by Thinus Ferreira
After having created dazzling staging and building sets that seemed impossible, the respected South African set building company Just Sets has finally closed down after more than 30 years because of the devastating impact of the economic shutdown in the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Just Sets that existed for 32 years and that was started in February 1989 by Colin Fowler and Chris Hicks, had offices in Johannesburg and since 2001 in Cape Town as well, and was known for the design and construction of various sets for South Africa and Southern Africa's events industry.
Over the years Just Sets as one of South Africa's most well-known set construction and staging companies, designed and built numerous sets for the country's TV and film industry as well as the razzle-dazzle world of music and theatre.
Just Sets was responsible for iconic constructions like the FIFA World Cup's final draw event in Cape Town in 2009, and for sets that ranged from everything like the staging for the Miss World pageants at Sun City in 1994 and 1995, to the Face of Africa pageant and even Huisgenoot magazine's Skouspel concerts.
Just Sets did everything from the South African Music Awards (SAMAs) to many Miss South Africa pageants, kykNET's Silwerskermfees film festival, to TV sets for shows like kykNET's Jou Show met Emo Adams.
In February Just Sets announced to the industry that the business had decided "with a heavy heart" to close down.
Neil Fowler, Just Sets director, told TVwithThinus on Wednesday that Just Sets was a family-run business and that he, his sister and their mother took over ownership after his dad passed away 19 months ago.
"We tried to do our utmost pre-Covid and then as soon as Covid hit we tried to manage the day-to-day operations as best as possible, however we were already affected by the Covid pandemic 2 weeks prior to South Africa going into its hard lockdown in 2020 when the restrictions that were put in place in terms of restrictions on gatherings and numbers of people."
"Within the first two weeks of lockdown we lost close to R2 million in turnover just in Cape Town," says Neil Fowler.
The last nail
"Our business thrives off of gatherings - anything from conferencing to live events to exhibitions, so were greatly affected even before the hard lockdown."
"Then during lockdown, we tried to manage it as best we could with some relief that we had from the government in terms of TERS but that's the only relief that we have had."
"President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke on 28 December 2020 and we went into an adjusted Level 3 lockdown. By this time we were really on our knees," he says.
"Just Sets had an event running over a period at a shopping centre, and basically on 29 December the client phoned me to come and remove the set elements because it was classed as an event and they were not allowed to hold it. I think that was the last nail in the coffin."
About the decision to bring down the curtain, Neil says that if Just Sets went any longer it could have ended with liquidation "and I'm very proud to say that we didn't go that route and all the staff members who were retrenched got their full severance packages".
"It hasn't been easy but it was a decision that had to be made and that was forced in the sense that we were unable to operate. If we were able to go back to work some months ago we wouldn't be having this conversation".
Not enough support
"I think there's been a massive oversight from South Africa's government in terms of economic support in the sense that we were probably one - if not the first industry to go down because of the lockdown restrictions - alongside South Africa's tourism industry because we piggyback off each other," Neil Fowler explains.
"It affected everybody in the chain, from the hotel, to the conference centres, to the events managing companies, to the technical companies, to the set and staging companies - and even as far down as the hired staff. And there's been very little relief from the government."
"The only thing for our business - I can't speak for any other business within our industry - we've received no relief from government besides TERS. That helped for staff salaries but for the day-to-day operations point of view to keep your doors open ... absolutely zero support".
'We make real what seems impossible'
"From an audience point-of-view, the majority of people don't know what goes on behind-the-scenes or give a thought about the staging," he says about what Just Sets and similar companies have contributed to the industry and the country's economy.
"Clients could come with some really out-of-the-world type of expectations and people like myself and colleagues within the industry are problem-solvers. We work and we create to make real what seems impossible in a meeting, to what is eventually very possible on stage."
"Just Sets has been well-respected within the industry for delivering. We tried to stay true to what we did. We didn't branch out into technical equipment. We wanted to be solely known for constructing sets."
