Mzansi reacts to Saftas’ decision to rescind Katlego Maboe’s nomination

The nation has weighed in on the SA Film and Television Awards (Saftas) decision to remove former Expresso Morning Show presenter Katlego Maboe from the nominations list. 

In a statement sent to TshisaLIVE, the awards show announced that after consideration, they have decided to retract his nomination from the Best TV presenter category

“After careful deliberation of concerns raised regarding the nomination of Mr Katlego Maboe in the Best TV Presenter Public Vote Category, announced on April  29 2021, the Saftas jury has decided to rescind his nomination.

“The rescission is effective immediately and voting code 5 has been removed from the voting USSD line.”

Katlego was nominated alongside Devi Sankaree Govender, Dineo Ranaka, Palesa Tembe, Katchie Nzama and Waldimar Pelser.

Taking to Twitter, the awards organisers updated their list of nominees in the Best TV Presenter category.

The removal of Katlego caused a major debate on social media, leading to many of his fans and critics weighing in on the decision.

Although some supported the decision, many of Katlego’s fans were against it and called for a boycott of the ceremony. 

Check out some of the reactions online:

A video of Katlego’s estranged wife, Monique Muller, confronting him about cheating on her went viral late last year. 

In a statement released at the time, Katlego admitted to being unfaithful but denied abuse allegations. Katlego said he and Monique were in the middle of an “unfortunate and painful separation”.

The scandal lead to Katlego being taken off air from Expresso and he was removed from all OUTsurance ads. 

The Expresso Morning Show production company Cardova Productions confirmed in a statement on Friday that Katlego would not be on air pending the outcome of the investigation. 

“Certain serious allegations have been posted on social media about Mr Katlego Maboe and, last night, a video was leaked showing Mr Maboe seemingly admitting to cheating on his partner,” read part of the statement. 

OUTsurance head of client relations Natasha Kawulesar, provided a statement to TshisaLIVE explaining that the insurance company decided to pull Katlego’s adverts to allow his family the “space and time to deal with this matter”.  

“He is a professional actor who is paid on a campaign by campaign basis. Katlego has received his full compensation from OUTsurance for all past as well as the current campaign in which he was featured. This includes performance as well as full usage fees for the entire campaign.”