South African Soap 'Generations' Returns on December 1, Minus the 16 Fired Cast Members

South African soap opera Generations will go off air next week after its current batch of episodes conclude, the SABC said on Sunday.

The series will resume on December 1, said the broadcaster's spokesperson, Kaizer Kganyago.

The current set of episodes feature 16 actors who last month were booted from the show after going on strike over a wage dispute.

On Friday, the fired actors approached the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to seek reinstatement.

The City Press reported on Sunday that the new version of the series would be sans the fired actors. The newspaper reported that series producer Mfundi Vundla had apparently sent out an SMS declaring "new show is Top Secret!!".

Local drama Skeem Saam is set to replace Generations in its weekday 8 p.m. time slot in the interim.

Skeem Saam is described on the SABC 1 website as being "a blend of stories about the journey to manhood" with the "underlying premise" that "real men are made, not born."

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Fired 'Generations' Actors Seek CCMA Help; SABC Shelving The South African Soap in October

Fired Generations actors Slindile Nodangala, Patrick Shai and Thato Molamu.

Sixteen actors fired from South African soap opera Generations have approached the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to seek reinstatement, they said on Friday.

The cast, organized under the "Generations Actors Guild" (Gag), said in a statement they were "unshaken" in their resolve to secure their demands. These include a reduction to 10 working hours a day, provision of social benefits, an end to inconsistencies in remuneration, payment of royalties, and better working conditions.

'Generations' Cast Fired After Striking For More Pay: Future of Popular South African Soap Opera Uncertain

Popular South African soap opera Generations (not to be confused with the old NBC daytime soap with the same name in the United States) is facing an uncertain future after producers fired the star-studded cast this week after they went on strike for more pay. Sixteen actors had complained they were "struggling actors" while the production house and state broadcaster SABC raked in big profits.

Generations premiered in 1993, a year before the nation's first all-race elections ended apartheid, and now a whole generation is hooked on the soap, whose characters from the black South African middle class conspire and maneuver in the advertising world.