Veteran actress Vatiswa Ndara has accused the broadcasting industry of sidelining her.
Ndara reveals this information in her upcoming autobiography, Unfiltered 2, which delves into the less glamorous realm of show business.
“One can confidently say that I have been blacklisted. The tricky thing about being blacklisted, though, is that one can’t really prove it.
“The telltale signs are there that you’ve been blacklisted, but how do you prove it? I don’t think broadcasters and producers are dumb enough to expose their malicious ways by having a blacklist dossier, especially for someone who’s done nothing wrong,” writes Ndara.
Price of knowing your worth
She is articulate, eloquent, and talented, yet struggling to secure an acting job due to being too vocal and outspoken about the flaws of South African show business.
Ndara released the first version of her book two years ago, and she is set to release the second edition of her autobiography, titled Unfiltered: My Unglamorous Odyssey in the World of South African Entertainment, in October.
The book will lay bare her experiences of love, loss, grief, depression, suicide, and the toxicity that exists in the film and broadcasting industry.
The price of knowing your worth, Ndara says, is that she has been blacklisted from the film industry and doubts she will ever be cast for a role again.
The former YFM and Metro FM news anchor has gone from being a sought-after news anchor on the biggest radio stations to playing some of the most prominent roles on television.
It was in 2023 that she opened up about refusing to sleep her way to an even higher position. She detailed how a manager invited himself to her home and made sexual advances.
When she reported the matter to the Media Workers Association of South Africa, things started to go downhill for her career, she says.
Sexual harassment case
In the previous book, she shared that after she reported the sexual harassment case at the SABC, she was shot at. She survived two bullets to her hip and another that missed her spinal cord.
Ndara later unpacked how actor and production boss Peter Sephuma allegedly groped her in the workplace. She was barred from the SABC Africa offices and lost her income.
These circumstances led her to leave the job as a newsreader and pursue acting, which she nailed.
In her upcoming book, she details how she survived suicide, depression, and unemployment due to “industry blacklisting”.
“Instead, when there are no roles allocated in the direction of the blacklisted person, the decision-makers can easily blame that on the scarcity of roles suitable for ‘Mr or Ms Blacklisted’,” she writes in the book extract.
“In 2020 I confronted Mzansi Magic, seeking confirmation that they had blacklisted me. I did this after a producer informed me that he was denied casting me for a role in his new show.
“However, the allegation was swiftly denied. Lufuno Nethengwe, MNet’s head of drama, assured me that the channel had no issues with me.
“He explained that the decision to reject the producer’s casting choice was not due to blacklisting but rather a matter of ensuring the right fit for the role. Was this their subtle way of telling me I couldn’t act?”
Some say I deserve punishment
Ndara continues: “Executive head of programming at MultiChoice Nomsa Philiso echoed Lufuno’s sentiments.
“In an email, she also assured me that they had no issues with me. Aww! What sweet and kind people they are.
“They said they didn’t blacklist me and had no issues with me. That would explain why they don’t really encourage people to hire me – because they have no issues with me.
“Right? Some people, though, believe that I deserve this punishment, as I should have kept my big mouth shut and not exposed the atrocities in the world of film and television in South Africa.
“Well, how do you keep quiet when a bug somehow gets under your clothing? It bites you a couple of times, and you try to ignore it.
“The biting continues unabated to a point where you jump and scream because you can’t take it anymore.”
