5FM has suspended traffic reporter on the Fresh@5 show, Sol Phenduka, over “insensitive” comments he made on Thursday regarding the murder of the Van Breda family in Stellenbosch earlier this week.
In a statement, 5FM said it would like to apologise to those offended by the comments of contributor Phenduka on air this morning.
Phenduka features on the ‘Fresh or Vrot’ segment of the show in which he highlights news that was either ‘fresh’ or ‘vrot’ during the week. On Thursday morning, Phenduka talked about the surviving 16 year old daughter, Marli van Breda, referring to her survival as “fresh” because she was the only person who could identify the killer.
He also said she was “ gorgeous” and that he would “like to axe her out”, but that he “wouldn’t X her”. Phenduka came in for flak on social media platforms with users accusing him of making jokes far too soon after such a tragic event.
“Despite’s Phenduka’s apology on Twitter, 5FM management has decided to suspend both Sol as well as the show’s producer for three days. The station has also decided to pull the Fresh and Vrot feature completely from the show, effective immediately,” it said.
“5FM management considers this morning’s Fresh and Vrot Feature on Fresh@5 to be in utterly poor taste and would like to apologise unreservedly for these comments. The station has suspended two members of the team and has decided that this morning’s broadcast of the Fresh and Vrot feature will be the team’s last.”
