25 Mar 2020
Good afternoon
Fellow South Africans, and Members of the Media
President of the
Republic of South Africa, His Excellency, MC Ramaphosa, in his address to the
nation on the 15 March 2020, declared the spread of Corona Virus (Covid 19) a
national disaster. This declaration necessitated the implementation of measures
to mitigate the challenges.
Amongst the
measures announced by the President was to limit gatherings to less than one
hundred people. This necessary measure was a fatal blow to the sector, since it
depends on numbers for it to survive be it Gigs, Concerts, Sporting matches et
al.
We made the
point at the time and we are reiterating now, that sporting and creative
sectors are going to be the hardest hit by these critically important measures.
Subsequent to
the address by the President to the Nation we convened sectoral meetings and a
number of issues were discussed and suggestions made on how to mitigate the
impact of the pandemic.
On the sporting
front for instance they shared with us actions that they have already taken to
respond positively to the call made by the President. This includes amongst
others the postponement and cancellation of matches. In the final analysis,
they further made suggestions on how to address the challenges brought by the
outbreak of COVID-19.
The cultural and
creative sector remains in the desperate situation as the result of the
declaration. They have made some suggestions on how to deal with the situation.
They have made the following suggestions:
- Utilisation of 4th Industrial Revolution on live performances with no audiences (Live Streaming).
- They suggested that we engage the private sector
especially the financial services sector for the relief on such things
like House and Car mortgages, rents and other instalments.
- They also wanted government to give direction on
athletes who are trapped abroad like in USA and Europe.
- We engage our sister Department of Communications
to avail platforms for key individuals in the sector to send messages of
hope and awareness on Corona Virus.
- To ensure that the Public Broadcaster is biased in
favour of local content during this period.
This will go a
long way in alleviating the plight of artists and athletes.
In this meeting
we also had the presence of the organised formations in the sector such as
National Federations in sports and the Confederation (SASCOC).
On the side of
the cultural and creative sector we had the federation of the creatives the
Creative and Cultural Industries Federation of South Africa (CCIFSA).
We also had
collecting societies like SAMBRO, SAMPRO, IMPRA and CAPASSO who all have made
commitments to pay royalties to members on time.
We urge everyone
to play a role in addressing the difficulties faced by the sector. Let us put a
shoulder to the wheel.
All these
suggestions mean we must get resources, especially financially, to address the
challenges at hand. This means at looking at what the department can do.
Budget
Allocation
The Department
has therefore reprioritized its budget allocation from quarter one to avail
over R150 million to provide the much needed relief to practitioners in the
sector.
The allocated
funds will be utilized to render various forms of support to practitioners
during this period. Priority will be given to artists and practitioners
who were already booked by some of the cancelled and postponed events funded by
the department, as well as to the legends of the industry.
For the
audiovisual sector, already over 25 TV productions have been postponed,
possibly to be cancelled by broadcasters, about 15 live shows have been
cancelled: the DSAC together with the Department of Communication are engaging the
broadcasters to ensure that producers should pay the cast and crew that were
due to go into production.
Partnership
with the DSAC Playhouses to create live streaming programmes
The playhouses,
which are entities of the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture will avail to
artists a platform to perform live-streaming activities which includes amongst
others stand-up comedy, poetry sessions, music, and so forth. This will
be done to keep people entertained, to showcase the work of the creatives, and
to promote local content across all art genres. The Department will commission
service providers in the digital space to curate new programs in all
disciplines to ensure that artists continue to work. The department will share
detailed plans on the process for participation.
Support from
Entities of DSAC to Practitioners
The National
Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) will offer immediate relief to practitioners
in the film industry by prioritising and making payments to beneficiaries that
have submitted milestones in the past two weeks on an urgent basis.
Beneficiaries who have yet to submit milestones over the next three months will
also be paid. NFVF also intends to release a call for Development,
Post-Production, Animation and Archive by the end of this week, which
ordinarily would have only been released in August. The aim of this
exercise is to ensure that normal processes are applied to all applications
including council approvals by the 10th of June to keep the
industry going. NFVF will further reprioritise funding earmarked for the
film festivals which have been cancelled, and realising them for an early
production in September 2020.
As part of the
slates programme which benefits young emerging producers, NFVF has further
identified a savings of R4.5 million from the current fiscal,
which will be used as part of the relief programme. NFVF will provide a
cash injection of R500 000 to the nine companies
currently commissioned by the organisation. This relief will only be
contained to the slates currently commissioned by the institution, and would be
extended it to anyone else in the industry.
Key messages
by practitioners in the sector #OneMessageManyVoices
The Department
further calls upon both the public and private broadcasters to lend a hand in
the relief program towards the sector by playing more locally produced content
to enable artists to earn royalties, and to show patriotism towards their
country. Part of DSAC’s education and awareness programme is to share, messages
about Covid19, but also to communicate messages that will bring courage and
hope to South African citizens; that we are a resilient country and we can
triumph in spite of this pandemic. Through our campaign, we will be sending out
a strong message, that carries many voices. This we will attain by
commissioning young and upcoming artists, renowned artists, and our legends to
curate via their respective social media platforms.
Media
Enquiries:
Masechaba Ndlovu
Spokesperson
Minister:
Sports, Arts and Culture
Tel: +2782 858
4415
Email: MasechabaN@dac.gov.za
Issued by the
Ministry of Sports, Arts, and Culture
