Film and TV industry to march on DTIC

By Johnathan Paoli

South Africa’s film and television industry will stage national marches in Cape Town and Pretoria in late January 2026, warning that the continued dysfunction of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition’s (DTIC) Film and TV Incentive has pushed the sector to the brink of collapse.

Under the banner “Save SA Film Jobs – Fix the DTIC Film Incentive”, industry bodies representing thousands of workers across the value chain will mobilise on 28 January in Cape Town and 29 January in Pretoria, demanding urgent reforms to restart approvals, restore investor confidence and halt what they say is a deepening economic and human crisis.

According to the Save SA Film Jobs coalition, the incentive scheme, a cornerstone of South Africa’s creative economy, has effectively stalled.

“Our decline is the direct result of a poorly implemented and red-tape-riddled rebate system whose approvals have stalled, and a department that refuses to engage meaningfully with the industry,” the coalition said in a statement announcing the marches.

While the DTIC maintains that the incentive remains open, industry representatives say there have been no adjudication meetings since March 2024, leaving a growing backlog of applications unapproved and forcing productions to delay, downscale or relocate to competing international markets.

The coalition says the consequences have been severe.

Productions have stalled, tens of thousands of freelancers and permanent workers have lost income, and the industry has contracted by close to 50%.

The slowdown has also triggered a collapse in investor confidence, with major international film and television projects, and billions of rand in potential foreign currency inflows, being diverted to other countries with more reliable incentive systems.

The planned march follows an earlier protest held on 27 February this year, when hundreds of filmmakers, actors, writers, crew members and industry organisations gathered outside the DTIC’s