This morning I have written to the Chairperson of the portfolio committee on trade, industry and competition, Hon Mzwandile Masina, requesting him to summon Minister Parks Tau and Director General Simphiwe Hamilton, to appear before the committee to respond to a letter the committee has received regarding the impasse between the film industry and the department on the non-functioning film incentive programme.
Since this committee first engaged with industry representatives in Cape Town over five months ago, Minister Tau, Deputy Minister Godlimpi and the Director General have assured us that the matter would be resolved timeously. They key demands were that prior funding commitments be met, current budgeted funds be spent and that the adjudication committee, which has not sat since March 2024, re-commence its work.
The Save SA Film Jobs letter also calls for the removal of the Film Unit Director, Ms M Molokoane, whom the industry believes has become an obstacle to finding solutions to the impasse. In their view, the person in charge when the crisis developed five years ago is the wrong person to fix it today.
SA’s film industry is a world leader and the film incentive was a critical component of that, competing with similar incentives in virtually every country where films are made. Without a functioning film incentive programme for five years, the industry has faced crippling cancellations, job losses and migration of film industry practitioners to more receptive territories.
Unless this impasse can be resolved within weeks, permanent damage will be inflicted and South Africa will have scored a massive own goal in the self-destruction of an entire industry