Vatiswa Ndara and the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa have met to discuss the issues of alleged “mistreatment” which the actress revealed in an open letter earlier this week.
The veteran actress who is no stranger to South African viewers, caused a furore in the television industry and on social media on Monday when she shared a six-page open letter about actors being “exploited” by big production houses and urged the minister to do something about it.
After some public pressure, Mthethwa confirmed on Twitter that he received the open letter and held a conference call and then met with Ndara.
Ndara confirmed on Twitter that she met the minister and said he would officially respond soon.
Mthethwa said on Twitter, "I deemed it important that mine not be an immediate public response but one that stems from first embracing you as the actors we dearly love first. I have heard you. We will be in touch."
Following their meeting Ndara said that the minister encouraged South African creatives to keep up the momentum.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/NathiMthethwaSA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NathiMthethwaSAgiving me an opportunity to expand on the issues raised in the Open letter. He'll respond to it in due course. He encourages SA creatives to not lose momentum and keep up the burning spirit of progress.
— Vatiswa Ndara (@theVati_Can)
In his tweet the minister thanked Ndara for taking him in her confidence.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/theVati_Can?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@theVati_Can& for taking me in your confidence. I deemed it important that mine not be an immediate public response but one that stems from first embracing you as the actors we dearly love first. I have heard you. We will be in touch. pic.twitter.com/dlm4aogP00
— Min. Nathi Mthethwa (@NathiMthethwaSA)
In the open letter, Ndara quoted an offer from Ferguson Films to shoot season 3 of "iGazi".
She claimed that the offer of R110 000 (before tax) was unfair as filming could be up to 12 hours a day, six days a week and the amount did not include compensation for PR or media interviews linked to the role and would span over five weeks with no limit to first calls.
Shona and Connie Ferguson who own Ferguson Films dismissed the claims in a statement they released.
“We support 100% a need for the industry to be regulated and for the Performance Protection Amendment Bill to be signed sooner rather than later. With that said, the allegations made by the various actors do not reflect the true position of the industry and paints a false picture, that may mislead the public,” read a part of the statement Shona posted on his Twitter account.