September is a month when South Africans celebrate their culture. Yet the industry responsible for putting many of those stories on screen has spent much of this year struggling to get new productions off the ground because of the country's stalled film and television rebate system.
Odirile Mekwa, managing director of Quizzical Pictures. Image supplied
Odirile Mekwa, managing director of Quizzical Pictures, one of South Africa's production houses, hopes there will be a breakthrough this Heritage Month.
“At the moment, we're losing more jobs, the industry is losing credibility, and also losing international foreign direct investment as the whole system continues to backlog,” he says.
Behind the headline figures lies a human toll that rarely makes the numbers.
Industry representatives told Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition this month that the ongoing delays have already cost the country an estimated R822m in production spend and 1,850 jobs this financial year alone.
Around R700m in applications remains stuck in a backlog after adjudication meetings stalled for more than two years.
A production lost to the backlog
Quizzical Pictures has felt the impact first-hand.
The company recently lost a co-production with an Australian production company based on the work of an author born and raised in South Africa and Eswatini, but now based in Australia.
The project had been in development for years and involved the BBC, streamer Stan and Amazon, all three of which had committed to pre-buying the show.
It ultimately collapsed while waiting for the rebate committee to convene and make a decision.
“We originally applied in 2024,” says Mekwa, whose own route into the industry came through finance rather than film school. A chartered accountant with a Master's in International Business Administration from the University of London, he has also held roles at Primedia, EHM International, Deloitte and Sakhumnotho Group Holdings.
“The series was meant to create around 300 jobs and well over 1,000 opportunities, and bring in more than R100m in foreign direct investment. In the end, it fell over on the last hurdle because of local funding.”
The consequences extend well beyond individual productions, says Mekwa.
“I've gone through the emotions, but I'm hopeful,” he says, pointing to what is at stake 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.”
Signs of a possible restart
For the first time in months, however, Mekwa is cautiously optimistic.
The Save SA Film and TV Jobs Coalition and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) have reached an agreement to restart the incentive programme, which has processed no new applications since 2024.
Adjudication of the backlog is scheduled to resume on 30 September, while the department has indicated that it is in talks with National Treasury about a more fiscally sustainable rebate structure.
“Earlier this year I was pessimistic,” says Mekwa. “We'd marched to Parliament at the beginning of the year, and we were mandated to come to the table for the debate. We had our meetings, but everything stalled, with the DTIC saying they didn't have sufficient funding.
“So we went back to Parliament to report once again that things were not moving and were at a stalemate.”
There is now a stronger numerical basis for the shift in tone. The “contingent liability” the DTIC has cited in relation to the programme has fallen from around R2bn in 2021 to R255m by June 2026, while the department's 2026/27 budget allocation of R236m has been confirmed.
Unresolved issues remain, however. The coalition said talks had deadlocked as recently as 25 July, while MPs at the hearing questioned whether clearing historic liabilities will have much impact if the incentive itself is not functioning effectively.
The next significant test comes on 30 September, when adjudication is scheduled to resume.
Can South Africa build a global screen industry?
If the system is fixed, Mekwa believes South Africa could still make good on the industry's long-standing ambition to achieve a breakthrough on the scale of South Korea's entertainment industry.
Over the past decade, South Korea's television industry has evolved into a major global export industry, supported by deregulation, creative competition and significant streaming investment.
Mekwa believes South Africa could pursue a similar trajectory.
“We really need the rebate back in order to make the international breakthrough,” he says.
“A perfect example is Korea, which has gone from one breakout hit every couple of years to being a permanent fixture globally. I'm not saying South Africa needs to produce 50% of what the world watches. However, going from one hit every two years to three or four percent of the global slate would be transformative.
“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.”
Balancing local stories with global markets
Mekwa's view is that pursuing international deals does not mean abandoning the local market.
“Increasingly, as an industry, we need to be export-oriented. But that can't be every producer's strategy. There's a lot of work that's local and specific, that doesn't need to and shouldn't be forced to travel,” he says.
“If you chase international appeal too hard, you lose local appeal. It's a balancing act. Even as you go abroad, you have to keep a strong local base. That's what gives your work its distinct flavour and keeps you sharp.”
For Mekwa, the industry's value also lies in its ability to create employment without requiring traditional formal qualifications for every role.
“You don't need to be anyone, or hold any title, to come into it. 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,” he says.
“If you think about the country, we have a job creation problem, and every production creates hundreds of jobs for people who don't necessarily need a chartered accountancy or any other qualification.”
A changing industry for Black producers
Mekwa also points to the progress made by Black producers during his career, particularly in their ability to participate as commercial partners rather than being included primarily to meet transformation requirements.
“I've seen more Black producers working as genuine partners and contributors, rather than being brought on to tick a box,” he says.
“It gives me enormous pleasure to see more of us going to international markets to pitch our products and seeing how our confidence grows. People are saying, 'I'm this guy out of South Africa, I've got great stories to tell, I'm running this business, and we can do business together.'”
His own business background has shaped his approach to Quizzical Pictures.
“A lot of creative businesses are seen as practitioner-led, by directors and writers. However, often the business part gets left out, and I'd like to see more of that,” he says.
“I like to believe that my business background takes the company further than perhaps other creative businesses would go.”
For South Africa's screen industry, the immediate priority remains getting the rebate system moving again. But for Mekwa, the longer-term question is bigger: whether the country can build an industry capable of creating jobs at home while taking distinctly South African stories to international audiences.
