Actors' Guild president Jack Devnarain was harsh in his assessment of Ramaphosa's slowdown.
The South African Actors' Guild (SAGA) has welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa's referral to the Constitutional Court for a ruling on the constitutionality of the Copyright Amendment Bill and the Performers Protection Amendment Bill.
However, the SAGA president harshly criticized Ramaphosa's slowdown.
“It is a very positive move that the President has exercised his option to send the bill to the Constitutional Court,” said SAGA President Jack Devnaline. The Citizen.
On Tuesday, the President's Office issued a statement saying President Ramaphosa had referred both bills to the court for a ruling on their constitutionality.
The Performers Protection Amendment Bill (PPAB), which could dramatically change the lives of actors, has been passed by Parliament and the National Council of Provinces and placed on Ramaphosa's desk. It only needs Mr Ramaphosa's signature to pass.
PPAB is linked to the Copyright Amendment Bill (CAB).
The PPAB gives actors legal rights to acting royalties, and the CAB gives actors the legal right to establish an organization that can collect and pay those royalties.
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Ramaphosa pushed by blind SA
The President was forced by SECTION27, representing Blind SA, in an urgent application to the Constitutional Court against Ramaphosa for failing to sign the CAB.
“It took the blind SA and their desire to force the president to actually do his job by going to the Constitutional Court and demanding that he must act on his duties as president.” he said.
In 2022, the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional a copyright law that restricts access to reading materials by the visually impaired.
Specifically, the law required the consent of the copyright holder before converting books and other publications into a format readable by the visually impaired, such as Braille or large print.
Debnarain gave a scathing assessment of the president's inaction.
“That seems to be the only way to get him to carry out his mandated duties. Apart from that, he is quite content to leave things as they are and does not interfere or provide any assistance.” , much less provide any leadership.”
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Invoice processing
Congress signed the two bills and approved them for the first time in March 2019. The second time was in 2024, and in both cases the president received and debated the bill.
“In fact, he sat with them and did nothing. The first time he sat with them for 15 months and then only sent constitutional questions to Parliament in June 2020, but this It was a huge waste of time and once again it took all the time from February 29, 2024 until now before he decided whether to sign or not,'' Devnarain said.
“We are actually very relieved that the president did not intend to make such a decision, because we would not have expected the president to make such a decision. If he was going to make a decision about it, we believe he would have made it a long time ago.”
The president's office did not explicitly say what Mr Ramaphosa's concerns were with both bills. SAGA said it does not know what the president's constitutional question is.
Debnarain said: “I am aware of when the president wants to submit his papers to the Constitutional Court and we will understand at that point, because we need to define very clearly what the president's constitutional reservations are.'' ” he said.
The Citizen We have contacted the Office of the President regarding Mr Ramaphosa's concerns about both bills, but have not yet received a response.
The actor is still recognized as his character Rajesh Kumar. Isidingosaid that whatever issues the president wants to raise in court will only relate to constitutional issues that he first raised when he sent the bill to Congress in 2020.
“So now he cannot come up with any new constitutional issues because any reservations he had in 2020 have been double considered by Congress in the intervening four years,” the actor said. .
Debnarain doesn't know how long this process will take. “Indeed, these processes occur automatically through the constitutional court system, which lasts for months and even years.”
“Now that he has taken this bill to the Constitutional Court, there will be a fair ruling on the bill and its contents, and by the end of it there will be some certainty.”
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Ramaphosa did not move.
when The Citizen Asked by Mr Devnarain if he thought the recent deaths of prominent actors such as Connie Chaiume and Darlington Michaels had prompted the president's move, Mr Ramaphosa said he was not moved by the deaths of the actors.
“He has never commented or expressed any sense of loss,” he said.
“He hasn't said anything about the death of Connie Chaiume, he hasn't said anything about the death of Darlington Michaels, he hasn't said anything about the death of Sero Motolounge, he hasn't said anything about the death of Timmy Kwebulana, and in fact the president hasn't said anything about any domestic situation.” address. ”
“The President does not seem to recognize that these are proud South Africans who carry the weight of our heritage and our ability to tell South African stories.”
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