The South African Creative Practitioners in Unity (SACPU) has threatened legal action should President Cyril Ramaphosa fail to meet the organisation over two bills.
SACPU said it was giving Ramaphosa 48 hours to respond to it with a date for a meeting to discuss parliament’s passing of the Copyright Amendment Bill and the Performers’ Protection Amendment Bill.
Failure to do so, said SACPU, will result in the organisation taking legal action with regards to the passing of the bills.
SACPU is an amalgamation of well-established, respected, and seasoned creatives from various sectors of the industry.
ANC’s majority in parliament
In a letter dated April 8, and sent to Ramaphosa on Monday, SACPU president Balungile Sokhulu said the organisation was shocked by the ANC’s decision to use its majority in parliament to vote in favour of the two bills.
The National Council of Provinces amended the Performers’ Protection Amendment Bill and the Copyright Amendment Bill, which were both adopted by parliament’s portfolio committee on trade, industry, and competition in February.
Both bills have been sent to Ramaphosa for assent.
“While we acknowledge and appreciate the amendment to these two pieces of legislation, the Copyright Act and Performers’ Protection Act, the industry has been plunged into a perpetual state of uncertainty as we have been robustly engaging in various forms of advocacy, in rejection of the ‘fair-use’ clause that is pervasive in the former,” Sokhulu said.
“We have also been vocal about the need for the harmonisation of the two bills. An open letter to you in your capacity as the president of the Republic of South Africa by our iconic veteran Mam’ Yvonne Chaka Chaka-Mhinga, dated March 3 2024, echoes the voices of the collective practitioners.
“It expresses the practitioners’ outmost shock by the behaviour of the ruling party in displaying utter contempt for the creative industry by its majority vote in parliament [236 votes] regarding the passing of both bills, while being fully aware of the concerns and objections of the industry through submissions to parliament and meetings held with government officials expressing the rejection of the numerous inexplicable exceptions and, in particular, the ‘fair-use’ clause.”
She said the organisation’s letter sent to Ramaphosa in March fell on deaf ears and was not responded to.
The letter was not acknowledged
Sokhulu explained: “This letter, we are advised, was never acknowledged or responded to.
“It is disheartening to witness a total silence from you as the president of the Republic of South Africa after receiving a letter from South Africa’s Progressive Cultural and Creative Industry Organisations dated March 5 2024.
“While we awaited a response from you, Luthuli House, under the leadership of Mr Fikile Mbalula, the secretary-general of the ruling party, the ANC, convened a ‘workshop’ which was organised for March 16 2024 at the Birchwood Hotel, where the cultural and creative industry was to ventilate its issues and objections to the bills.
“This ended up being a talk shop at which the SG [secretary-general] addressed the industry.
“Further humiliation continued as the ANC SG made a public announcement at the workshop that a meeting between you as the president of South Africa and the cultural and creative industries will take place on April 1 2024.
“He also specifically advised that the ANC would ensure that you would not sign the two bills into legislation until our objections to them are sufficiently ventilated and addressed. We were relieved and believed that finally, sanity would prevail.
“Sadly, this turned out to be an April fool’s joke, as that meeting, we are reliably advised, was not in your diary. The SG clearly lied to us.
“Practitioners are still awaiting formal communication from you and/or the Presidency regarding the letter addressed to you on March 5 2024, and now more recently, the meeting promised to us by the SG of the ANC that failed to materialise.”
Sokhulu said the organisation still wants to meet with Ramaphosa in order to ventilate the concerns that it has with the two bills.
We have been lied to
“The SG never specified in what capacity we would be meeting you. What is clear, though, is that he promised that the ANC, which had 236 votes in parliament, would ensure that you do not sign the bills as the president of South Africa.
“It must be noted that the ANC used its majority in parliament to vote for the passing of the bills, taking direction from Luthuli House, knowing full well that the decision will destroy any strides made thus far by the industry and further plunge all the creatives to the levels of the apartheid regime era, to be colonised by the multinationals that have been continuously coming to our shores and stripping our country of its valuable resources.
“We have huge turbulence and unrest within our industry that has been caused by government officials.
“The government of South Africa has failed to address the issues of the industry and instead exacerbates them.
“The industry continues to be open to meeting and discussing pertinent issues in the midst of the preparations for the polls on May 29. We, as the industry, shall not be trifled with anymore.
“The industry is giving you, the president of the Republic of South Africa, 48 hours to respond in writing with the date of the meeting, not with anyone but you, Mr President, in your capacity as the president of the Republic of South Africa.
“Failure to respond will result in the matter being handed over to our legal representatives to deal with matters in a legalistic manner on an urgent basis now that we realise we have been played and lied to about the meeting of April 1.”
