As the country’s most watched telenovela, Uzalo is often faced with the pressure of being on top of their game. If anything, their storyline has to be very exciting to keep their millions of viewers and also rope in a newer audience. Many people have expressed how disappointed they are of Uzalo’s constant repetition of storylines making it less exciting.

Read more: Uzalo Inks A 3 Year Agreement With The SABC

Following the SABC’s cautionary advice to the production team, they have decided to pull their socks up. The drama series was skating on thin ice with the broadcaster after losing more than 2.6 million viewers in a short space of time. After the broadcaster’s intervention, they have upped their game and viewers can expect hotter content for the following season.

One of the main actors who has been with the show for 4 seasons Masoja Msiza who plays Nkunzebomvu Mhlongo, told Daily Sun that the show’s storyline has been tweaked for season 5. The cast has returned to work and filming has resumed, so when they got handed their scripts, a sense of joy was instilled in them.
The entertainment industry is very cut-throat and with the current pandemic, actors always cross their fingers hoping to have their contracts renewed yearly. Uzalo’s dwindling numbers instilled fear and the cast and crew members were crossing their fingers. They were also apparently underpaid which resulted in their poor performance.

In their investigation, the broadcaster found that there was a direct correlation between the two factors and their immediate intervention was imminent.
“Yes, there are issues with Uzalo because of its dwindling numbers and the complaints we received from viewers who said the storyline was now boring. We urged the producers to come up with creative storylines to rescue the soapie because it was important to the SABC. Another thing we emphasized was that actors need to be paid decent salaries for their work,” an executive told Sunday World.Much to their surprise, SABC decided to give Uzalo another shot by keeping them in production for three more years. SABC 1 had announced a 3-year agreement with Stained Glass, which produces Uzalo.

“Uzalo has earned it and its performance speaks for itself. The property has broken a set of records in the industry for a soapie or a long-running drama series. It’s the youngest entry in the SABC stable and it is phenomenal what the property has managed to achieve despite the challenges this year has shown not only in the broadcasting landscape but the country as a whole. ” says Sane Zondi – SABC 1’s Programmes Manager.