So it’s Halloween, and you run a new channel, and you want to nail some kind of crossover.

To be fair, the news coming out of America is far more terrifying than anything Hollywood could dream up, but until all the votes are counted, we won’t know for certain who’s won that race.

Closer to home, eNCA was reporting on corruption and financial mismanagement in our municipalities, and anchor Thulasizwe Simelane was driving home the point that this should terrify us.

Then the segment takes an unexpected and clearly ill-thought-out twist, as somebody wanders into picture wearing a Scream-style mask and brandishing a fake knife.

Simelane may be well-respected as a news anchor, but I’m not sure he would make a smooth transition to acting.

All in all, this one is a hot mess, with things slowly escalating from the 30-second mark:

KILLER OF DREAMS. Extremely weird and badly done Halloween mess on @eNCA (@DStv 403) with anchor Thulasizwe Simelane. pic.twitter.com/EEqLhLqK7C

— TVwithThinus (@TVwithThinus) November 3, 2020

“The killers of dreams and futures have been stabbing, slashing, and cutting our finances to pieces.”

True, but did we need the half-hearted blade-wielder to really, really, spell it out?

Mmusi Maimane says some of the blame must go to Simelane for not fully committing:

The problem is Thula’s didn’t commit. If you are going to do a Halloween theme then you have to commit 😂. He should have run off the studio set.

— Mmusi Maimane (@MmusiMaimane) November 3, 2020

I think the blame needs to go towards whoever thought this would work on live television.

[source:briefly]