Showing posts with label Performers Protection Amendment Bill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Performers Protection Amendment Bill. Show all posts

Monday, June 14, 2021

Shaleen Surtie-Richards’ funeral: 'An icon beloved by the people but abandoned by the system,' says friend Rif'at Browers; implores arts minister Nathi Mthethwa to launch a fund to support South Africa's suffering artists.


by Thinus Ferreira

The iconic South African actress Shaleen Surtie-Richards was beloved by the people but abandoned by the system said one of her closest friends at her funeral, who implored the South African government and arts minister Nathi Mthethwa who sat in the funeral chapel to urgently launch a fund to look after the country's suffering artists.

Shaleen Surtie-Richards (66) unexpectedly died a week ago with her coffin on Sunday afternoon that was draped in the South African flag during the Category 2 official provincial funeral that was broadcast live on SABC News, Newzroom Afrika and eNCA.

The chapel at the Durbanville Memorial Park was filled with red and white flowers, including candles that Estée Lauder donated as a reminder of Shaleen's love of perfume, and even the Shaleen Surtie-Richards Rose that was flown in especially by Ludwig's Roses for the funeral.

The funeral was attended by Hannes van Wyk, presenter of Kwêla and Hannes aan Huis on kykNET (DStv 144), as well as Karen Meiring, M-Net director for kykNET channels.


"Shaleen was loved by the people but she was abandoned by the system," said Shaleen Surtie-Richards' longtime friend Rif'at Browers in a moving tribute.

Addressing South Africa's minister of sport, arts and culture directly who sat in the chapel, Rif'at Browers said "In this vein, I speak to minister Nathi Mthethwa and I plead with you: Please let us launch a fund that will ensure the longevity of all South African people in the arts and entertainment industry. I'm open to any form of discussion, and on any platform."

Patricia de Lille, minister of public works and infrastructure, who wasn't in attendance on Sunday but whose tribute was read out loud, said that Shaleen Surtie-Richards "was a vanguard who paved a way before and after Apartheid for people of all races - but specifically for people of colour".

"It is sad that her death had laid bare the struggles of South African artists and the struggles that they have to endure later in life," said Patricia de Lille.

"Many people knew and loved Shaleen but very few how she suffered but she always had the pride of being fearlessly independent."

"For the industry, Shaleen's death and struggles in recent years should be a wake-up call to stand up and protect the arts and our artists to ensure that all artists, their talents and their rights are protected and respected and that they are well taken care of in their later life and before and after retirement."

"The industry is poorer without her but richer because of her contribution."

Nathi Mthethwa said that "Shaleen has taught us more about ourselves - what makes us truly South Africans; what makes us truly human".

Called the industry's "darkest secret", South African performers are still not receiving residuals for rebroadcasts of their TV and film work like what happens in other countries.

After years of getting the long-stalled Performers Protection Amendment Bill (PPAB) to parliament that would ensure that South African performers are paid residuals for the rebroadcast of their work on television, president Cyril Ramaphosa refused to sign the PPAB.

After the bill had languished on his desk for 15 months, Ramaphosa has now sent the bill back to South Africa's National Assembly.


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Saturday, June 12, 2021

Shaleen Surtie-Richards on her money struggles in last TV interview: 'I just pray very hard that I won't get ill'.


by Thinus Ferreira

Shaleen Surtie-Richards (66) who unexpectedly died on Monday said that she openly wanted to talk about her financial troubles in one of her final TV interviews before she died and that she went through the "deepest, deepest waters" with most people and performers too ashamed to talk this struggle.

The iconic actress with a professional career stretching over 3 decades, unexpectedly died on Monday morning in a guest house in Edgemeade, Cape Town, where she just completed a few weeks of filming on a recurring role in kykNET's Arendsvlei telenovela.

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday approved the request for a Category 2 Special Provincial Funeral for Shaleen Surtie-Richards. Shaleen Surtie-Richards' funeral will take place on Sunday, 13 June at 14:30 at the Durbanville Memorial Park in Cape Town.

The SABC didn't respond to a media enquiry on Friday asking whether SABC News (DStv 404) would broadcast or cover it. 

Newzroom Afrika (DStv 405) said that it would be covering the funeral proceedings on Sunday and that the news channel "We will be dipping in and out from 14:30 to cover it".

eNCA (DStv 403) spokesperson Sam Dube couldn't confirm whether the channel would possibly cover the funeral and said that "information on the broadcasting of Shaleen Surtie-Richard’s funeral will be shared on channel".

Known for her iconic roles like Fiela in Fiela se Kind and Nenna in Egoli, Shaleen Surtie-Richards in an interview on Hannes Aan Huis on kykNET (DStv 144) that was broadcast this week, said that she "wanted the opportunity to speak about her financial struggles openly" and that she had gone through "the deepest, deepest waters".

With the interview done inside her home, she told interviewer Hannes van Wyk that "I sat here without a cent to my name. My house - they wanted to put on the market. To tell you the truth my house was almost sold out from under me".

"I had nothing, nothing, nothing. And I thought: I'm going to talk about this. Not for people to feel sorry for me, but for people to know that a lot of us are sitting with this problem."

