision to discontinue or deprioritise Afrikaans news,” it said.

It said the Afrikaans TV news bulletin will continue as scheduled from Monday to Friday, and the weekend bulletin will continue in its designated timeslot.

The schedule is as follows:

• Afrikaans news broadcasts at 20:30 from Monday to Friday on SABC 3.
• Weekend Afrikaans bulletins at 18:00 on Saturdays and Sundays on SABC 2.

“Afrikaans remains an important part of our public broadcasting mandate, just as all South African languages are,” the broadcaster stated.

It added that it was committed to providing equitable access to news and information in all official South African languages.

Moreover, it is working to expand its content and on a broader scheduling strategy to strengthen its language offering, including Afrikaans.

“This process is part of our new financial year’s content strategy and will be communicated more fully in due course,” the SABC stated.

Roughly a year ago, the public broadcaster faced criticism for moving the Afrikaans TV news bulletins from SABC 2 to SABC 3 during the week in the late timeslot of 20:30, and weekend bulletins were placed on SABC 2 at 18:15.

It also cancelled the popular Afrikaans TV soap opera 7de Laan in 2023 after nearly 24 years on air and almost 6,000 episodes.

At the time of its cancellation, 7de Laan was the most-watched Afrikaans TV series and also among the most-watched TV shows overall in South Africa.

Despite the show’s popularity, the SABC said 7de Laan’s viewer figures no longer justified its commercial value.