The South African Script Writing Institute (The Institute), the training arm of the South African Script Writers’ Union (SASWU), is in danger of having to shut down operations due to a funding crisis caused by failure of funders to deliver on payment and on commitments.

The Institute is awaiting the second tranche of funds (from an amount of R3.2m) approved by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF) in the 2005 cycle. Says The Institute’s Nicola Rauch: “It seems that the NLDTF is still in absolute shambles. We don’t understand why the outstanding money has not been paid out yet, especially considering we were documented in the National Lottery’s 2007 Annual Report as a beneficiary in that amount for the year ending 31 March 2007. Furthermore, the NLDTF put out another call for applications in November last year and no-one knows yet who has been approved for funding in that cycle.”

Screen Africa contacted National Lottery spokesperson Sershan Naidoo for comment. “In the Annual Report we are obliged to list all the allocations made in that financial year, not actual payments. For this reason the following paragraph is to be found on page 13 of the Annual Report: ‘Included in the detailed list are conditional allocations made in the 2006/2007 financial year that we are obliged to accrue for. In the event of conditions not being met, this will be rectified in the next financial year and identified in the financial statements.’

“I admit that this issue has caused some confusion in the past so in the next Annual Report, for the first time, we will publish a list of actual payments made, in addition to the list of allocations.

Read more in the August 2008 issue of Screen Africa