Why Carol Manana decided to jump ship

11 August 2011 - 02:19 By ANDILE NDLOVU
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Popular sports presenter Carol Manana has blamed the SABC's turnaround strategy for her choice to jump into bed with pay-channel Supersport after she quit the public broadcaster last month.

Manana, who had been part and parcel of SABC1's soccer coverage for the past 11 years, spent last night having dinner with her new Supersport colleagues, including Robert Marawa and Thomas Mlambo, ahead of her debut as Supersport anchor for Kaizer Chiefs' opening Premier Soccer League game at FNB stadium on Saturday.

Manana said yesterday: "I love anchoring live soccer matches, and with the new strategy, I wasn't going to do enough of that.

"I also expressed a desire to have my own show and they promised me it would be developed for SABC2."

She said she had waited for a further four months after that discussion with management and had no intention of continuing as a "roving presenter".

Manana handed in her resignation on July 11. Supersport offered her a deal "around a week or so later" . Apart from anchoring live soccer matches, the mother of three will now host PSL Extra - a similar show to SABC1's Laduma .

She said her former employers had gone through "a dip after the World Cup", and she had not seen opportunities there for growth.

Supersport spokesman Clinton van den Berg said of Manana yesterday: "We have long admired her professionalism. She's an established and influential talent and it wouldn't make sense to put her in a little corner."

He said Manana's interest in a variety of sports boded well.

SABC2's Zandile Nkonyeni was unaware of a proposed show for Manana on her channel, saying the show had "probably ended in the commissioning stage".

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