Generations stars on strike – yet again 1 December 2013 14:01 Ngwako Malatji @City_Press Actors walk out because they say executive producer is under the influence of ‘whites’ Generations actors have downed tools again after accusing their boss Mfundi Vundla of being a “baas boy”. On Friday, the actors stormed out of the studios in Auckland Park where the soapie is shot after their attempt to meet with the powers that be to iron out their differences failed. The strike comes just weeks after the actors returned to work following a month-long strike in October after Vundla refused to accede to their demands to give them three-year contracts, with no clauses enabling him to fire them if he felt the need. The cast members went back to work after the SABC’s acting chief operating officer, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, intervened. Yesterday, a production official who spoke to City Press on condition of anonymity claimed that Vundla was under the influence of “white people”. The official, who declined to identify these white people, said “the majority of producers” reporting to executive producer Vundla were white. “This has nothing to do with racism,” said the official, “but we feel that white people are running the show and this man has no say in many things that are happening here. They are the ones who told him that they would replace us when we demanded the three-year contracts.” The member also said that the producers force them to work long hours. “In terms of the law, we are supposed to work nine hours but we are forced to work 10hours. This is unlawful and is exploitation. “Our relationship with Generations has been like that of a woman who is stuck in an abusive relationship. Now we say ‘enough is enough’ – we must speak out against this abuse.” The official also said they are sick and tired of eating the “junk food” served to them on set. “We are given this cheap juice with no nutrition and some scones which are as hard as a brick – you can’t even chew them. If I hit a person with one of these scones, they could die. “This is not the kind of food we should eat. We need to be given healthy food with nutrition to give us energy and boost our minds, because our minds are tired from reading scripts every day.” A source said the straw that broke the camel’s back was the producers’ failure to pay them on Friday. “We normally get paid on the last Friday of the month. When we inquired as to why we had not been paid, they ignored us. We shot a few episodes and convened a meeting where we decided there was no point in continuing because we were not being paid. “So we left. I spoke to a few actors on Friday evening and they were crying. We don’t know why we were not paid because we worked.” City Press has learnt that actors Menzi Ngubane, Sophie Ndaba, Winnie Modise, Katlego Danke and Zolisa Xaluva were among those who were not paid. The source also said that after investigation, they discovered that crew members, wardrobe staff, make-up artists, guest actors and new actors had been paid. “It is only the 12 actors who were seen to be leading the previous strike that were not paid,” said the source. A member of the Generations team said the actors have also discovered that the producers have not signed the three-year contracts the SABC asked them to sign. “The cast members signed these contracts and the producers were also supposed to sign last month. But they have not signed them, so that means they have not taken them to the SABC.” SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said they were not aware that the actors were on strike. “We will only intervene when the matter is officially reported to us,” he said. Vundla declined to comment.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 14:09:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015