FANS of soapie7de Laanhave started an online petition calling for the show to be aired five days a week.
This comes after an SABC announcement that the soapie will only air three days a week from April to make space for a new telenovela, Die Sentrum.
Merlin Naicker of the SABC said: “The acquisition of this new local production is part of our long-term plan to invest in quality local content.”
However, this did not go down well with viewers. A petition started on change.org by Jermaine Christians and had more than 2 000 signatures by yesterday.
The petition reads: “This is unacceptable and we highly condemn this action as loyal viewers and TV license payers. We have the right to say what we do and don’t want to watch. It is sad that we weren’t even approached as fans regarding this matter, as we are partially the reason behind the success of the long running, multicultural soapie.
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“This comes after the soapie just recently achieved the milestone of airing its 5 000 episode.”
The petition says the decision is an attack on the Afrikaans community.
“This is the soapie that taught thousands of us how to speak Afrikaans from a young age,” it reads.
SABC spokeswoman Mmoni Seapolelo told Daily Sun they were aware of the petition, but would be going ahead with the plan.
“We do take the views of our audiences into consideration when taking these decisions,” she said.
“Viewers will not lose 7de Laan as it will still broadcast from Monday to Wednesday and in addition, we will introduce another fresh Afrikaans series Die Sentrum.
“We are confident that this new telenovela will be a drawcard and will keep the channel’s loyal soapie viewers entertained for the remainder of the week,” said Seapolelo.