By Anita Dangazele
- South Africa’s stalled film rebate system has cost the country R822 million and 1,850 jobs this financial year, industry representatives told Parliament.
- Adjudication of the backlog is set to resume on 30 September, after the department’s outstanding debts on the programme dropped from R2 billion to R255 million.
South Africa’s film and TV industry has lost R822 million in production spending and 1,850 jobs this year, after a government rebate programme that funds local productions ground to a halt.
The rebate system, meant to support film and television productions made in South Africa, has processed no new applications since 2024. Industry representatives told Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition this month that around R700 million worth of applications are stuck waiting for a decision, after adjudication meetings stalled for more than two years.
Odirile Mekwa, managing director of Quizzical Pictures, the production house behind Reyka and Intersexions, said the damage goes well beyond the balance sheet.
“You see so many creatives being put out of work, or having had to get out of the industry already. Lots of people have lost jobs. Lots of people have lost their houses and their cars. Lots of people have seen their children taken out of school,” he said.
His own company lost a major international co-production while waiting for a decision. The show, based on the work of a South African-born author, had the BBC, streamer Stan and Amazon all committed to buying it, and would have created around 300 jobs and more than 1,000 additional opportunities, along with over R100 million in foreign investment.
“We originally applied in 2024,” Mekwa said.
“In the end, it fell over on the last hurdle because of local funding.”
There is now a real chance of change.
The Save SA Film and TV Jobs Coalition and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition have agreed to restart the programme, with adjudication of the backlog scheduled to resume on 30 September.
The department’s outstanding financial liability on the programme, which it had blamed for freezing new applications, has fallen sharply, from around R2 billion in 2021 to R255 million by June this year, and its 2026/27 budget allocation of R236 million has now been confirmed.
Some uncertainty remains. The coalition says talks between the industry and the department deadlocked as recently as 25 July, and members of Parliament questioned whether clearing old debts solves anything if the rebate system itself still isn’t working properly.
Mekwa said fixing the system could help South Africa follow a path similar to South Korea, whose film and television industry grew from a small domestic market into a major global export over the past decade.
“We really need the rebate back in order to make the international breakthrough,” he said, adding that the industry offers real opportunity precisely because it doesn’t require formal qualifications to get started.
“Almost anyone can come in, but once you’re in, you learn the skills, you build up a high level of skill, and it also pays well.”
Pictured above: South Africa’s film industry has lost R822 million and 1,850 jobs this year, after a government rebate programme froze new applications.
Image source: Pexels
