Council members are appointed to serve a single term at a time, but may be successively appointed for an unlimited number of terms, except for the Chairperson who may not serve more than three years in succession.
Mandated representatives of member affiliates of SASFED may be changed at any time at the prerogative of the affiliated member and so actual council members may change at any time during the year.
The Council elect from among their number at least the following office- bearers on an annual basis at the AGM:
1. A Chairperson,
2. A Treasurer,
3. A Communications Officer.
The Chairperson, either Co-Chairperson or Vice Chairperson and Treasurer, who shall not be connected in relation to each other, will accept the fiduciary responsibility for the organisation.
At the previous SASFED AGM of 20 August 2016, the following were decided upon:
Rehad Desai – Chairperson
Rehad Desai is a Producer/Director who runs his own company Uhuru Productions. Rehad entered the TV and film industry in 1997 as a current affairs journalist, and soon after moved on to focus his energy on historical and socio -political documentary film as a director and producer.
In 2000 he completed a post graduate degree in TV and film producing through Avea, Africa’s equivalent of the European Evea. In 2009 he completed a post graduate diploma in documentary through Eurodoc. He has produced over 20 documentaries, many directed by himself that have been broadcast internationally, accepted into numerous festivals and been received with critical acclaim. Rehad is a trustee of the Human Rights Media Trust and is the outgoing Chairperson of SOS- support public broadcasting.
Nick Cloete - Vice Chairperson
National Chair of Animation South Africa, a non-profit company mandated by industry to develop and represent animation and VFX in South Africa.
Managing Director at Mind's Eye Creative, a 2.D specialist digital computer animation studio.
Areas of interest:
- Strategic planning and operations
- Research
His ambition is to create the most optimal trading conditions in which the local film and television industry can thrive, coordinating with all stakeholders on policy, programmes and projects.
Sechaba obtained a BSc. Degree in Maths & Statistics from the
University of Manchester in England and a MFA Degree in Film and TV Directing
from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, California. Ubuntu’s Wounds,
his thesis film won numerous awards including the prestigious Franklin J. Schaffner
award for directing the best thesis film from his year, Best Short film at the
Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles and The Director's Guild of America
(DGA) Student Award for outstanding achievement in directing. The film also
showed on HBO for two years.
Sechaba has been working in the film industry as
an actor, writer, director, and producer for over 15 years. Some of his
work includes: Producing, writing and directing TV productions After 9, Hola
Mpinji and Ihawu; writing the acclaimed documentary film, Sobhukwe, and head
writing on Mponeng. His acting work includes: The Buddy Holly Show, Angels in
America, Green Man Flashing (theatre); Going Up III & IV, Yizo Yizo I,
Saints, Sinners and Settlers, Cry me A Baby, Kelebone, the Not quite Friday Night
series, Dangerous Grounds; Justice for All, Zero Tolerance, Backstage, Hard
Copy, Shadows, Isidingo, Sorted, The Wild, High Rollers and Bedford Wives.
Sechaba has also worked for the NFVF and KZN Film Commission as an evaluator,
having evaluated dramas, documentaries and training projects. He also works as
a script editor and teacher.
Since founding Underdog Productions in 1993, Marc Schwinges founded global consulting firm Transmedia Africa and several other production entities.
Marc is treasurer of the South African Screen Federation; Honorary Member and current board member of the SA Documentary Filmmakers Association; and was a previous Chairperson of the Independent Producers Organisation where he now serves on the broadcast sub-committee. He also represents the sector on the Digital Content Advisory Group of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, and is on the board of SOS – The Support Public Broadcasting Coalition.
He has produced a substantial volume of internationally acclaimed work in various forms of factual television from series to one offs and transmedia as well as fiction feature film work. He is busy with co-productions with Canada and The Netherlands.
Nhlanhla Ndaba - Communications
Nhlanhla worked as production manager for a number of film festivals from 2003 to 2015, including the Encounters Documentary Festival, the European Film Festival (Johannesburg Leg) and as the Johannesburg Festival Director for the Out In Africa Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and Co-Director for the Tri Continental Film Festival. Nhlanhla worked as locations manager for the Manchester City Football Clubglobal fans web series and as line producer on a number of documentaries including Black Beulah’s, Remix and Above Ground, all for South African broadcasters.
Nhlanhla conceptualised and produced a 13-part talk show Intimate Connexionz for SABC 2. Nhlanhla was creator and creative producer of two seasons of a 13 part drama series for SABC 1 titled AFTER 9. Nhlanhla also produced a short film Beautiful Contradictions, a short documentary Eudy Simelane: A life Cut Short, a three part min-doc series The Cost Of Exclusion for Outright International developed for the UN, and a documentary Feminists in Conversation for the 1in9 campaign.
Nhlanhla was International Juror of the Teddy Awardswithin the Berlin International Film Festival in 2011. In 2012 following the tragic events that unfolded in Marikana, he was appointed National Coordinator for the Marikana Support Campaignand impact production assistant on the Emmy Award winning documentary, Miners Shot Down. In 2016 he participated a short course for Impact Producers hosted by Brit Docs in New York.
These people then make up the fiduciary part of the Council for the 2016 /17 year.
Contact us via e-mail here.