"People are too ashamed to say anything," Shaleen Surtie-Richards explained. "I haven't had food in my house. It was so bad there wasn't any food in the house." 

She also lost her medical aid. "I couldn't pay it any further and they took it away. So at this stage I just have to pray very hard that I won't get ill because I don't even have a medical aid anymore. I have nothing. I still owe on my water as well. I mean they don't cut it otherwise I'd be there as well."

Shaleen Surtie-Richards explained how work had dried up for a year. "You're paid according to the productions that you do. And if there isn't a production, there isn't money."

"I'm sitting here with a million awards behind my name that now absolutely means nothing to me."

Called the industry's "darkest secret", South African performers are still not receiving residuals for rebroadcasts of their TV and film work like what happens in other countries, with president Cyril Ramaphosa that after 15 months refused to sign the long-stalled Performers Protection Amendment Bill that has now been referred back to South Africa's National Assembly.


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Tuesday, June 8, 2021

South Africa's TV and film industry's 'darkest secret': Why the beloved actress icon Shaleen Surtie-Richards died poor - when she didn't have to.


by Thinus Ferreira

Despite the accolades over decades and portraying iconic, only-a-first-name-needed characters like Fiela and Nenna, Shaleen Surtie-Richards (66) died poor on Monday because she didn't have the money to go to hospital.

That makes the legendary Shaleen Surtie-Richards - hugely praised in death after her passing - yet another big South African star who didn't get the money while she lived that she deserved for her success due to long-stalled legislation that would ensure that South African artists get paid the residuals owed to them from the constant rebroadcasts of their work.

The ongoing failure of the South African government to enact legislation to ensure the payment of residuals to artists for the broadcast of repeats of their work is the "industry's darkest secret" says Jack Devnarain, actor and chairperson of the South African Guild of Actors (SAGA).

Actress Lizz Meiring, a management member of the Theatre Benevolent Fund that helps to support struggling industry workers, on Tuesday said that Shaleen Surtie-Richards "saw a doctor in Cape Town because she was so ill".

"He wanted to book her into a hospital immediately. She simply had no money. That's the horrible truth. If she had been paid her meagre royalties for all the rebroadcasts of her incredible body of work, she would have been able to".

Shaleen Surtie-Richards - who unexpectedly died in her sleep on Monday in a guest house in Edgemead, Cape Town whilst filming a role in the Penguin Films-produced Arendsvlei telenovela for kykNET - openly spoke the past few years about her financial struggles and how she went through a period where she wasn't even able to pay for electricity and couldn't even buy food.

In 2019 in a profile interview, Shaleen Surtie-Richards told the TV magazine show Kwêla on kykNET that "I've been sitting here without a cent to my name. My house was almost sold out from under me.  I've had nothing. I've thought I need to talk about this. Last year I had no work.  There just wasn't any work," she said.

"You get paid according to the productions you do.  I'm sitting here now with millions of prizes behind my name - things that now mean absolute nothing," she said.


Why SA artists die poor
"This is why our showbiz industry's people die poor, Lizz Meiring on Tuesday told TVwithThinus.

"In the rest of the world performers and industry workers are paid what is called residuals - royalties - in the way that a musician is paid royalties when their music is played. In the rest of the world the on-screen talent and crew, the writer and the producers - when a series is broadcast for the third time - they receive a third of their original fee."

"The bill - the Performers Protection Amendment Bill (PPAB) to amend current legislation to enable residual remuneration for artists has been passed by parliament - 4 years ago already, after 10 years of fighting for it. It was accepted, it's now 4 years later and our president refuses to sign it," says Lizz Meiring.

"Think of the massive amount of work that Shaleen Surtie-Richards had done in her lifetime? If someone's work - their films, series they've starred in - is rebroadcast for a third time, they get a third of the original fee that they've earned," she explains.

"The bill is through parliament - it just needs to be signed. It doesn't just affect someone like Shaleen Surtie-Richards. It affects hundreds of thousands of people."

"Everybody knows that someone like Elize Cawood who had cancer, despite having had a medical aid, had massive medical expenses. Think of how much work Elize Cawood did in her career? Can you imagine if she had just received a third of the original fees of all of the shows she's been in? Series and films are constantly being rebroadcast."


'All we're asking for is what is fair'
"We're not the only industry struggling - a lot of people are going through extremely difficult times, for instance the hospitality sector and many others. I would like people to understand that our career is a professionally qualified, respected industry," says Lizz Meiring.

"When tickets are being sold and it's something that you want to watch, please go buy a ticket and go and see it. We're not beggars - we're not asking money for nothing. We're giving something in return. Read South African writers' books. Go watch South African films. Follow South African TV series. Go to theatre performances and understand that it's wrong to pirate content," she says.

"It would be a great thing when viewers start to ask and to tell TV channels, 'Hey, wait a minute - are you paying residuals to these people?' It's not that artists are a useless bunch of people who can't look after themselves. All we're asking is what is fair. That's all."

About Shaleen Surtie-Richards, Lizz Meiring says "she called me 'sussie' (sister). I've known her for 37 years."

"Shaleen didn't just have the talent and the heart and the honesty and such compassion for colleagues in this industry - Shaleen had that X-factor - that star quality."


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