African languages being mangled in TV soapies, bemoans Flo Masebe

Veteran actress Florence Masebene has called out African-language soapies for making a mockery of the language spoken on shows.

The veteran actress, who's been on many African-speaking telenovelas back in the day as well as in the present, has weighed in on a conversation about directors and producers not putting enough effort or respect into African languages spoken by their actors.

In a conversation with a tweep who raised her issue with how Sesotho was being butchered in soapies, Mme Florence reflected on a time where language advisers were part of the production crew.

She revealed that those advisers were responsible for making sure what's spoken by actors was accurate — claiming this happened at a time when producers actually “cared”. 

Florence agreed that these days some actors mixed up several languages.  

This is not the first time the veteran actress has been  sensitive about African languages not  taken seriously. In April last year, Mme Flo revealed how unimpressed she was with the coronavirus WhatsApp service not including more African languages.

She said the use of limited languages was nothing but discrimination.

The former Muvhango actress shared her views on Twitter, saying  some communities were being left behind regarding information about the pandemic.

This was brought to the actress' attention after she was tagged in a post that revealed that languages such as Xitsonga and Tshivenda were not included in the service.

Being a proud Venda woman, Mme Florence said: “It does not sit well with me that the WhatsApp service left other languages out. As if the virus discriminates.”