Hundreds of Gauteng farmers will shut down Isibaya studios in Joburg on Thursday in protest against police's failure to arrest the soapie's senior manager who was probed for allegedly stealing goats belonging to farmer Chris Mabunda.
Mabunda, who is organising the protest, said he had joined forces with other affected farmers from the province to disrupt production of episodes at Isibaya's Devland studios until the police and the soapie bosses comply with their demands.
Mabunda said their demands, among others, were that police investigate whether or not the soapie manager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was not responsible for the violent farm robberies and murders that occurred during stock theft in the past.
He said they also want Isibaya to consider compensating them for the loss they suffered as a result of the theft of their animals. They also want Isibaya bosses to distance themselves from the theft of their livestock and fire the manager who was implicated. "We want this matter to be resolved without taking the law into our own hands," Mabunda said.
Last week, Sunday World reported that Mabunda opened three cases of stock theft after his goats, cattle and sheep were stolen between 2014 and 2015.
He alerted the police after he saw one of his stolen goats, which was used in a scene depicting rural settings, while watching the soapie.
The thieves, according to Mabunda, used a vehicle belonging to Bomb Productions, which produces the soapie, to ferry the swag from Mabunda's farm in Eikenhof, south of Joburg.
But to his shock, police failed to arrest one of the soapie's managers after he allegedly confessed to be the mastermind behind the stock theft. The manager deposed an affidavit, which we have seen, at Kliptown police station in which he agreed to settle the matter with the farmers.
Isibaya producer Kutlwano Ditsele said they were conducting an internal investigation into the matter.
"This matter had nothing to do with Isibaya or Bomb Productions and the livestock was never found on our set."
source: sundayworld
