A SECTOR AT A POLITICAL CROSSROADS
Why South Africa Must Reframe Arts and Culture Through the Cultural and Creative Industries Lens
by Thami akaMbongo Manzana
As South Africa approaches the Local Government Elections on 4 November 2026, there is an urgent conversation that the Cultural and Creative Industries sector can no longer postpone. Elections at municipal level are not only about service delivery—they are also about how local economies are shaped, who gets funded, which industries are prioritised, and whether culture is treated as decoration or development.
For too long, arts and culture has been spoken about as a symbolic or social portfolio. Yet globally, the shift has already happened: culture is no longer just heritage, it is industry, economy, and infrastructure.
The question we must ask is simple but uncomfortable:
Are we still speaking the language of Arts and Culture, while the world has moved into the language of the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI)?
Arts and Culture vs Cultural and Creative Industries: A Critical Distinction
Understanding this difference is not academic, it is political and economic.
Arts and Culture traditionally refers to:
Heritage and museums
Language and identity preservation
Traditional performance arts
Community cultural expression
National symbolism and history
It is largely framed as a public good, often dependent on state support.
Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI), however, represent a broader and more economically driven ecosystem:
Film, television, and streaming content
Music production and distribution
Fashion, design, and advertising
Gaming and animation
Digital content creation and influencer economies
Publishing and intellectual property industries
Cultural tourism and events economy
CCI is not only about expression—it is about ownership, monetisation, exports, and jobs.
In simple terms:
Arts and culture preserve identity, while CCIs build industries from identity.
South Africa still largely operates in the first model, while the global economy has already shifted to the second.
What Other African Countries Are Doing Differently
Across the continent, several African states are repositioning culture within economic development frameworks rather than treating it as a social portfolio.
Countries such as Nigeria have explicitly elevated creative economy thinking at ministerial level, linking culture to trade, tourism, and digital economy development. Similarly, nations like Kenya, Ghana, and Rwanda have increasingly integrated creative industries into broader innovation and economic planning strategies.
The message is clear: Africa is no longer only exporting raw materials, it is exporting culture, content, and creativity.
South Africa, despite its advanced infrastructure and talent base, remains institutionally split between recognising culture as identity and hesitating to fully treat it as an industrial sector.
South Africa’s Structural Dilemma
In South Africa, the sector sits within the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC). While this arrangement provides administrative alignment, it also creates a deeper structural challenge: arts and culture competes for attention, resources, and policy prioritisation within a broader departmental mandate that includes sport.
This positioning often limits the sector’s ability to fully assert itself as an economic driver in national development planning.
The result is a policy identity crisis:
Is the sector a welfare and heritage space?
Or is it an economic and industrial sector?
Until this is resolved, fragmentation will continue.
The 2026 Local Government Elections: Why They Matter for the Creative Sector
Local government is the closest sphere of power to artists, cultural workers, venues, libraries, community halls, festivals, and creative hubs.
Yet, as we approach the 2026 municipal elections, the cultural and creative sector is still not central in most political manifestos.
This raises an important issue:
If local government controls space, infrastructure, permits, funding decisions, and community development—why is the creative economy not being treated as a core municipal development pillar?
These elections should force a new kind of conversation, including:
How municipalities support local creative economies
Access to performance spaces and cultural infrastructure
Funding for local festivals and creative programmes
Regulation of informal creative economies (street performers, markets, designers)
Integration of arts into tourism strategies
Protection and development of community cultural spaces
Youth employment through creative entrepreneurship
Without these conversations, the creative sector remains politically invisible at the very level where it is most active.
What Political Parties Must Be Forced to Answer
Political parties cannot continue to treat the cultural sector as an election-season talking point.
As we approach 2026, every political party whether governing or opposition must be challenged on clear policy positions regarding:
Recognition of creative labour as formal labour
Funding models for local arts and creative economies
Intellectual property protection and artist ownership rights
Support for creative SMEs and startups
Integration of creative industries into economic development plans
Municipal cultural infrastructure investment
Digital economy inclusion for creators
The sector must stop receiving vague commitments and start demanding measurable policy frameworks.
The Danger of Fragmentation in the Sector
One of the biggest weaknesses in the creative economy is internal fragmentation.
Musicians, filmmakers, visual artists, designers, writers, and digital creators often advocate separately, weakening collective bargaining power.
Yet globally, CCIs function as interconnected ecosystems, not isolated disciplines.
Until South Africa builds a unified voice for the creative economy, policy influence will remain weak, inconsistent, and reactive.
Why Engagement With Political Parties Must Be Strategic, Not Emotional
Engaging political parties is not about loyalty or opposition, it is about policy influence.
The creative sector must:
Engage Parliament and municipal councils continuously
Submit policy proposals, not only complaints
Participate in budget planning processes
Influence manifestos before elections, not after promises are made
Build alliances across political divides
Creative workers cannot afford to only appear when crises emerge. Sustainable influence requires structured, ongoing engagement across all political formations.
A Sector Demanding Economic Recognition
As South Africa moves toward the 2026 Local Government Elections, the Cultural and Creative Industries sector stands at a defining moment.
The future of the sector depends on whether it continues to be framed as “arts and culture” or whether it fully embraces its identity as a creative economy with industrial power.
This is not just a semantic debate—it is about funding, infrastructure, labour recognition, and economic inclusion.
If Africa is rising through culture, then South Africa must decide whether it wants to remain a spectator of its own creative potential or become a leader in shaping it.
The ballot box in 2026 is not only political—it is also cultural.
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