South Africa’s film and television industry is preparing for mass protests in Cape Town and Pretoria in the last week of January, warning that thousands of jobs are at risk as government inaction cripples one of the country’s most important creative industries.
Under the banner Save SA Film Jobs, filmmakers, actors, writers, and crew members will march to parliament in Cape Town on January 28.
Another march will be staged on January 29 at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition headquarters in Pretoria.
They are accusing the department of effectively shutting down the Film and TV Incentive Scheme through administrative paralysis.
Industry bodies say the department has failed to convene adjudication committee meetings or approve applications for nearly two years, despite insisting the incentive remains open.
According to the Save SA Film Jobs coalition, no adjudication meetings have taken place since March 2024, leaving dozens of local and international productions stuck in limbo.
“The incentive exists on paper, but not in reality,” the coalition said. “The result has been stalled productions, lost livelihoods, and a collapse in investor confidence that is driving major international projects to other countries.”
Sector shrinks by 50%
Before the crisis, the local film and television industry employed about 60 000 full-time and freelance workers and supported more than 100 000 indirect jobs, generating between R8-billion and R10-billion in annual production value.
It also attracted about R3.8-billion in foreign direct investment while providing critical employment to young South Africans, with nearly 67% of the workforce under the age of 35.
Since 2020, the sector has shrunk by almost 50%, with hundreds of millions of rands in foreign investment lost as uncertainty around the incentive grows.
Industry leaders say the damage extends far beyond producers.
Actors are losing their roles, writers’ scripts are accumulating dust, directors and technicians are staying at home, and small businesses like catering, transport, and equipment hire companies are facing significant challenges.
The planned marches follow a protest held in February this year, when hundreds of industry workers gathered outside the department’s offices in Pretoria to hand over a memorandum demanding urgent fixes to the incentive system.
Despite assurances from the government, the coalition says little has changed, making renewed national action unavoidable.
“This ongoing dysfunction is dismantling one of South Africa’s most promising export industries,” the coalition warned.
“It is reversing transformation gains and destroying jobs in a sector that should be growing, not collapsing.”
Allocation of funds
The protests are being organised by a national coalition including Animation SA, the South African Guild of Actors, the Independent Producers Organisation, the Writers’ Guild of South Africa, the Personal Managers’ Association, and the South African Screen Federation.
Among their demands are the immediate resumption of adjudication meetings, the clearing of the application backlog, and a full overhaul of the film incentive in genuine partnership with the industry.
The coalition also demands transparency in the allocation and payment of funds, along with clear reporting on the creation and maintenance of jobs.
“If the government acts, the industry can recover and grow,” the coalition said. “If it does not, South Africa will continue to lose jobs and investment that it simply cannot afford to lose.”
