Florence Masebe: The Cyril Ramaphosa administration has decided creatives don't really matter

Florence Masebe has once again lambasted President Cyril Ramaphosa for apparently "dragging his feet" over signing into law the Performers' Protection Amendment Bill.

The bill, which seeks to regulate the performance industry and protect actors from exploitation, was presented to parliament in 2018 by a delegation from the arts industry, and has been sitting on the president's desk for more than a year.

Late last year TimesLIVE reported that the president had raised concerns around the constitutionality of the bill and the consultation process that was followed.

Speaking on SAFM this week, Florence lambasted the president for the delay and said he should have raised any objections and taken action on it long time ago.

“The truth is the president did not action anything on the bill. All he did was ignore it and he did not send it back to parliament.”

She said actors and creatives do not have the “luxury of time”  the president seemed to think they had.

“I think the administration of Cyril Ramaphosa has been one that's decided creative industries do not really matter, we will continue to treat you like little babies that like to complain and ignore your existence.”

The veteran actress recently told TimesLIVE the delays signaled that “the lawmaking process in SA is a joke”.

“If I had money, I would take the president to court on behalf of actors and other creatives to say 'please do your job', but I can't afford to do that. I hope somebody with the money will do it,” she said.

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Khusela Diko, said the president had an obligation to ensure bills passed by parliament were constitutionally compliant before signing them.