SABC rubbishes Metro FM Music Awards hack: 'Votes were handled externally'

The SABC has rejected claims that its Metro FM website was allegedly hacked and the 'real' results of the Metro FM Music Awards were leaked.

Reports emerged of an alleged hacking into a Metro FM internal website that apparently "had" the "list of winners" for various categories at the awards.

The reports originated from a unreliable Twitter account that claimed to have hacked into the SABC system revealing the "real" list of winners that was contrary to the current one.

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The apparent leak caused a social media storm on Monday, as Twitter users rushed to verify the validity of the claims.

SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago told TshisaLIVE that the leaked information was absolutely false and that the SABC has not had any hacking incidents.

"The SABC was not hacked. But even if they managed to hack into our systems they would come up empty where the Metro FM winners are concerned because they were handled externally," Kaizer said.

The awards ceremony was shrouded in controversy after claims that "awards were bought,"while deserving winners went home empty-handed.

Kaizer responded to these claims by pointing out that social media fame did not always translate directly to the number of votes artists recieve.

"It's important for people to remember that we can't measure fame on Twitter or other platforms and equate it to the number of SMS's people sent in to vote for a particular artist. The voting system was SMS based and the results were audited," Kaizer said.

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Artists like Kwesta - who was mentioned as a big winner on the fake list - took to social media to question the credibility of the SABC and Metro FM Awards.

Kaizer explained that these allegations were clearly made up by people who had no knowledge of how the voting system worked. He appealed to all those in doubt to come to the SABC and ask to see the results - as they have access to them.

"As the SABC we have nothing to gain from robbing deserving artists of their winnnings. We aim to celebrate these artists and to give their fans a platform to celebrate them as well, using these awards. And if people want to see the results, we will show them," he said.