Zikhona Sodlaka details actors' struggles: There's no law to help

Almost three years since the axing of the Generations 16, over wage disputes, actress Zikhona Sodlaka has revealed that they are still on a quest to get what is "rightfully theirs" from the producer's of Generations.

Speaking to TshisaLIVE at her colleague and actress, Vatiswa Ndara's book launch, the Zikhona explained that the struggles to be fairly rewarded for their work continued because actors had no legal leg to stand on.

"So we are dealing with a business where we must work morally. The producer has a moral obligation to be transparent (about the money) but no legal obligation to do so. So until there's a law and it is legislated, it's difficult to take the 'unfair' producer to a court of law. That is why you can't pay a maid or a teller R1000 but you can do that to an actor. That is why our fight as Generation 16 is still ongoing."

In October 2013, 16 actors of the show, including Zikhona, Anga Makubalo, Patrick Shai among others, expressed their grievances regarding their contracts publicly for the first time since the beginning of Generations.

Then in August 2014, the famous Generations 16 were fired after failing to show up to work as their grievances were still not dealt with.

Fast forward to 2017, Zikhona said their case was still dragging on because they were fighting "moral obligations," and legally had no law that supports them as employees.

"Actors are the products that make the money, when certain stars are in the show, advertisers spent a lot of money to buy slots because they know people will watch. But that large amount of money, never makes it to the actor because it is not their transaction. The transaction is between the producer, the channel and the advertiser and mostly the producer is not transparent enough to tell the actor this is how much you're making."

The Generations 16 actors have mostly moved on and featured in various productions since Generations, however Zikhona made it clear that their fight is not over.