Fans petition to save '7de Laan'
The SABC has announced that the soap opera will not be airing five days a week anymore.
Avid viewers of SABC 2's Afrikaans soapie, '7de Laan', have launched a petition to save the show after the SABC took the decision to cut down on the number of episodes shown each week.
The news came from the soapie's social media accounts, in posts that explained the SABC is looking to make space for a new local telenovela, 'Die Sentrum', starting on April 8 this year. As a result, from April 5th, '7de Laan' will now be broadcast from Mondays to Wednesdays at 6pm.
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A disgruntled fan, Jermaine Christians, started an online Change.org petition demanding that '7de Laan' be on air for five days and nothing less.
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Christians believes that reducing episodes is not only an attack on the fans, but also on the Afrikaans community.
“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 soapy. This comes after the soapy just recently achieved the milestone of airing their 5000th episode and are part of our households for over 20 years,” reads the petition.
“This is not just an attack on us as loyal fans and viewers but on the Afrikaans community as well. This is the soapie that taught thousands of us how to speak Afrikaans since a young age. This soapy is known for Its large roadshow campaigns to interact with fans and viewers, the soapy is also known for Its internship opportunities to help create jobs and boost the countries economy.
“We don’t foresee 7de Laan only being on air for 3 days and later totally off from our screens, because ultimately that’s what it will lead to, when viewers loses interest – we highly condemn this and will fight this fight until SABC decides to leave our soapy on air for 5 working days."
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IMAGE CREDIT: Twitter/Real7deLaan