Nandos Terminates Sponsorship Of 'The Burning Platform' Following Racial Incident
Nandos has terminated its sponsorship of The Burning Platform on Cliff Central after the host, Gareth Cliff, dismissed racial concerns raised by One South Africa (OSA) Movement member Mudzuli Rakhivhane as unimportant.
The OSA Movement was founded by Mmusi Maimane, the former leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA).
Nando’s has been sponsoring The Burning Platform for the past five years.
During the interview with DA leader John Steenhuisen and OSA Movement member Mudzuli Rakhivhane, aired on 21 October 2021, Cliff discussed the furore over DA posters in Phoenix, Durban, which were removed following a public outcry.
The posters claimed the ANC branded the historically Indian community as racist, while the DA celebrated them as heroes during the July unrest.
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During the interview, Cliff claimed race was “at the bottom of the list” for many South Africans, but Rakhivhane said, “They obviously don’t experience the type of racism I experience on a daily basis.”
Nando’s announced the termination of its sponsorship of The Burning Platform in a statement this Saturday. The discontinuation of the sponsorship is with immediate effect. The statement read:
Nando’s supports healthy debate and the right to freedom of speech. For this reason, we have for years invested in supporting multiple platforms that enable open discussion of the big issues facing South Africans.
There are many instances in which Nando’s has not agreed with the opinions of both guests and presenters on Cliff Central but we have upheld their right to express those views as a core component of a healthy constitutional democracy.
In the case of The Burning Platform episode aired on 21st October 2021, Nando’s is of the view that Gareth Cliff failed to create an environment where free speech was possible by talking over Mudzuli Rakhivhane and dismissing her view whilst not allowing her to adequately express it.
This is highly disappointing to Nando’s and at odds with the reasons that we originally entered into our sponsorship of The Burning Platform more than five years ago.
We have made this known to Gareth Cliff and the Cliff Central Team and have urged them to address this with their audiences as a matter of priority.
As a result of Gareth’s actions on 21st October 2021, we have also made the decision to terminate our sponsorship of The Burning Platform with immediate effect.
Watch the video clip Rakhivhane shared on Twitter after the interview:
