At the time when the competition was announced, in June 2004, the SABC gave the assurance that the South African show would not ban certain political figures, as was the case in the German version which banned Nazis from the list. They soon came to regret their decision when the SABC became embroiled in a national controversy over the high rankings accorded to some South Africans who were less widely regarded as "great". For example,
Hendrik Verwoerd, the "Architect of Apartheid", ranked higher on the list than
Albert Luthuli, South Africa's first Nobel Peace laureate, or
Chris Hani, a famous anti-apartheid activist. Also present on the list was
Eugène Terre'Blanche, the head of the
Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging. Other controversial choices included an 11th placing for
Hansie Cronje, the disgraced former captain of the
South African cricket team, who admitted to taking bribes to influence the outcome of
test matches. On 14 October, the SABC announced that the show was being cancelled, leaving positions 2 to 10 still formally undecided. Letter columns in some newspapers called the show a farce and used the term "whites with cellphones" to explain the presence of Hendrik Verwoerd and Eugène Terre'Blanche high on the rankings. This view was rebutted by Afrikaans singer-songwriter
Steve Hofmeyr who pointed out that
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, an
anti-apartheid activist who was convicted of fraud post-apartheid, scored high on the list as well. According to Peter Matlare, CEO of the SABC, the show was stopped because "wider participation in the voting process" was necessary. When the show was stopped, the SABC claimed that their definition of a Great South African was actually someone who contributed to South Africa's development "and the promotion of humanity" and the fact that quite a few people on the list did not fit this description contributed to the decision to stop the show. ==The list==