ANC to meet Ramaphosa over Copyright Amendment Bill

The engagement – which included ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Zizi Kodwa, ANC national executive committee sub-committee chairperson on sport, arts and culture Thandi Moraka and several creative industry groups – sought to address key concerns with the bills. 

As a result of the meeting, the ruling party has agreed to meet with Ramaphosa on 1 April to discuss the bills, compel him not to sign them into law and continue to consult the necessary stakeholders to reach a consensus that serves the best interests of the cultural and creative industries in South Africa.

Mbalula said: “On our part as the ANC we will advise the president not to sign the Copyright Amendment Bill and doing so we are enjoined by the letter from [South African musician and CISAC vice-president] Yvonna Chaka Chaka to the president that explicitly stated the same, that is pending thorough consultations. We will therefore unequivocally advise the president to return this bill back to Parliament for further consultations. The voice of the creative sector must be heard!”

The decision comes after a number of local and international organisations, including the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), voiced their dissatisfaction with the current state of the bills, particularly that of the Copyright Amendment Bill. The main concerns against the bill include provisions giving the minister of trade, industry and competition the power to prescribe the terms of publishing contracts, a 25-year limitation on the assignment of rights, and the controversial inclusion of the US-borrowed ‘fair use’ clause, which allows for the free use of copyrighted works in a number of contexts, including research and teaching.

However, South African NPO Blind SA is in favour of the Copyright Amendment Bill’s ascension to law on the grounds that it will provide exceptions to transcribe reading material into accessible formats such as Braille, large print and audio. Blind SA also has a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling supporting its lobbying efforts for the inclusion of the fair use clause, which could pose obstacles for those who are against it.

“They’ve tied the president’s hands and the issue of the Constitutional Court judgement from Blind SA. This is another issue where there is a deadline for him to comply with that judgment by September this year,” Copyright Coalition of South Africa chairperson Chola Makgamathe told Music In Africa, adding that there were nonetheless legal solutions that could operationalise the bill. She also recommended delinking the Copyright Amendment and Performers’ Protection Amendment bills on the basis that performers could benefit from the latter.

In February, Trade Union for Musicians of South Africa’s Gabi le Roux told Music In Africa that during consultative sessions with industry representatives, the union had specifically asked for music to be excluded from the fair use clause but that such calls had fallen on deaf ears.