adminJOHANNESBURG. — Generations star Winnie Modise promised an awards ceremony that would be mind-blowing. It turns out that organising the Royalty Soapie Awards is a soapie in itself. As of this week, the date and venue had not been confirmed, the names of the judges not released and the criteria not announced. There seemed to be general bewilderment from all quarters.
The event, meant to take place on November 2, has now been postponed — it seems indefinitely.
Nominees for the categories were meant to be named at a glitzy affair last month, but only nominations in the the technical and expertise teams behind SABC and M-Net soaps were announced this week.
“There are many categories and we want to give each one as much focus as possible. We have adopted a staggered approach so that we draw attention to the often-overlooked technical and creative categories,” said project co-ordinator Sindile Xulu.
But no announcement about the event being postponed had been made until Sunday World started making enquiries.
Management at the Durban International Convention Centre, where the award ceremony was scheduled to be held, confirmed that they had been asked for an alternative date.
After this, Modise’s team hastily put together a statement saying the awards will now take place in “the first quarter of 2014”.
This week, e.tv said it would not enter its soaps for the awards. “The channel did not have sufficient information about the awards, its judging processes and overall objective. We have made plans to meet the organisers later this year to discuss the prospects of e.tv participating next year,” said publicist Matlapulana Ragoasha.
Organisers said the event would be broadcast on SABC1, but Sunday World contacted all the SABC channels and established that the event was on none of their schedules.
Later, SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said they were in talks with the team on this project. “We will put out a release as soon as all the details have been finalised.”
Modise, who launched the awards in Durban earlier this year with the support of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, has had her fair share of personal drama as well.
Her partner in this, Lala Tuku, backed out of the deal, claiming Modise failed to update her on developments. “The matter was settled out of court and the settlement (with Tuku) is confidential,” said Xulu.
Contacted for comment, Modise referred all calls to their PR company. — Sunday World.
Online Reporter