GOVERNMENT BETRAYAL KILLS SOUTH AFRICA’S DREAMS! The lights are going out on a billion-rand industry as fat-cat bureaucrats BLOCK over R660 MILLION owed to desperate filmmakers, driving world-class talent to flee the country. This isn’t just mismanagement—it’s a calculated SABOTAGE of national culture and thousands of jobs.
While politicians posture, our cinematic legacy is being MURDERED. Landmark productions, like a R160-million historical epic backed by the BBC, are now DEAD. The message to the world is clear: South Africa is a BROKEN promise, a film set where the only thing produced is despair.
The crisis stems from a shocking bait-and-switch by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition. After vowing to clear a backlog of unpaid incentives, they instead FROZE the entire scheme—strangling new projects at birth. TWO YEARS later, the bloodletting continues with NO END IN SIGHT. This isn’t frugality; it’s an ideological WAR on a transformative sector that generates R5 for every rand invested.
Who benefits from this carnage? Our global competitors are LAUGHING as they poach our crews and steal our productions. The government’s inaction is a multi-billion rand GIFT to rival film hubs, funded by the shattered livelihoods of South African artists, technicians, and hoteliers. This is economic treason.
The human cost is CATASTROPHIC. For a nation drowning in youth unemployment, the film industry was a lifeline with a 5.6x job multiplier. Now, that hope is extinguished. This is more than killing movies; it’s killing futures, robbing an entire generation of its creative voice and a dignified paycheck.
As budget decisions are finalized behind closed doors, the silence from the DTIC is DEAFENING. Their credibility is in ruins, and with it, the last vestiges of South Africa’s reputation as a creative powerhouse. We are witnessing the final act of a national tragedy written by our own leaders.
One day, they will ask why our stories are only told by others, and the answer will echo from these empty soundstages: because we let them get away with it.
Author: Kayitsi.com
