“Today we are witnessing history being made in Africa,” CNBC Africa Chairman Zafar Siddiqi told journalists at the media briefing shortly before the 7pm presidential launch.
“This is a culmination of a long and hard journey in the past two and half years and I believe that we must celebrate because it is an important milestone in African broadcasting history.
“The channel's vision is to bring the wider community to learn about business. Our aim is to provide a platform for the ongoing inter-African discussion on globalisation, employment, career, business and investment opportunities, living standards, infrastructure development and other relevant issues.
“Please give us more time. Our biggest challenge only starts on Monday [today], when you will start to see things you have never seen and never heard on TV because CNBC Africa has something unique,” Siddiqi added.
From 7pm, President Mbeki participated in a live session, during which he answered various questions from business and political influential people from around the world. The Q&A presidential show was presented in the studio by Lerato Mbele and from the floor by Peter Ndoro, CNBC Africa's current director of communications.
Note that Mbele and Ndoro are both former employees of the SABC, which also ‘transferred' anchors Mandlakazi Mpahlwa, Nikiwe Bikitsha, Fenly Foxen and Leigh Roberts to CNBC Africa.
CNBC Africa's CEO Trevor Ormerod said: “We will broadcast local content from our offices in Joburg, taking feeds from our bureaux in Cape Town, Lagos, Nairobi and Abuja.”
Further African bureaux will be established on a roll-out basis, Ormerod said, adding that regional programming will include in-depth analyses of regional and major international stock exchanges, business and political updates and interactive talk shows.
Furthermore, Siddiqi said that by 2009 CNBC Africa will be able to link to almost all African countries, with countries such as DRC, Mauritius and probably Tanzania figuring in the top list.
The channel has been signed up as the exclusive broadcaster of the World Economic Forum Africa Summit, due to open in Cape Town, SA, on 13 June.
Asked if the launch of CNBC Africa could have an impact, on one way or another, on Al-Jazeera – which began showing broadcasting in SA the day before on 31 May– Siddiqi said: “Not at all. We have a good relationship with Al-Jazeera and I do not see them as our rival. Besides, we both have totally different markets.”
CNBC Africa is accessible on DStv's channel 54, as well as free-to-air across SA, and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa on the Sentech Vivid platform.
The function launch was made possible by Standard Bank, Motorola, Sasol and the IDC, which owns close to 30% of CNBC Africa.
