Film industry practitioners attending a mass Johannesburg meeting with President Jacob Zuma and several ministers on 17 November would have been disheartened to hear Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan proclaim that the state had less money to spend on the creative industries because of the recession. Thus, they could not rely fully on government for a bail-out.
Several hundred musicians, artists and actors also attended the meeting, including John Kani, Lebo M, Mandoza and Hugh Masekela.
According to Business Day, Gordhan advised the cultural industries to balance their expectations of state aid with a determination to help themselves. Scant comfort for the TV production sector that is owed millions by public broadcaster in disarray, the SABC.
Zuma did however note that the Department of Labour was establishing where freelance artists fit in with labour legislation. Further, the Department of Communications is looking to increase local content quotas, while copyright ownership concerns will be addressed by the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill.
