PIMVILLE IS DEAD: Actors down tools & leave Bakwena Production

Three weeks ago, The Public Dispatch published a detailed investigation into allegations that Bakwena Productions had not paid the cast, crew and service providers of SABC2’s flagship telenovela Pimville since February 2026.

We sent formal questions to Bakwena Productions and the SABC. We cited the laws. We documented the pattern. We named the precedent. Nobody responded.

Today, everything we reported has come to pass and worse. Pimville’s last episode airs tonight, 7 May 2026, on SABC2. After that, there is nothing. The actors have downed tools and some have already left the production entirely.

In a public statement, the SABC has confirmed that Bakwena Productions is in breach of its contract. The workers who made this show possible are broke, angry. In at least one incident, it is alleged that actors and crew members were physically prevented from leaving a location because the production company had not paid the property owners.

The "Supervising Producer" myth

“This is something we’ve been anticipating” SAGA’s Jack Devnarain

Speaking to The Public Dispatch before the Pimville collapse, veteran actor and South African Guild of Actors (SAGA) National Chairperson, Jack Devnarain did not mince his words.

“SAGA is aware of the non-payment issues. This is something we’ve been anticipating given the track record of the producers and given the fact that the SABC takes a completely hands-off attitude. They take no responsibility whatsoever, not only in appointing these producers who come with a track record of non-payment, but they also don’t want to be involved in protecting the interests of the most vulnerable people on set: the cast, the crew and the background actors. It’s hugely disappointing.”

Devnarain was unsparing in his assessment of the SABC’s claim that appointing a supervising producer would resolve the problem.

“This is a sign that the SABC is not managing its local productions. Local producers are getting away without any discipline under the SABC,” he said.

He pointed directly to the structural vulnerability of performers who are classified as independent contractors rather than employees, a classification that strips them of the protections available to workers under labour legislation.

“I believe that the situation would not have happened had we been deemed employees. We’d have been protected under collective bargaining right. This means the producers would have been in violation and there would’ve been recourse through the CCMA for all the background actors, crew members and the cast,” he said.

On the SABC’s broader institutional accountability, Devnarain was direct.

“We acknowledge that the SABC has a prerogative to commission whoever they like to run the telenovelas, drama series, soapies on their channel. But we expect that mandate to be managed in accordance with the PFMA. It should also protect the interests of all the role players in the industry. The SABC cannot act in their self-interest and cannot act in a way that is irresponsible. They owe the public and the industry answers, we need to know how they’re able to appoint producers who have acknowledged that they owe service providers. Now we’re seeing the same problems that we saw in Pound 4 Pound and the SABC does not seem to take responsibility,” said Devnarain.

Devnarain also singled out the failure of multiple government departments to act.

“SAGA has been engaging with the Department of Sports Arts and Culture (DSAC). However, despite their claim that they have a vested interest in protecting the rights of vulnerable workers and performers, they have never taken any steps to address the abuse and exploitation of actors, crew and background actors. The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies have also not engaged at any level about the contracts that need to be signed, the contracts that govern the relationship between the producers and actors. So far, the only Department that seems to be responsive is the Deparment of Employment and Labour.They've shown an intention to deem freelancers as employees as far back as 2019,” he said.

On 23 January 2026, the Minister of Employment and Labour published Government Notice 7020 in Government Gazette 53987, formally proposing to deem all performers in advertising, artistic and cultural activities as employees under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the National Minimum Wage Act, COIDA and the Labour Relations Act.

PFMA violations and the public purse

The SABC issued a defensive statement yesterday, claiming they have "duly fulfilled" all contractual payments to Bakwena and blaming the producer for a breach of contract. However, under the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), the SABC has a fiduciary duty to ensure that public funds are used for their intended purpose.

If the SABC paid millions to Bakwena and the broadcaster is now left with a "black screen" and zero episodes, this is no longer just a labor dispute, it is fruitless and wasteful Expenditure. The broadcaster cannot simply point the finger at a producer they vetted and appointed despite clear red flags.

Same script. Same ending. Different victims.

This is the second time in two years that the SABC’s SABC2 prime-time telenovela slot has been gutted by a production company’s failure to pay workers.

Muvhango, the 28-year-old Tshivenda soapie that Pimville replaced, was dogged for years by non-payment under creator Duma Ndlovu and Word of Mouth Pictures. Cast staged walkouts in 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Approximately 150 background actors were left unpaid for over seven months by Ndlovu’s daughter Nonkululeko Ndlovu, who ran the casting agency Turning Heads.

She allegedly blocked workers on WhatsApp and her email stopped accepting messages. Workers staged a sit-in at the SABC’s Auckland Park headquarters. The SABC told reporters that contracts between the production house and cast were “not the responsibility of the SABC.”

The SABC then cancelled Muvhango and replaced it with Pimville. It replaced Duma Ndlovu with Rashaka Muofhe. It replaced one company that doesn’t pay workers with another company that doesn’t pay workers.

And now, once again, the workers are the casualties. Only this time, the cast and background actors did not just down tools, many of them have left for good.

Pimville may not survive what Bakwena Productions has done to it. A 300-episode commission could be dead in three months. The SABC’s prime-time slot is empty. And the industry has been sent a devastating message: work for the public broadcaster and you may never get paid.

What must happen now?

The Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies must summon the SABC and the principals of Bakwena Productions to account before Parliament. The committee should demand a full forensic audit of every rand paid by the SABC to Bakwena Productions and a line-by-line accounting of how those funds were disbursed.

The Auditor-General should flag the Pimville commissioning as potential fruitless and wasteful expenditure under Section 51(1)(b)(ii) of the PFMA. Public money was paid to a production company that the SABC knew had a history of non-payment. That money has not reached the workers who produced the content. This is a matter for the public record.

The CCMA must be made available to every unpaid Pimville worker immediately. SAGA and SABAG must assist workers in filing claims without delay. And the deeming provision in Government Notice 7020 must be finalised and gazetted. The performers who make South African television possible cannot continue to be treated as disposable. They need the protection of the law as in yesterday.

As Pimville disappears from our screens tonight, the SABC owes the public, the industry more than just a press release. They owe the South Africans an explanation as to why they continue to commission "rogue" companies with known histories of labor violations.

For the actors who walked off set this week, the drama isn't about a script anymore. It’s about the basic right to be paid for an honest day’s work—a right the SABC and Bakwena Productions have collectively failed to uphold.