Tv actress and award-winning film producer Mmabatho Montsho, has slammed President Cyril Ramapho’s State Of The Nation Address (SONA) speech in which he did not mention anything about tackling the entertainment industry woes facing creatives. This follows after the president congratulated her on her major achievement for winning the Best Short Film award at the 2020 Worldwide Women’s Film Festival in Arizona, USA.
In his congratulatory message, Ramaphosa wrote “South African creatives are relentlessly making their mark on the world stage and they continue to make us proud. @MmabathoMontsho’s short film The Award Ceremony came back with a Best Short Film award at the 2020 Worldwide Women’s Film Festival. We celebrate this achievement,” tweeted the president.”
Ramaphosa delivered his maiden SONA’s speech last week and did not divulge any plans about issues that a lot of people in the entertainment space endure.
This ruffled Montsho’s feathers and she swiftly penned down a scathing letter lambasting the President for not taking accountability on the entertainment industry problems.
In her letter, she said ” Black filmmakers, black women filmmakers, in particular, should not have to negotiate their souls in order to have access to tell our stories and still make ends meet. You have not prioritized the SABC which has been in limbo for years. Black practitioners have sat in their homes, in the dark, with no food on the table, while the country watches content they created without getting paid.”
Montsho also spoke about how M-Net continues to exploit creatives off their intellectual property ” Our ideas precisely what makes us storytellers and creatives. We are also aware of the disparity in production budgets between channels with black content (eg. Mzansi) and white content (eg. Kyknet).”
Montsho said it’s time financial apartheid be unveiled and dealt with. She also said the issues of sexual harassment, exclusion based on gender, and intimidation which are rife in the industry, must be tackled too.
The actress also shared her letter with Minister Nathi Mthetwa who in the past promised to tackle the matters but no concrete response has been given thus far. It is no secret that exploitation in the entertainment industry has always been at the centre of attention, last year veteran actress Vatiswa Ndara weighed in on the matter and wrote an open letter to Minister Mthethwa .
In her open letter she made shocking allegations of how actors are being abused and slammed the unfair treatment by production houses in South Africa, particularly accusing Ferguson Films of exploiting actors while they bag millions from their productions.
The topic sparked a major debate and saw some creatives weighing in and some getting themselves into trouble.
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Main Image Credit : www.sowetan.co.za
