Just yesterday, poor viewerships stats of the Generations Legacy were revealed…Now more bad news to Mfundi Vundla’s soapie.
The fired cast now are back in court and want the Generations Legacy taken off screens by January 2015, tvplus reported.
TVPLUS REPORT
The 16 fired Generations have decided to now take the matter to the High Court in a dramatic move to challenge MMSV Productions for breach of contract.
According to the actors’ legal counsel, the lawyers have managed to identify a number of clear “constitutional breaches in MMSV Productions and the SABC’s handling of the dispute.” However, that’s not the only thing the Generations team is planning on addressing in front of the judge. They will also try and prevent the SABC from airing the current Generations – The Legacy. “The Generations Actors Guild has made a decision to challenge the airing of the show Generations – The Legacy, on the grounds that it is in contravention of the production house’s existing contractual terms with the cast and breaches their rights as defined in the constitution,” the GAG reps have said in a statement. The group hope to have the new Generations removed by 10 January 2015.
“The decision by MMSV Productions and the SABC to create a new show while the case with the Generations cast was as yet unresolved represents a breach of the contractual and fundamental constitutional rights of the actors and they both did so knowing that there was a pending dispute and hence it was at their own risk”, explains Mr Bulelani Mzamo, the actors’ attorney. “It has to be emphasized that the cast had always expressed their desire to return to work on the terms that had been agreed upon. Their withdrawal of services was taken as a last resort, based on the fact that this agreement was continuously violated. The actors consistently expressed their willingness to return to work. Nonetheless, MMSV Productions hired new actors and commenced with a new production, namely Generations – The Legacy, knowing that they have not resolved the fundamental contractual issues with the cast of Generations. It is on this basis that we are taking the case to the High Court. Generations – The Legacy should never have been produced and aired while the current dispute was still unresolved.”
With the High Court case now on the cards, the Generations team has withdrawn their CCMA case. Meanwhile, the Generations actors have released a joint statement addressing the latest developments. “The events of the past few months that led to us being fired for standing up for our right have only served to strengthen our resolve. We operate in an industry where labour practices are cloaked under a veil of secrecy, that allows for breaches and abuse of basic labour rights. We are and have always been clear about what we wanted – to work in an environment where our rights were respected, and the agreements that we had made with the two entities were held up. That they would rather fire us and replace us with a new cast, instead of addressing our very valid concerns, speaks volumes. We look forward to our case being heard and evaluated on its merits at the High Court.”
