New book challenges South Africa’s film industry: The Unlegislated Dream Calls for Labour
Protection and Legislative Reform.
South Africa’s creative economy is rapidly emerging as one of the country’s most significant economic and cultural forces.
According to
recent industry reporting by Business and Arts South Africa (BASA), the
cultural and creative industries contribute nearly R300 billion to the
country’s GDP - approximately 4% of the national economy while supporting an
estimated 1.4 million jobs across multiple sectors.
From film and television to music, fashion, design, gaming, and digital storytelling, South Africa’s creative industries continue to shape global cultural conversations while driving employment, tourism, entrepreneurship, and economic participation.
Yet behind the growth of the screen sector lies a difficult question many within the industry have quietly asked for years:
Who protects the people sustaining the industry?
In his forthcoming publication, The Unlegislated Dream, South African filmmaker and cultural policy practitioner Andile Sinqoto confronts the structural realities facing creative workers in one of the country’s most influential industries.
Far more than a book release, The Unlegislated Dream enters the national conversation as a policy-driven intervention examining the absence of sector-specific legislation, labour protections, institutional safeguards, and long-term sustainability frameworks within South Africa’s film and television industry.
Drawing from nearly two decades of industry experience across filmmaking, governance, labour advocacy, and institutional leadership, Sinqoto argues that while the screen sector continues to contribute significantly to employment, culture, tourism, and international visibility, many creative workers remain vulnerable to freelance precarity, inconsistent labour standards, limited economic participation, and inadequate legal recognition.
The publication interrogates issues including:
-freelance labour and worker vulnerability,
-authorship rights and intellectual property,
-residuals and royalties,
-occupational safety,
-governance accountability,
-and the sustainability of African film and television
industries.
At the centre of the book is a clear and urgent position:
“Legislation is not an act of intervention. It is an act of governance.”
Rather than approaching reform from an ideological
perspective, The Unlegislated Dream
frames legislative recognition as a matter of governance, economic
responsibility, labour protection, and institutional accountability.
The release arrives at a critical moment for South Africa’s creative economy, as conversations surrounding labour instability, transformation, funding structures, industry sustainability, and worker protection continue to intensify across the entertainment sector.
“For too long, the creative industry has operated within systems that celebrate its cultural contribution while overlooking the structural realities faced by the people who sustain it. This book is not an attack on the industry — it is a call for governance, sustainability, and dignity for creative workers,” says Andile Sinqoto.
The Unlegislated Dream is expected to spark discussion among government institutions, labour stakeholders, broadcasters, cultural organisations, filmmakers, producers, unions, and industry professionals across South Africa and the African continent.
This is not simply a conversation about film.
It is a conversation about labour, governance, economic justice, and the future sustainability of the creative economy itself.
The Unlegislated Dream is set for release in June 2026 and will be available on Takealot, Google Play Books, Google Play, Apple Books, Amazon, and Audible.