An open letter to Trade and Industry Minister Parks Tau on non-payment of R663m to the film industry

Dear Minister Tau,

I am writing to call on you to urgently address the crisis facing South Africa’s film and television industry, which is at imminent risk of collapse.

Further delays would risk the loss of a once-thriving industry that supports tens of thousands of jobs and billions of rands in foreign investment, as well as the erasure of South Africa’s world-renowned scenery and heritage from screens across the globe.

I have written to the Speaker of the National Assembly, calling on her to schedule a debate of national importance on this matter. The following factors must be taken into account by both the Speaker and you, as the responsible minister, to highlight and address the industry’s concerns and end the financial distress and uncertainty affecting countless businesses and employees alike:

1. The receipt of a petition from employers and workers in the sector by myself and the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition yesterday, concerning the non-payment of R663-million in rebates owed to the sector. Another petition was presented to the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition today at the department campus in Pretoria. This non-payment will lead to bankruptcy and job losses across the sector if not urgently addressed;
2. In your response to my written question on this issue, you state that the department has no funds to pay any new claims, but remains open for applications. This constitutes a breach of the terms of the incentive programme and opens the department up to litigation which could take years to settle and cost millions of rands, while doing nothing to assist in ending this crisis in the short term;
3. Silence and inaction from yourself and the department regarding the crisis facing the industry, which could be relieved through actions to revive the Film and Television Production Incentive programme. The adjudication panel has not met since 2024, with no explanation from your department, while applications for the incentive remain open;
4. Producers with a reasonable expectation of accessing this incentive are thus being misled if, as it appears to be the case, the department has no intention to pay out any of these incentives at any point; and
5. Outside of the risks of non-payment of existing rebates, South Africa is rapidly losing new investment and existing film contracts to other countries whose rebates and incentives do work. This represents billions of rands in forgone investment, thousands of jobs lost and a further blow to the strained fiscus. South Africa’s reputation as a destination for film investment risks being permanently eroded if we do not act now.

Minister, according to a report commissioned by, among others, the Industrial Development Corporation and the Gauteng Film Commission, projects under the Film and Television Production Incentive (FTPI) generated R26.4-billion in gross value added over the past decade, including R13.9-billion in compensation paid to South African workers.

This means that every rand spent on these films generated roughly five rands’ worth of economic activity, and a substantial amount of revenue for the fiscus.

The level of economic activity, employment and output of the sector has declined rapidly since the FTPI has been paying out less and less, and since applications for the programme have been effectively stuck in an administrative bottleneck.

Neither your ministry nor the department have moved to fulfil promises made to the sector, and the significant backlog in paying rebates due is causing extreme harm to employers and workers in film and television.

After yesterday’s protest at Parliament, industry leaders met Mzwandile Masina MP, chair of the Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition, as well as myself and committee member Mlondi Mdluli, to listen to their grievances.

We committed to perform our oversight function with diligence and to that end we will be calling on you and the department to appear before the committee at the earliest opportunity.

I look forward to your response. DM

Toby Chance is the DA’s trade, industry and competition spokesperson.