Tv actress and award-winning film producer Mmabatho Montsho, has slammed President Cyril Ramapho’s State Of The Nation Address (SONA) speech in which he did not mention anything about tackling the entertainment industry woes facing creatives. This follows after the president congratulated her on her major achievement for winning the Best Short Film award at the 2020 Worldwide Women’s Film Festival in Arizona, USA.
In his congratulatory message, Ramaphosa wrote “South African creatives are relentlessly making their mark on the world stage and they continue to make us proud.
@MmabathoMontsho’s short film The Award Ceremony came back with a Best Short Film award at the 2020 Worldwide Women’s Film Festival. We celebrate this achievement,” tweeted the president.”
Dear Mr President,
Upon seeing your tweet congratulating our film, “The Award Ceremony” for its international win for Best Short Film at The Worldwide Women’s Film Festival, I spoke with some of my colleagues so that the response is collective. https://t.co/7iCeOB0ANs
— Mmabatho Montsho (@MmabathoMontsho) February 18, 2020
Ramaphosa delivered his maiden SONA’s speech last week and did not divulge any plans about issues that a lot of people in the entertainment space endure.
This ruffled Montsho’s feathers and she swiftly penned down a scathing letter lambasting the President for not taking accountability on the entertainment industry problems.
In her letter, she said ” Black filmmakers, black women filmmakers, in particular, should not have to negotiate their souls in order to have access to tell our stories and still make ends meet. You have not prioritized the SABC which has been in limbo for years. Black practitioners have sat in their homes, in the dark, with no food on the table, while the country watches content they created without getting paid.”
MNET continues to exploit creatives off our intellectual property- our ideas- precisely what makes us storytellers and creatives. We are also aware of the disparity in production budgets between channels with black content (eg. Mzansi) and white content (eg. Kyknet).
— Mmabatho Montsho (@MmabathoMontsho) February 18, 2020
Women in the industry still have no recourse regarding sexual harassment and exclusion. There is nowhere to report sexual harassment, intimidation and exclusion based on gender.
— Mmabatho Montsho (@MmabathoMontsho) February 18, 2020
In other news – Heart-broken Jo-Anne Reyneke speaks on being attacked for failing to look after her Mom
Not so long ago, it was Gqo star TNS who was criticized for not providing for his family by not plastering their house.
Now it’s Mzansi’s award-winning actress Jo-Anne Reyneke who was dragged for forgetting her family. Read more
Source: Zalebs