War Over Unpaid Salaries For SABC1 Drama Cast

The cast of SABC 1’s new drama series Family Secrets are fuming once again after not receiving their salaries for their work – this according to entertainment commentator, Phil Mphela.

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Phil, through his entertainment news blog called The Entertainment Alert (TEA), revealed that the cast of the show are furious after their salaries for May and June were not paid as promised by their employer at the end of June as agreed upon.

When TEA contacted the SABC about payments, the broadcaster explained that it is the responsibility the production company to pay the cast, in this case, the production company is South African Women In Television Arts (SAWITA).

When Phil broke the news on his social media, the Family Secrets Twitter account rubbished the news; calling it ‘fake news’ and threatened to sue Phil for the claims. However, he was not swayed by this. He stood his ground and told them to bring it on!

Phil made it clear that he verifies his reports first, and also stood up for the cast and crew of the show; reminding the show’s Twitter admin that their employees need to eat.

“Please do take that legal action. I don’t report fake news and I verify every info I get. Have you no shame? Cast & crew are furious and instead of sorting this out you are here tweeting this nonsense. We are in pandemic. People need money to feed their families!” he wrote.

Please do take that legal action.

I don’t report fake news and I verify every info I get.

Have you no shame?

Cast & crew are furious and instead of sorting this out you are here tweeting this nonsense.

We are in pandemic. People need money to feed their families! https://t.co/lqIYVk9rma

— Kgopolo 🏳️‍🌈 (@PhilMphela) July 5, 2021

While the Family Secrets Twitter account did not say anything further, on Tuesday morning, Phil provided an update about the allegations. He reported that the cast and crew have confirmed that their payments came through that morning of Tuesday, 6 July. However, he added that he had just gotten word that not all cast and crew were paid their full salaries. This means that only payments for May were received, and no payments for June had been received by some employees.

UPDATE:

Apologies.

Few cast & crew members say they only got 1 month salary. The other month is still outstanding. #TheEntertainmentAlert

— Kgopolo 🏳️‍🌈 (@PhilMphela) July 6, 2021

The drama series has recently made changes to it’s cast by bringing in Nimrod Nkosi to play the role of Caesar Mokoena which was previously played by actor Mangaliso Ngema.

Mangaliso, who also played the role of Senzo on SABC 2’s Lithapo when his character was killed because of harassment claims by The Queen‘s actress Lorraine Moropa on the set of Lithapo, was dropped by Family secrets for the same reasons.

Season 2 of the show stars Mampho Brescia, Jamie Bartlett, Busiswa Mambi, Vusi Kunene, Bafana Mthembu, Buyile Mdladla, Cedric Fourie, Llewellyn Cordier, Benni Langa, Tumi Malefo, Angelique Gerber, Sophie Ndaba, Khanyi Mbau and Lesley Musina.

When season one of the cast members; which included former Generations cast members Sonia Mbele, the late Menzi Ngubane, Sophie Ndaba and Katlego Danke, aired their grievances about the show last year, unpaid salaries was a huge factor. They had opened up that they were unaware of the initial date the soapie would air as it had been shot a long time ago and they were not paid.

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