WeeklySA_AdminHURDLE: Quizzical Pictures managing director Odirile Mekwa says a stalled film incentive cost his company a major international co-production. With adjudication due to resume on September 30, he hopes South Africa can begin winning back investment and work for its crews…
By Len Maseko
South Africa’s stalled film rebate system has cost Quizzical Pictures an international co-production that could have brought more than R100 million in foreign investment, according to the company’s managing director, Odirile Mekwa.
The project, developed with an Australian production company, was based on the work of an author born and raised in South Africa and Eswatini. Mekwa said the BBC, Australian streaming service Stan and Amazon had committed to pre-buying the series. But the production collapsed while awaiting a decision on its rebate application.
“We originally applied in 2024,” he said. “The series was meant to create around 300 jobs and well over 1 000 opportunities, and bring in more than R100 million in foreign direct investment. In the end, it fell over on the last hurdle because of local funding.”
The loss comes as South Africa’s screen industry presses the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) to restart an incentive programme that, according to the Save SA Film and TV Jobs Coalition, has processed no new applications since 2024.
Industry representatives told Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition this month that delays had cost an estimated R822 million in production spending and 1 850 jobs in the current financial year. They said roughly R700 million in applications remained in a backlog after adjudication meetings stalled for more than two years.
For Mekwa, whose company’s productions include Reyka and Intersexions, those figures represent livelihoods.
“You see so many creatives being put out of work, or having had to get out of the industry already,” he said. “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 the delays were also damaging South Africa’s standing with international partners. “We’re losing more jobs, the industry is losing credibility, and also losing international foreign direct investment as the whole system continues to backlog.”
There is now a possible turning point. The coalition and the DTIC have agreed to restart the incentive programme, with adjudication of outstanding applications scheduled to resume on September 30. The department has also indicated that it is discussing a more fiscally sustainable rebate structure with National Treasury.
Mekwa said he was more hopeful than he had been earlier in the year, when industry representatives marched to Parliament and talks with the department reached a stalemate over funding.
The programme’s future remains uncertain. According to figures cited in the release, the contingent liability the DTIC has identified as a reason for freezing the incentive fell from about R2 billion in 2021 to R255 million by June 2026. The department’s allocation for 2026/27 is R236 million. MPs have questioned whether settling historic liabilities will be enough to make the incentive work again.
Mekwa believes a reliable rebate could help South African producers build a larger international market for their work. He points to the global reach of South Korean television as an example of what sustained industry growth can achieve.
“A perfect example is Korea, which has gone from one breakout hit every couple of years to being a permanent fixture globally,” he said. “And it cannot be the responsibility of one actor, one show, one director or one production house. It has to be the industry and the country rising together.”
International success should still leave room for stories made primarily for South Africans, he added. “If you chase international appeal too hard, you lose local appeal. It’s a balancing act.”
As the industry marks Heritage Month, Mekwa said its value lies both in the stories it tells and the work it creates. Productions employ people across a wide range of skills, while more black producers are entering international markets as partners in their own right.
The immediate test, however, is whether the promised adjudication meetings resume on September 30 — and whether producers can once again count on timely decisions when they put projects together.
MIRROR Briefs
OUTRAGE OVER STUDENT’S DEATH
Social Development Minister Dina Pule and Eastern Cape Social Development MEC Bukiwe Fanta have condemned incidents of school violence, following the fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Siphosethu Jack at Kuyasa Senior Secondary School, in Dimbaza.
Jack was allegedly stabbed by another pupil in a classroom at the school, in an incident that has sent shockwaves through the Dimbaza community and raised concern about the safety and well-being of children in schools.
According to the National Department of Social Development, Jack’s family had transferred him to another school in the hope of protecting him from violence. “This tragic incident underscores the pressing need for effective measures to ensure that our schools are safe environments, free from violence and fear. “We stand united in condemning this senseless act of violence. Our thoughts and prayers are with Siphosethu’s family during this incredibly difficult time. We extend our deepest condolences to them and to all those affected by this tragedy,” Pule said.
