South Africa has no shortage of policy documents, regulatory frameworks or statements of intent. What it often lacks is timely, coherent action. The cost of that gap is now being borne by the country’s creative industries.
This week, film and television industry players gathered outside Parliament under the banner Save SA Film Jobs. Not because they enjoy making placards or early mornings, but because polite letters, technical submissions and good-faith engagement have produced precisely nothing in response from government. When an industry employing tens of thousands of people has to protest simply to be heard, something has already failed in the corridors of power.
Unfortunately, the film and television sector is not an outlier.
South Africa has a long list of economically significant sectors that sit permanently just below the ministerial waterline: important enough to praise in speeches, but not important enough to fix when systems break. They are export-facing, labour-intensive and reputation-sensitive. They create real jobs, attract foreign capital and support entire local value chains.
Between 2016 and 2019 alone, film and television supported around 60,000 direct jobs, over 100,000 indirect livelihoods, and generated billions of rand in annual production spend and foreign investment — with more than two-thirds of those jobs filled by people under the age of 35. And yet the sector is routinely deprioritised because it is fragmented, too polite and too patient.
Until it isn’t.
The film and television rebate crisis is a perfect example. This is not a new problem. For years, the incentive has not been paid out on time, and the industry has declined sharply as a result. Tens of thousands of jobs have been lost, along with billions of rand in revenue.
This should have been fixed already. Not debated. Not “noted”. Fixed.
Instead, the state has done what it too often does: kicked the can down the road, stopped answering emails, and hoped the problem would resolve itself quietly. That strategy only works if industries can afford to wait. The film industry cannot.
Once productions leave, they do not pause politely offshore until South Africa gets its house in order. They go to countries with policy certainty, and they stay there.
That is the real damage: not just lost projects, but a damaged reputation. South Africa is increasingly seen as an unreliable filming destination — not creatively lacking, not technically incompetent, but risky. In a global industry defined by tight timelines and mobile capital, that is fatal.
The uncomfortable truth is this: government does not respond to economic logic alone. It responds to pressure that is organised and persistent. If an industry does not speak the state’s language, it will be deprioritised by default.
What these “ignored” industries need is not louder outrage, but strategic advocacy and engagement that translates into influence, at the level and in the language where decisions are actually made.
No industry should have to lose most of its capacity before being taken seriously. Film and television are facing this now; others, from aviation to agriculture, should recognise the pattern early.
South Africa still has a narrow window to reclaim its reputation as a professional, sought-after destination for filming.
We do not have the time – or the money – to keep messing around.
– Victoria Tompkins
Account Manager