by Thinus Ferreira
South Africa's arts and culture
minister Gayton McKenzie has slammed the country's government for its failure
to reform the entertainment industry and the system to prevent artists from
suffering and perpetually dying in poverty.
Gayton McKenzie spoke at the funeral of
singer Winnie Khumalo (51) and said the government is serious about fixing
South Africa's broken entertainment biz system this year.
Winnie Khumalo died 7 January after a
short illness and without a medical aid, followed by the death two days later
of Victor "Doc
Shebeleza" Bogopane after a long illness.
Gayton McKenzie
branded The Cultural and
Creative Industries Federation of South Africa (CCIFSA) – a representative
body funded by the department of sports, arts and culture – as a "criminal
organisation" that he said got millions of rands from the government with
little to show for it.
"Artists in this country, you have been failed by us
– your government," Gayton McKenzie said at the funeral service.
"I'm not pointing fingers at
others – I’m part of government. We have failed you. We have failed artists in
this country as a government."
"Let me tell you how have we have
failed you: How come artists in this country can't even open an Ellerines
account? They don't have a three months' bank statements. Artists in this
country are not being seen as workers. How can that be? We have failed
you."
"I came here for two reasons. I
came to apologise because I am part of the people who have failed you. But I'm
also going to be part of the people that bring the solution and fix what we
have done wrong," he said.
"I send my sincerest apology
because artists are being treated like nothing."
"Artists die.They are
represented CCIFSA. Why can't CCIFSA pay for the
funerals of artists? They're getting millions. Millions and millions and
millions. They steal from artists."
Gayton McKenzie said
"CCIFSA is a criminal organisation. I have the bank statements of how many
millions they've got but the artists are still poor. Why did you get all these
millions?"
"I will bring out the bank statements of how much you have been paid
over all these years. You got millions and millions and millions.
Where's that money? What have you done with that money?"
At the funeral the
veteran musician and producer
Chicco Twala also spoke and revealed Winnie Khumalo suffered and had no medical
aid.
"What we have
are burial aids. Not medical aids. They only put money aside for us when we are
dead. Winnie did not deserve to die the way she did. She suffered.
Rethabile suffered alone. I saw Winnie two days before she passed on; what I
saw was not okay. Winnie needed a medical aid.
"The likes of
Winnie and many of our late musicians who were instrumentally generating
millions into our sector deserve better. I want our government to do something
about that."
Chicco Twala said
"There are three companies: Universal Music, Warner Brothers, as well as
Sony. They have collected more than R1 billion. Money that belongs to musicians
like Winnie, producers like Sizwe Zakwe, the late Hugh Masekela. That money,
they shared it among themselves and did not pay a cent to producers".
Earlier this month
The South African Guild of
Actors (SAGA) slammed the government and the minister for the inaction to
protect the rights of workers in South Africa's TV and film industry where the
casts and crews of several TV shows have gone unpaid for months.
After many months
struggling to just get paid and losing homes and rental accommodation and
forced to sell cars and equipment, the workers on Paramount Africa and Bakwena
Productions' Pound 4 Pound series shown on the BET Africa (DStv 129) channel on
MultiChoice's pay-TV service, finally got paid in December.
The cast and crew of
Clive Morris Productions' Queendom series, also shown on Paramount Africa's
BET, are however again and still waiting to be paid after production had shut
down once more – the latest shut down for the troubled show due to people
simply not being paid for their work.
The cast and crew
of The Executives, produced by Sawita Productions and shown on the South
African public broadcaster's SABC1 are also still waiting to be paid, while the
cast and crew of Nikiwe, produced for eMedia's e.tv by Thomas Gumede and
Lungelo Radu's Parental Advisory Productions are also waiting for payment
for over a year.
Jack Devnarain, SAGA
chairperson, said "Nobody wants to step up and admit they failed to
protect the rights of performers, crew and background actors".
"The problem is
we have normalised silence. If you step back and look at the damage inflicted
on the industry through non-payments, there should be all kinds of alarms,
sirens, and media statements by the government, ministers wagging their
fingers. There should be interventions by industry organisations, but no, none
of that is happening – just silence."
