WHEN RHETORIC REPLACES UNDERSTANDING
A Reflection on Minister Gayton McKenzie’s CCI Sector Clusters Narrative
On 4 March 2026, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture hosted a media briefing at Freedom Park in Pretoria where Minister Gayton McKenzie and Deputy Minister Peace Mabe addressed several matters within the department’s portfolio.
The agenda included issues such as VAR, WAFCON, LIV Golf, Formula 1, the National Language Summit, Robben Island, the Venice Biennale, and the launch of Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) Sector Clusters.
However, one thing became immediately clear during the briefing: approximately 90% of the discussion centred on sport, leaving Arts and Culture to occupy the margins of the conversation.
For a department tasked equally with the stewardship of Sport, Arts and Culture, the imbalance was not just noticeable—it was symbolic.
For those working within the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI), the most striking moment came when the Minister attempted to explain the rationale behind the newly proposed CCI Sector Clusters.
What emerged instead was a troubling indication that the Minister may not fully understand the historical, structural, and policy frameworks that have shaped the sector for decades.
The Brenda Fassie Example: A Simplistic Narrative
During the briefing, Minister McKenzie referenced the late Brenda Fassie as an example of the struggles faced by artists.
He recalled reading an article while in prison in which Brenda Fassie allegedly told President Nelson Mandela that she was broke. The Minister admitted he was unsure whether Mandela bought her a house or a car.
From this anecdote, the Minister attempted to draw a broader conclusion: that artists often die poor and that government intervention through sector clusters could address this problem.
He stated:
“Artists of today can’t even bury themselves today… some of them we have to give them money when they die.”
He further added that this situation was unfair to other working people such as domestic workers or unemployed citizens, asking:
“Why are we burying the artists?”
While the plight of artists dying in poverty is a real and painful reality in South Africa, reducing the complexity of the CCI economy to a story about funeral costs reflects a deeply superficial understanding of the problem.
Artists do not die poor because they lack a database or because they are not clustered into administrative groupings.
They die poor because of structural issues, including:
Weak intellectual property protections
Poor royalty collection systems
Unregulated contractual practices
Lack of social security frameworks for freelancers
Limited enforcement of labour rights in the creative sector
None of these systemic issues were meaningfully addressed in the Minister’s explanation.
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Sector Clusters Are Not a New Idea
Perhaps the most concerning aspect of the briefing was the Minister’s framing of sector clusters as a new solution.
This is historically inaccurate.
The concept of sector representation within the Cultural and Creative Industries has existed for years.
During the presidency of former President Jacob Zuma, extensive consultations were conducted across the sector, with processes led by the then Minister of Arts and Culture—now Deputy President Paul Mashatile.
Those processes eventually led to the formation of the Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa (CCIFSA), which also relied on sector representation models.
If anything, the idea of organising the sector into clusters is a continuation of earlier policy thinking, not an innovation.
Ironically, many of the same senior officials currently working within the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture were present during those earlier processes.
This raises a critical question:
If sector clusters are now presented as a solution to problems that existed for decades, what lessons were learned from previous attempts?
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The Ghost of CCIFSA
Anyone familiar with the recent history of the sector cannot ignore the parallels between CCIFSA and the current sector cluster model.
CCIFSA was originally envisioned as a representative body for the Cultural and Creative Industries. Yet it ultimately struggled with legitimacy, accountability, and governance.
Many in the sector questioned:
Who CCIFSA truly represented
How its leadership was selected
Whether its structures were accountable to practitioners
Despite these concerns, the same DSAC management defended the institution while it was failing.
Now the sector finds itself confronting another structure with similar characteristics.
Sector clusters have been established, boards have been appointed or selected, and funding has reportedly been allocated—yet many practitioners across the country do not know who these leaders are or how they were chosen.
Image Source : DSAC
The R2 Million Question
The Minister revealed that each sector cluster had received approximately R2 million as operational funding.
This raises urgent questions that the sector is still waiting to hear answered:
What activities have these clusters undertaken with this funding?
Who has benefited from these allocations?
What accountability mechanisms exist for these funds?
How were the boards selected and by whom?
Transparency is not optional when public funds are involved.
Without it, sector clusters risk becoming another administrative structure disconnected from the practitioners it claims to represent.
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Image Source : SASFED
Existing Sector Organisations Already Exist
Another troubling implication of the Minister’s remarks is the assumption that the creative sector lacks organised representation.
This is simply not true.
Several industry organisations have long been operating successfully without direct government formation, including:
The South African Guild of Actors (SAGA)
The South African Screen Federation (SASFED), established in 2006
The South African Music Industry Council (SAMIC)
These organisations were formed organically by practitioners, not administratively constructed by government departments.
Their existence proves that the sector is capable of self-organisation when conditions allow.
The question therefore becomes:
Why build new structures instead of strengthening the ones that already exist?
Cutting the “Middle Man”?
One of the most controversial claims made by the Minister was that sector clusters would help eliminate the middle man when artists are booked for performances.
This statement appears to misunderstand the role of professional representation in the creative economy.
Managers, agents, and representatives are not simply middlemen—they provide:
Negotiation expertise
Contract management
Career development guidance
Legal and financial protection
Removing them from the ecosystem would not empower artists.
If anything, it could expose artists to greater exploitation.
The idea that sector clusters might replace these professional roles raises even more questions about the practical design of this model.
The Database Illusion
The Minister also suggested that sector clusters would create databases that municipalities, ambassadors, and government departments could use when booking artists.
But this raises another critical contradiction.
The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture already funds numerous entities and programmes across the sector, including:
National Arts Council
National Film and Video Foundation
National Heritage Council
Various performing arts institutions
Each of these bodies maintains its own records of funded artists and organisations.
If the department already holds vast amounts of data across its entities, why has it not consolidated this information into a national creative industry database?
The challenge is not the absence of data.
It is the absence of coordination and policy coherence.
A Launch Without the Sector
The official launch of the sector clusters has been scheduled for 30 March 2026 under the theme “United Voices Create Futures.”
Yet ironically, the invitation for the event appears to have been directed primarily at the media rather than the sector itself.
If these structures truly represent practitioners, should they not be accountable first to those practitioners?
The cultural sector has seen many launches before.
What it needs now is substance, transparency, and genuine consultation.
The Real Work Still Ahead
Minister McKenzie concluded by saying the media should attend the launch to see how artists will be paid, how lawyers will assist them, how accountants will help them, and how contracts will be interpreted.
These are indeed important services.
But they are not substitutes for policy reform.
The transformation of South Africa’s Cultural and Creative Industries will not come from administrative clusters alone.
It will require:
Strong legislation protecting artists
Enforceable intellectual property frameworks
Labour protections for freelancers
Transparent funding mechanisms
Institutional accountability
Without addressing these structural issues, the promise of sector clusters risks becoming another well-intentioned idea that fails to deliver real change.
A Moment for Honest Reflection
Minister Gayton McKenzie has brought energy and visibility to the portfolio since taking office.
However, leadership in the Cultural and Creative Industries requires more than passion and rhetoric.
It requires deep understanding of the sector’s history, its institutions, and the struggles of those who sustain it.
If the Department truly wants to build a future where artists no longer die poor, it must start by listening carefully to the voices of the sector itself.
Because the Cultural and Creative Industries do not need to be spoken for.
They need to be heard.
Readers are encouraged to watch the video shared by The Creative Passport, which isolates the section of the briefing where the Minister speaks specifically about the CCI Sector Clusters — watch it and be the judge.
WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW
Minister Gayton Mckenzie on CCI Sector Clusters Launch
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