BREAKING: Actors’ protection ensured as key legislation is signed into power

Posted on by thingslancesays

On Wednesday, 20 March 2019 the National Council of Provinces, has voted to adopt the Copyright Amendment Bill and the Performers Protection Bill. This comes as a huge victory, as both bills have already been approved by the National Assembly, and only needed to be adopted by the National Council of Provinces before the dissolution of the current Parliament. This move comes as a great victory to the South African Guild of Actors (SAGA) who had this motion tabled.

The Copyright Amendment Bill (CAB) and Performers Protection Amendment Bill (PPAB) are pieces of legislation that protects actors from being forced to sign away all their rights. SAGA instigated this battle with Parliament while experiencing extreme diversity from international and local media, both of which have lobbied to stop these Bills at the National Council of Provinces. In late 2018, the motion was tabled at the National Council of Provinces by SAGA National Chairperson, Jack Devnarain. Via oral submission to the parliament, it was made clear that organisations are lobbying against these bills so that the exploitation of South African talent can continue.

The problem:

SAGA as an entity exists so that it can be a powerful voice of unity for actors across South Africa’s many entertainment sectors, be it film, television, stage, commercial and corporate sectors. Here are the current shortcomings with the Performers Protection Act:

  • The Act does not promote the moral and economic rights of performers, meaning that actors in South Africa do not receive residual income from the work they have done over the span of their careers.
  • Certain definitions in the Act are unclear and need to be substituted.
  • The Act does not address issues related to the payment of royalties to performers.

According to the SAGA website, a Portfolio Committee was established and this allowed interested individuals to submit written comments on the Performers Protection Amendment Bill, 24 of 2016. The bill was then tabled in parliament through public hearings since 2017. Finally, it has been sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa to assent.

Here is what Twitter had to say on the issue.

The signing into law of these pieces of legislation is a definite win for performers in the industry.

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