Published in City Press: 20 April 2025
For decades, South Africa’s creative industries have been saddled with ministers who lack both the competence and the commitment to grow this vital sector.
Instead of appointing leaders with a genuine understanding of the arts, culture and sport ecosystems, we are handed individuals with no background or interest in addressing the unique challenges of these industries.
This disregard has led to repeated failures to align leadership with the needs of film makers, artists, musicians and other cultural practitioners.
Instead of fostering growth and innovation, successive ministers have treated the arts and culture budget as a personal slush fund for political campaigns and public relations stunts.
They have been more interested in photo opportunities at glamorous events than in tackling the pressing structural issues that hinder progress in the creative industries.
This persistent failure to take the sector seriously is not just a governance issue – it is a profound act of disrespect towards an industry that contributes significantly to South Africa’s economy and cultural identity.
So, when McKenzie was appointed, with his sweet promises of “your lives are going to change, we waited with bated breath for this long-awaited transformation. I’ll be honest, I personally thought we were better off.
While known for his unconventional rise to prominence, McKenzie has a history outside of traditional political structures, which suggested he might bring fresh energy and ideas to the sector.
One of the key policy frameworks guiding the creative industries is the revised white paper on arts, culture and heritage, approved by Cabinet in 2018 and endorsed by Parliament in 2020.
Among its significant proposals was the amalgamation of the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and the National Arts Council – both of which fall under the department of sport, arts and culture – into a single entity.
This initiative aimed to streamline governance, reduce duplication and centralise funding and oversight for creative industries in SA.
However, when McKenzie publicly declared that the proposed amalgamation of the NFVF and the National Arts Council would not proceed – despite it being enshrined in the revised white paper – we were intrigued.
How could a single minister unilaterally undo a policy approved by Cabinet?
This decision not only raised legal questions, but was also a sign of things to come regarding how our creative industries were going to be managed.
We have watched, time and again, as the portfolio committee on sport, arts and culture fails to hold this minister or his department accountable for anything. The cracks in governance are widening, and the rot is becoming impossible to ignore.
We have seen McKenzie publicly castigate artists on platforms such as X and Facebook, wielding social media as a weapon to silence dissent rather than engage with the sector he is meant to serve.
We have seen him distort the truth about the list of writers submitted by literature sector representatives for the last month’s Havana International Book Fair in Cuba – a list carefully curated with input from the sector and inclusive of black, white, coloured and Indian authors.
Yet only one name was selected. The minister’s justification? That his crime was wanting inclusion.
But inclusion was already there – what he did was erase it. What has become undeniable is this: the minister is not governing. He is consolidating power. Behind his public calls for nominations and his lofty rhetoric about transformation lie a deliberate pattern of manipulation.
Legitimate structures are being co-opted for purposes that may not even stand up to scrutiny.
This is not leadership; it is control masquerading as governance. The results are devastating for our creative industries, devastating for our artists, devastating for our nation’s cultural identity.
The minister’s repeated secondments of department officials into NFVF leadership roles have created a cycle of instability that disrupted operations, violated legislative requirements and eroded trust in one of SA’s most critical cultural institutions.
These secondments of Mandisa Tshikwatamba in August, Lebogang Mogoera in September and Abigail Thulare (not a department of sport, arts and culture official but head of another entity in the department) in January raised concerns about the extent of ministerial influence over executive appointments at the NFVF.
In addition, the incoming CEO was interviewed by his fellow board members from Boxing SA who should have recused themselves from the process in this case. The company secretary did not enforce such transparent governance processes.
Why this matters
As the SA Screen Federation, we represent an industry that relies on a functional NFVF to support the whole screen sector value chain – film makers, producers, writers, actors, post production, crew and other creatives who bring stories of SA to life. We cannot stand by while this institution continues to be destabilised by political interference disguised as governance.
The minister’s conduct in appointing NFVF council members raises concerns about governance failures, breaches of constitutional and ethical obligations, and systemic undermining of democratic values.
