SOUTH INDIANS ON THE WARPATH AFTER DSTV CUTS OFF SUN TV ON HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
"WE CANNOT BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED BY DSTV AND OTHER ROLE PLAYERS"
(Mr Marie Pillay-Ramaya (right), president of SATF, with former SATF president, Mr Karthi Moothsamy)
(By Subry Govender)
The South Indian community in South Africa, which is made up of people whose mother tongues are Tamil and Telegu, are up in arms that a television network had cut off SUN TV from its south-Indian bouquet on Monday (March 21), which was celebrated as Human Rights Day.
Hundreds of subscribers immediately went on the offensive on the internet, accusing the television company, DSTV, of trying to marginalise the south-Indian community that makes up nearly 60 percent of the 1,5-million people of Indian-origin in South Africa.
One cultural activist, Mr Vasu Devar, immediately started a petition-drive and obtained the support of the South African Tamil Federation (SATF), the KwaZulu-Natal Tamil Federation (KZNTF), Tamil Action Group(TAG) and other cultural organisations promoting the cause of Tamils who are descendants of indentured sugar cane labourers.
(SUN TV CUT OFF ON HUMAN RIGHTS DAY IN SOUTH AFRICA)
"We need to sign a petition and hand over to DSTV Indian Bouquet," said Mr Devar.
He added: "The irony is they cut it (Sun TV) on Human Rights Day.There are about 5 or 6 Hindi channels and Tamil had 2. Vijay TV was included late last year. So now we back to one Tamil channel.
"Sitting back and keeping quiet means we are not affected by it and there will go another Tamil channel. Let's us voice our opinions and stand up and be counted."
(TAMIL ACTION GROUP)
Mr Michael Lachimiah of the Tamil Action Group (TAG) responded by saying that "DSTV has been playing this game for ages and it is time now to put an end to this debacle".
"I suggest all South Indian subscribers to boycott the Indian bouquets on DSTV and migrate to STARSAT, which is greatly cost effective," he said.
"The good news emanating from STARSAT is that we have ZEE THAMIZH and we are awaiting 1 Tamil channel to be added to the bouquet towards the end of April and another Tamil channel being added later. The Tamil Action Group (TAG) together with the South African Tamil Federation have had in-depth discussions with the Management of SATRSAT and which are on-going to cater equitably to its loyal South Indian subscribers.
"The South Indian community must be united on this one."
(SOUTH AFRICAN TAMIL FEDERATION)
The president of the South African Tamil Federation(SATF), Mr Marie Pillay-Ramaya, took up the cudgels of the concerned south Indians by saying that the concerns of the Tamil people were being addressed and "relentlessly be pursued by the South African Tamil Federation".
He said the SATF together with cultural leaders would be taking up the issue with the DSTV management.
"Let us incessantly voice our opinions, frustrations and above all, make our suggestions and recommendations to DSTV, thus helping the SATF alleviate these concerns," he said,
While the people were still agitating against the action of DSTV, the people received messages from Chennai-based Mr Enver Govender and his sister in Durban, Ms Jayambal Govender, that Sun TV was restored.
Said one militant Tamil activist: "We are being taken for granted by all role players in South Africa. They just want to trample over our cultures, languages and traditions. DSTV is not giving us SUN TV for free. We pay a lot of money and we must be treated with respect." - ENDS - SUBRY GOVENDER MARCH 25 2016
https://www.facebook.com/jayambal.govender.9/posts/1047769065261420
ReplyDeleteMs Jayamal Govender contacted me to intervene in re-establishing the Sun TV in SA. I have contacted some of my friends who are working in different TV channels in Chennai. I posted an urgent message on my Facebook page and in two other influential groups in Facebook.I relied the message in Twitter and so did my friends who have participated last year's petition against charging a fee to Tamil classes at the Indian consulate in Durban. My message in Tamil together with the message in English that MS. Jayambal sent me, went viral. The result was immmediate. The protests by varius means from SA were also important. Sam Vijay
Don't give up the fight. It's sad that we pay the same amount of money and get marginalized. We got to ask ourselves why is it that the Tamil community is the largest amongst Indians but the support is the smallest.
ReplyDeleteDon't give up the fight. It's sad that we pay the same amount of money and get marginalized. We got to ask ourselves why is it that the Tamil community is the largest amongst Indians but the support is the smallest.
ReplyDelete