The incident has also heightened concerns among parents in Dimbaza and surrounding communities about the safety of learners at schools.
“We understand the anxiety that families feel when it comes to the safety of their children at school. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that schools are sanctuaries for learning and growth, not places of violence and fear,” Fanta said. – SAnews
CHAMP’S ALLEGED KILLERS DENIED BAIL
Two men accused of the murder of former boxing world champion, Zolani Tete, have been denied bail by the Mdantsane Magistrate’s Court.
Uzuzole Goqwana and Sinebhongo Qase appeared in the Mdantsane Magistrate’s Court on Friday. The pair are among four men facing eight charges linked to Tete’s murder. The two men accused of carrying out the shooting have already abandoned their bail applications.
Tete was gunned down outside his home in Mdantsane last month. Another person was wounded in the shooting.
Mdantsane Magistrate, Anton Pretorius, ruled that Goqwana and Qase had failed to establish the exceptional circumstances required for their release in a Schedule 6 case. Pretorius stressed that in terms of the Schedule 6 case, detention until trial was the norm, while release on bail was the exception. Pretorius found Goqwana’s medical condition did not amount to exceptional circumstances required for bail.
Qase’s lawyer argued that he was not in Mdantsane when Tete was shot and he had no knowledge of any plan to have the former boxer killed. Goqwana and Qase will remain in police custody and are expected back in court on October 13 when the matter resumes when they would be joined by the other two co-accused. – Lehlohonolo Lehana.
NEW DEADLINE FOR MADLANGA REPORT
President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry deadline to submit the final report next year.
Vincent Magwenya, spokesperson to the President, said the new deadline allows the Commission to process additional evidence, including the testimony of various experts who have made recommendations relating to the commission’s terms of reference.
“President Ramaphosa once again expresses his deepest appreciation for the work conducted by the Commission as well as for the manner in which law enforcement agencies are following up on testimony emerging from Commission hearings,” said Magwenya.
The new deadline is now January 25, 2027, changed from 16 November 2026.
The latest extension comes as the commission continues its investigation into allegations of criminality, political interference and corruption within South Africa’s criminal justice system.
The inquiry was established by Ramaphosa after KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi made a series of serious allegations about interference and corruption within law-enforcement structures in July 2025. The commission is chaired by retired Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga.
The commission handed its second interim report to Ramaphosa on May 29, five months after submitting the first interim report in December 2025.
The Commission marked one year since its first public hearing on September 17, 2025.- Lehlohonolo Lehana.
NEW FACILITY TO BOOST WOOL PRODUCTION
Heavy rains in the Eastern Cape could not dampen the spirits of the Ngonyama Village community, who turned out in large numbers for the official opening of a R1.4 million shearing shed aimed at boosting wool production and improving the livelihoods of local farmers.
The fully equipped facility was officially opened by Eastern Cape Agriculture MEC Nonceba Kontsiwe, alongside Mbhashe Local Municipality Executive Mayor Dr Samkelo Janda.
The Department of Agriculture invested more than R1.4 million in the construction of the facility, which includes a plunge dipping tank, ablution facilities, an office, removable animal-handling equipment, and fencing.
The Masibambisane Woolgrowers Association, which was formed in 2017 and has 48 members, comprising 23 women and 25 men, also received 10 Dohne Merino rams from the department to improve the quality of its flock and wool clip. During the last shearing season, the farmers sheared 3 409 sheep and produced 19 bales of wool, which were sold to CMW in Gqeberha for R98 342. Before the department’s investment, farmers had to travel more than 15 kilometres to a shearing shed in Xeni location in another ward.
The Department of Agriculture and Mbhashe Local Municipality are also supporting the facility with vaccination programmes aimed at preventing livestock diseases. – SAnews