Grounds to challenge the minister’s actions
1. Breach of constitutional principles
2. Patronage and board capture
3. Erosion of institutional credibility
4. Breach of ethical codes
5. Systemic undermining of democratic values
6. Legal noncompliance
Accountability and transparency
The Constitution mandates that public administration be governed by principles of accountability, transparency and merit-based appointments (section 19). The repeated appointment of individuals across
multiple boards, without sufficient diversity or evidence of merit violates these principles.
Undermining oversight mechanisms
By recycling appointees who lack adequate qualifications or sector-specific expertise, the minister weakens oversight mechanisms designed to ensure effective governance and accountability in public institutions.
Political patronage
Evidence points to a pattern of appointments based on politicalloyalty rather than competence. This practice fosters patronage networks that prioritise personal or political interests over institutional integrity and public service delivery.
Exclusion of qualified professionals
The minister’s actions exclude a broader pool ofqualified professionals from contributing to public service, undermining meritocracy and further entrenching inequality in access to public positions.
Weakening public boards
Appointing individuals with inflated credentials or tenuous links to the film industry diminishes the credibility of the NFVF as an oversight body. This erodes public trust in its ability to fulfil its mandate effectively.
Conflict of interest risks
Recycling appointees across boards increases the risk of conflicts of interest, as individuals may prioritise personal or political agendas over institutional goals.
Failure to act in the public interest
Ministers are obligated to act in the public interestand uphold ethical standards. By prioritising loyalty over competence, the ministerbreaches ethical codes that require selflessness, integrity and objective decision-making.
Neglecting oversight duties
The Zondo commission on state capture highlightedinstances where shareholder ministers failed to understand or intentionally breached their roles in appointing the boards of state-owned enterprises. Similar patterns can be
inferred from the NFVF appointments.
Threat to constitutional democracy
The repeated recycling of appointees reflects a systematic drift towards patronage and state capture-like practices, where loyalty overrides democratic principles such as inclusivity and fairness.
Shadow state dynamics
The lack of transparency in appointments mirrors broader concerns about a “shadow state”, where secrecy replaces accountability and public resources are redirected for private gain.
Violation of appointment guidelines
Public service laws and guidelines emphasise merit-based recruitment processes. The minister’s actions contravene these frameworks by failing to ensure appointments align with institutional needs and
objectives.
Potential mismanagement allegations
If appointees lack competence, it raises the risk of mismanagement within public entities, which could lead to financial losses or operational failures similar to those documented in other state-owned enterprises.
The recent appointment of the incoming NFVF CEO Vincent Blennies has raised further alarm.
From a detailed comparison, it is evident that Blennies’ biography is largely a reworked version of Thulare’s biography, rather than an independently crafted piece. This is not merely lazy, it is deliberate repackaging – a bureaucratic sleight of hand that inserts individuals with no prior involvement in the creative industries into senior posts by dressing them in borrowed experience.
This is not transformation. It is the colonisation of the public cultural space by politically loyal placeholders.
The minister’s disregard for established rules and guidelines can harm the regulatory frameworks that have been put in place to ensure fair distribution of resources, transparency and effective governance in the sector.
Reclaiming our institutions
We call for the following:
- Full transparency: Publish CVs, scoring matrices and appointment motivations for every public board position.
- Independent audits of all appointments across entities in the department of sport, arts and culture.
- Accountability for ministerial actions: Legal consequences should be established for actions that violate governance frameworks or create institutional instability.
- Legal reform: A comprehensive review of the department’s regulatory and decision-making processes is necessary. If the current structures are enabling irregularities or abuses, government should reform these mechanisms to introduce greater checks and balances.
- Stronger whistleblower protections and avenues for reporting misconduct will allow those within the department or industry to safely raise concerns without fear of retaliation.
The sector deserves transparent, collaborative and legally sound governance that aligns with its aspirations and challenges.
The lights are on. The stage is set. The cameras are rolling. Let us not be silent extras in a story of our own destruction.
Caption: Department of sports, arts and culture Minister Gayton McKenzie. Image By US Embassy South Africa – https://www.flickr.com/photos/usembassysa/54192731563/, CC BY 2.0.
