Isidingo will air it's last episode

On 25 November 2019, the South African Broadcasting Commission (SABC) issued a statement confirming that soap opera Isidingo the Need will be cancelled due to low viewership numbers. Isidingo first aired on 7 July 1998, and after twenty-one years on television the soap opera’s last episode will be aired on 12 March 2020. The soapie followed the lives of residents based in the fictional mining town of Horizon Deep. The writers of the soapie aimed at producing storylines which resonated with ordinary South Africans. It should come as no surprise then that Isidingo was the first soapie to incorporate current affairs in South Africa in its episodes. In 2006, five days after same sex marriages were legalized in South Africa, the soapie aired the first gay wedding on TV. It was also the first soapie to air an interracial romantic relationship and wedding back in 2001.

During the 2000s, the soapie aimed at destigmatizing HIV and AIDS through portraying a character living with disease. It also featured an episode to memorialize one of the soapies actresses Ashley Callie, after her death in 2008. Isidingo has been heralded for its efforts to address societal ills and for tackling taboo topics. However, over the years the soapie has suffered to sustain its viewership perhaps due to ever changing cast members and TV slots. The soapie has won its fair share of South African Film and TV awards over the years including the Golden Horns Best TV Soap in 2006 and 2009.