Publications
Partners
The disgruntled cast and crew of a new isiZulu series Uselwa are demanding payment from the SABC for the work they have done so far.
Today, they held a picket outside the SABC’s television park to hand over a memorandum of demands to the public broadcaster.
“Pay us our money. SABC policies must change. Cast and crew first #Uselwa,” was what was on a banner that they put up for SABC management to see.
The production, which was yet to be broadcast, had been engulfed in a great deal of controversy that City Press has previously reported on.
Read: Meltdown on set of SABC drama Uselwa
Read: ‘We are stranded’ say Uselwa actors
On Sunday, City Press reported that it was believed that only R1.3 million remained of the budget, with several more days of shooting and post-production still to be completed.
A new production company, mooted to be Gugulethu Zuma-Ncube’s Stained Glass Productions, was also likely to be brought in to finish the show.
After the shoot was halted two weeks ago, SABC staff, sent to investigate what had gone wrong, were detained on set by the angry cast and crew who demanded they be paid outstanding fees. This is just one of numerous claims of maladministration and abuse that the cast and crew made. Police were called and the cast and crew were then reportedly evicted from their rooms at Shakaland and transported home.
But last week saw another tense standoff, with the SABC’s acting head of television sending at least two crew members a letter of demand to hand over the Uselwa footage already shot – or face legal action.
Read: Tense stand-off on TV set as crew detain SABC bosses
All the cast and crew wanted, they said, were “better treatment” and “remuneration”.
King Shaft, director of Uselwa said: “We want our salaries to be paid, and to finish the show. We have invested a lot in the show.
“This is beyond getting paid but to restore the image of black people because the history of South Africa is never recorded.”
He says when money was appropriated and a project was in crisis, chances were that the SABC would just write it off as a loss and the show would never see the light of day.
“We are fighting for Uselwa. We are even prepared to take the show, use our own money and move with it... We don’t want the show to be canned.
“We are fighting for the lack of accountability for what has happened,” said Shaft.
He says the SABC hired an incompetent production company for Uselwa and “they never did a screening process”.
“The very same line producer is known for destroying productions. We want the SABC to start paying attention to how the process of commissioning ... You go to the production companies and they tell you that they don’t have money. You go to the SABC and they tell you they have paid the production. We don’t want that.”
Some of the cast and crew demands to the SABC include proper engagement with them and exercising oversight of the production. They also demand all the payments that are due to them as well as following a strict vetting process for the appointment of production companies.
“They [SABC] continue empowering the empowered instead of talking to the people on set. They do not give the people who understand the show, people who have been with the show from day one.
“We want the SABC to start engaging with us and show us respect us on daily basis. Most producers buy face with the SABC, they do not tell them the truth about challenges we face. We want to start reconsidering paying cast and crew directly or pay them upfront,” Shaft said.
David Makubyane, SABC’s management representative, who received the memorandum of demands, told the Uselwa protesters that what had happened to the production is “not something we would ever want to experience again”.
“We had a meeting specifically with the Uselwa team and we made it clear that whoever who was responsible must take account,” he said.
Makubyane said in future the SABC must do due diligence to contract people who would be professional and respectful to the industry.
“It is unfortunate what has happened. We are making sure the cast and the crew are not impacted negatively and continuously.”
He said the memorandum of demands was a “comprehensive document” and he would take it to the SABC management for review.
Nothando Majoni, an industry worker who stood in solidarity with Uselwa, says this was not the first time this had happened.
“The SABC must always follow through and make sure that monies are used properly. We have no problem with production making profit but not the expense of cast and crew.”
