Govt paralysis costs film industry thousands of jobs, millions in revenue

0:00Hundreds of film industry professionals protested in Cape Town on 28 January 2026.
Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp

The process to address the backlog of about R700 million in film production application is expected to resume on 30 September.
The industry said 1 850 jobs and R822 million in production spending have been lost this financial year.
New applications are expected to be adjudicated from November under an agreement to revise the film incentive programme.

The Save SA Film and TV Jobs Coalition and the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition have reached an agreement to address the industry crisis caused by the paralysis of the South African Film and Television Production Incentive.

The incentive was launched in 2004 to support the local film industry and is regarded as essential for international competitiveness. But it has collapsed in recent years, GroundUp reports.

The coalition and the department jointly agreed to reconvene adjudication meetings to process a backlog of about R700 million in film production applications by 30 September, the Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition heard on Tuesday.

They told MPs that 1 850 jobs and an estimated R822 million in production spend were lost this financial year.

The coalition represents film and TV organisations representing producers, writers, actors, directors, editors, cinematographers, documentary filmmakers, animators, stunt performers, and many others.

In January, hundreds of film industry workers marched to Parliament, calling for the resumption of the film incentive, which has not processed any new applications since 2024.

READ |Film industry wants incentive scheme boss axed

The coalition told MPs in February that the film industry was a major driver of youth employment and economic growth.

Trade, Industry, and Competition Minister Parks Tau said at the time the programme stalled due to fiscal pressures.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the budget for the film incentive was reallocated as production stalled, resulting in a significant “contingent liability” from a backlog of payments for approved productions.

On Tuesday, the department’s acting deputy director-general for incentives, Justice Ngwenya, said the contingent liability stood at approximately R2 billion for the year ended March 2021, but since September 2025 had “shown a consistent downward trend” and was R255 million as at June 2026.

READ |From global darling to life support: How SA’s film incentive fell apart

Ngwenya added that once the contingent liability had been cleared, the adjudication meetings would resume.

The coalition released a statement on 25 July, declaring that after several meetings with the department since February, talks had deadlocked. It called for the department to resume its adjudication committee meetings, which had been stalled for more than two years.

Coalition representative and entertainment lawyer Unathi Malunga told Parliament that the department received a budget allocation for 2026/27 of R236 million.

The budget has been allocated, but the department still does not convene adjudication committee meetings; the continued paralysis becomes an administrative failure, and that … has consequences.

Malunga said that, in addition to the nearly R800 million in lost production spend, the government also “forfeited” between R100 million and R125 million in tax revenues.

The coalition is also calling for the removal of the department’s director of film and television production, Nelly Molokoane, for alleged lack of oversight over the incentive programme that “has effectively collapsed”.

The department told GroundUp it was “unable to comment on this matter at this stage”.

In Parliament, Deputy Trade, Industry, and Competition Minister Zuko Godlimpi said the department was “mindful of industry’s view that discussions have reached an impasse on certain matters. We acknowledge these concerns, and we remain committed to engaging in good faith to find practical and sustainable solutions”.

He added that the department had been in talks with the National Treasury on the possibility of introducing a tax rebate system aimed at “building an incentive framework that is fiscally sustainable” and “administratively efficient”.

MPs raised concerns about the delay in resuming the adjudication committee meetings.

Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster of BOSA welcomed the progress in reducing the contingent liability but said:

Progress in paying off historic liabilities is not the same as restoring a functioning incentive.

The department and coalition agreement sets out a timeline for establishing short-term working groups and jointly developing revised incentive guidelines.

The adjudication cycle for applications submitted but not yet approved will start at the end of September. According to the plan, adjudicating new applications should resume by the end of November.

Portfolio committee chairperson Mzwandile Masina said in a statement that the committee welcomed the progress and urged the department “to resolve its capacity constraints to ensure that the industry is adequately supported”.