Mara Louw on Power FM | Image: Twitter
Almost two years after getting sacked from their hit telenovela The Queen, actress and musician Mara Louw still has a lot to say to television power couple Connie and Shona Ferguson.
She got it all off her chest on Tuesday morning during a dialogue with other media industry stakeholders and government representatives on Power FM as part of the station’s #PowerDialogue event focusing on the state of the media industry.
Hosted by the station’s Aldrin Sampear, the #PowerDialogue panel featured the likes of actress Nambitha Mpumplwana; sports, arts, culture and recreation MEC Mbali Hlope; musician Tebogo Sithathu; and co-founder and MD of Seriti films Leanne Kumalo, all alongside Louw.
Actors such as Vatiswa Ndara, Lillian Dube, Jack Devnarain, Aaron Moloisi, Jerry Mofokeng, Dineo Nchabeleng, entertainment commentator Phil Mphela, and TV and film producer Lala Tuku were in attendance.
The discussion was sparked by the recent open letter written by Ndara addressed to Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa regarding the status quo of the South African entertainment industry and how this impacts performers negatively.
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After hearing the viewpoint of callers and various attendees, the panel got to share their perspectives, starting with Louw, who said that one of the many problems plaguing society and the entertainment industry at large is the deployment of politicians as ministers.
Mpumlwana, on the other hand, demanded answers regarding the progress of the Performers Protection Amendment Bill.
Louw weighed in and postulated that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s hands are tied with regards to the bill because of powerful lobbyists who are against the bill being signed into law.
Later on in the discussion, Louw revealed that she had been blacklisted and sanctioned for speaking up about unfair pay and working conditions.
Among the many sanctions she has suffered was the time she had her year-long contract cut down to six months on an unidentified production due to a pay dispute.
“In 2003, I was earning R65K a month. Now I have to be told by Shona (Ferguson), who is a child, that I am too expensive. If you wanna pay peanuts, go find a monkey,” Louw later added.
All this and more will be revealed in an upcoming book that Louw says she is currently penning.
A podcast of the discussion has not yet been uploaded but you can listen to the show in the periscope stream below.
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