The following speech was delivered in Parliament today by the DA’s Shadow Minister of Arts and Culture, Winston Rabotapi MP, during the Budget Vote on Arts and Culture.
Chairperson
It is yet another year and yet another budget vote. We are all sitting here and deliberating, hoping for the best to come out of these deliberations. South Africans, many of them artists, are watching and listening with bated breath, hoping for a budget that will turn their lives around for the better.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), the struggling public broadcaster, is on the brink of financial collapse.
I want to ask today: Just how deep is the SABC’s financial commitment to South African artists?
This public corporation owes the South African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) R14.5 million, the South African Music Rights Association (SAMRA) R52.7 million, the Association of Independent Record Companies (AIRC) R2.8 million, the Composers Authors and Publishers Association (CAPASO) R3 million and the Recording Industry of South Africa (RISA) R2.4 million.
These outstanding payments undermine the good work and positive contribution that our artists make, and whilst they struggle to survive, the Department drags its heels in updating the regulations to better protect the artists.
Honourable Minister Mthethwa, the Copyright Amendment and the Performers Protection Amendment Bills aim to develop a legal framework on copy rights and related rights aiming to protect the artists and performers.
Hence, payment of royalties is not optional but an imperative. However, collecting societies must be regulated by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission.
Honourable Minister, we have many orphan works and we must help our rural communities and artists who note songs and pen works of literary value to copyright ownership and make sure that these works are not stolen. Therefore, this Department must embark on a program of information.
Honourable Minister, there are key issues in the budget like in Programme 2, Monitoring and Evaluation, which takes up 10% of this program annually, but has yet to table a report to the Portfolio Committee.
This year sees a substantial increase of 23.9% in the Office Accommodation budget which sees this allocation jump to 39.8% higher than the normal inflationary increase.
Has the staff complement increased? No. And to think that all this happened before we were downgraded to junk status. What can we expect now?
The Mzansi Golden Economy programme only succeeds in creating space for consultants and contractors. The Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) outsources services to alleviate capacity constraints within the Department.
Honourable Minister, please instruct your Director-General to stop cadre deployment and employ skilled people, whilst placing greater focus on developing those already within your Department. What we find here is the empowerment of the empowered.
You can trust that the DA will ensure that freedom, fairness, and opportunity thrives.
I thank you.