African filmmakers left ‘high and dry’ due to lack of funds

The department of arts and culture (DAC) has been accused of leaving African filmmakers high and dry despite a signed agreement to fund the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (Fédération Panafricaine des Cinéastes, or FEPACI) representing a continental voice of filmmakers from various regions of Africa and the Diaspora.

In a resignation letter from the Film and TV Industry Reference Group of the DAC, the secretary-general of FEPACI, Seipati Bulane-Hopa, said the DAC was profoundly negligent in the way it has been handling the migration of FEPACI from Burkina Faso to South Africa since 2006.

“It was not just negligent but also criminal for the DAC and the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) to bring FEPACI to South Africa and then leave me to carry the structural demands of an entity of such a complex nature all by myself,” said Bulane-Hopa.

“Immediately after the hosting of the 8th FEPACI Congress in South Africa in 2006, I was forced to take over the running of the FEPACI secretariat at zero budget and zero infrastructure,” said Bulane-Hopa.

She said that during her four-year tenure, South Africa was to provide financial and diplomatic support as the host country.

“The DAC gave financial support in a very chaotic manner with no diplomatic support. To cite a small example, all former FEPACI secretary-generals before me had diplomatic passports, I did not,” she added.

Bulane-Hopa said FEPACI became a project of the DAC that was left to rest on her shoulders without any further considerations.

According to a payment memorandum of understanding between the DAC and FEPACI signed in 2015, the DAC committed to financially support FEPACI for work undertaken since 2006 and the accumulated debt from 2006 to 2o14 was R6.5 million.

In March 2015, the DAC managed to pay R5 million but failed to pay the balance of R1,5 million in outstanding salaries for the congress project manager and the secretary-general, which is at the heart of the dispute.

“We are in the process of deregistering FEPACI in South Africa. We want to avoid any further tax penalties, some of which we incurred last year while waiting to receive the remaining payment from the DAC since 2015,” said Bulane-Hopa in a letter addressed to Minister Nathi Mthethwa.

She said the reason FEPACI had relocated to South Africa was that the DAC and the NFVF had courted, lobbied and then hosted the African Film Summit and the FEPACI Congress.

“Hosting FEPACI was a serious initiative the DAC took on but then, after the pomp, the dancing and the singing, the DAC and the NFVF simply went about their business as usual, as if nothing happened,” said Bulane-Hopa.

Despite several attempts by The Citizen to get comment from the DAC, the department had failed to respond to questions.

– gcinan@citizen.co.za

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