Isidingo actor Motlatsi Mafatshe found himself speaking French without his knowledge and he was not getting a dime for the dubbed show.
“I was driving a Tazz for 7 years being on a soapie and people laughed at me when I’m driving at the Robots. That thing is hard,” Motlatsi Mafatshe, 17 October 2019.
The revelations came to light on Wednesday when SABC’s Metro FM hosted a round table discussion with Ayabonga Cawe on issues affecting the industry and how these can be solved moving forward.
“A long time ago I was in Argentina and there was a lady there making a hoo-ha about do they know who I am. She said we watch your show all the time and they love it,” says the actor who was not even sure the show (assumingly Isidingo) was dubbed for international broadcast.
Motlatsi Mafatshe says that he saw a clip of himself on the socials speaking French, which meant the show was dubbed.
“Then I saw a clip of my scene on socials speaking French right so it’s dubbed and I don’t know about that. I don’t know that in other countries people watch me and I’m not getting a cent from it. We need to fix this because we’ve been talking about it for a very long time. It needs to be fair and I do understand that producers have to benefit, and the broadcaster also has to benefit. Everybody has to benefit, I mean I have been in this show (assumingly Isidingo) for quite some time and it has to be fair,” says Motlatsi Mafatshe.
Giving a scenario, the Isidingo actor says there was a point they spoke about royalties and that he got a letter from the broadcaster for royalties.
“I think there were 6 years of the show at the time and I got a grand (R1000). I’m like hold on there’s a problem here… Nobody cares that we are not regulated and I’m thinking how are we going to solve this and I do understand producers are under pressure,” he says.
He continues to say, “I was driving a Tazz for 7 years being on a soapie and people laughed at me when I’m driving at the robots. That thing is hard because you can’t afford a house, and the bank won’t recognise you. We are just asking for people to care, I mean those who are in charge,” pleads the Isidingo actor.
The actor says that as actors they want a better future and they want to live off their careers because they’re very passionate about acting.
Motlatsi says that one way or the other somebody is hiding through the exploitation of actors.
“We don’t want actors to be scared. We want to have an open space and I don’t speak on behalf of actors alone, even the crew for them it’s even worse. We need to unite as actors… We cannot be helped in isolation,” says the actor.
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