DTIC under fire in Parliament over mismanagement of film funding

The issue of unpaid rebates and incentives for the film industry was back in the spotlight this week, as the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) came under fire in Parliament.

MPs and industry representatives have called for an investigation after the dtic portfolio committee heard how funds had been mismanaged, reports News24.

Last week saw demonstrations at Parliament in Cape Town and at the dtic in Pretoria under the banner Save SA Film Jobs.

As filmmaker Lungisani Gwadiso from the Harry Gwala Film Institute put it, foreign investors no longer trust the system, which has affected the whole industry.

Stephen Grootes interviews Jack Devnarain, chairperson of the SA Guild of Actors, who has been vocal in this fight.

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Referring to a leaked email described in the News24 report where one official told another essentially to cancel a claim due to "volumes and the pressure" the team was under, Devnarain talks about the "terrifying prospect" of this kind of mismanagement.

"... because we are given only so many opportunities to make an application where our movie can qualify for the tax incentive rebate.The administration system is laid out by the dtic, the adjudication team is appointed by them and there is very little transparency. So the fact that we have to comply with a system that we now know is being managed AGAINST us, is an absolute insult."

Devnarain points out that this money is made available through a legitimate incentive scheme by National Treasury itself.

"The dtic doesn't own the money or the project; it owns the system by which we are supposed to qualify. Then we have petty bureaucrats and administrators who have positioned themselves as gatekeepers, which ultimately has a detrimental effect on our production ability."

"We are reminding the Department that they're the ones responsible for the system and they need to make it work, because until they do we're facing a broad industry collapse with the loss of thousands of jobs."

On Wednesday, the portfolio committee called on the dtic and Treasury to urgently engage and provide a clear, unified position on the funding of incentives as "policy uncertainty undermines investment decisions and places jobs at risk".

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the conversation with Jack Devnarain