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5. Film body splashes cash
The National Film and Video Foundation made headlines all year after staff turned on chief executive Zama Mkosi with allegations of corruption, mismanagement and six-star trips around the globe for pampered council members. Is this the best way to serve our film makers?
4. Ambitiouz flays Fifi
It felt like the 1980s all over again. Ambitiouz Entertainment took ruthless legal action against rapper Fifi Cooper, who has lost all of her rights to any of her music with the label, and had to pay costs and damages. Expect more of the same next year.
3. Bonang makes book, breaks internet
The book that made the most noise for all the wrong reasons this year was Bonang Matheba’s error-riddled memoir From A to B. Exclusive Books even offered refunds while it was being withdrawn and reprinted. Truth is, the publishing industry is cutting corners and getting sloppy, and Bonang’s book wasn’t even the worst of them.
2. Inxeba wounds traditionalists
The brilliant if problematic debut film from John Trengove and starring Nakhane, Inxeba (The Wound), had Xhosa men and traditional leaders up in arms for portraying gay themes in the secretive world of circumcision initiation. Others were muttering about cultural appropriation because the director is white.
Boycotts were called and then things turned nasty, with Nakhane and his fellow actors receiving thousands of death threats online. But, as the film travelled the globe, it began picking up award after award. The real debate will only get under way when it opens nationally in February, so expect it on this listicle again next year.
1. Hullabaloo of the year
“Some leaders are born. Like myself, I am a born leader,” he said before the fall. This was the year that the most outrageous and controversial broadcasting boss, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, was sacked after being suspended by the public broadcaster late last year.
His many court bids failed one after the other this year. The king of accusing the media of causing a “hullabaloo” staged defiant press conferences at a hotel near the SABC, referring to himself in the third person and building his mythology as he went.
“I do miracles,” said the comeback king. “When I came here, there was no SABC.” And our personal favourite: “In my view, Hlaudi Motsoeneng is Hlaudi Motsoeneng and there is one Hlaudi Motsoeneng in South Africa, is this one called Hlaudi Motsoeneng.”
The investigations against him continue, with the SABC wanting to know how he could pay himself R11 million for the hot potato MultiChoice deal with the SABC.
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