Florence Masebe weighs in on the #Uselwa saga: Serious intervention is needed

Artists in South Africa are often caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to some of the challenges they face in the in the industry, however Florence Masebe will not be silenced.

The veteran actress took to Twitter to share her thoughts on the lack of protection or care from government when artists are allegedly mistreated. Even though Florence has never been one to shy away from speaking about the realities of the art industry, the recent Uselwa situation further rubbed salt in her wounds.

"Trying to get updates on the Uselwa situation and all I get is more doom & gloom.," she started.

Florence shared her concern after she read about the alleged current state of the new Zulu historical series called Uselwa, which is intended for broadcast on SABC1 towards the end of the year.

According to City Press, the line producer Megan Firth was asked to resign and executive producer Mkhomazi Mashinini was facing a revolt from the cast and crew amidst claims of non-payment, cost-cutting, late scripts, bad rates, no medics on set, a shortage of wardrobe and transport, inexperienced production assistants and swirling claims of inappropriate sexual behaviour from a senior manager on set.

"We are aware that the production is facing some challenges, hence there is a commissioning editor who is assigned to visit KwaZulu-Natal to deal with these challenges," SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago told the paper. 

Florence spoke with concern over artists being mistreated after hours of hard work.  

Florence said she felt sad that the government was not investing in the arts and creating legislature that prevents such exploitation.

She tweeted over the weekend about the fear of being blacklisted when you are an actor for having an opinion or speaking out.