DSAC 17 SECTOR CLUSTERS CALCULATED LAUNCH
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SECTOR CLUSTERS OR SECTOR SILENCING? QUESTIONS SOUTH AFRICA MUST ASK NOW
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As the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC), under Minister Gayton McKenzie, prepares to launch the 17 Sector Clusters on Monday, 30 March 2026, a moment that should signal progress instead raises a storm of uncomfortable, necessary questions.
At face value, this initiative appears structured, funded, and timely. But beneath the surface, the timing, process, and participation gaps reveal something far more troubling — a sector being reorganised without its full voice.
Why launch now — and for whom?
Why is this launch happening days before the close of the financial year?
Is this truly about sector development — or is it about meeting financial compliance deadlines?
If each of the 17 Sector Clusters has been allocated R2 million, with an initial tranche of approximately R1.2 million already disbursed, what exactly has been achieved so far?
Where are the reports justifying the first tranche?
Who has evaluated these reports?
On what criteria will the second tranche be approved?
And more importantly:
Who in the sector has actually seen, interrogated, or validated this work?
Consultation or compliance exercise?
There are growing reports of last-minute “consultations” being organised by these clusters.
But are these genuine engagements — or hurried box-ticking exercises?
Who is being consulted?
How were they identified?
Why now, at the eleventh hour?
Is consultation being used as a retroactive justification rather than a foundational process?
And if clusters are under pressure to demonstrate activity to unlock remaining funds —
does that not compromise the integrity of the entire process?
Who is missing from the table?
Perhaps the most critical question:
Why are key voices in the Cultural and Creative Industries still excluded?
These clusters are meant to represent the sector — but:
Which practitioners, organisations, and movements were invited into shaping them?
Which ones were deliberately or systematically left out?
What criteria determined inclusion?
Can a structure claim legitimacy when the very people it is meant to serve feel alienated from it?
What happens to existing councils?
As the financial year ends, another layer of uncertainty emerges:
When do the current councils' terms officially end?
How do these new clusters relate to existing governance structures?
Is there a transition plan — or an overlap that risks duplication and confusion?
Or worse:
Is institutional memory about to be discarded without accountability?
Silence, secrecy, and selective communication
One of the most glaring issues is the absence of transparent communication.
Why is the broader sector not being consistently updated?
Why are key developments circulating in closed circles?
Why does information feel controlled rather than shared?
In a democratic cultural landscape, information should empower — not exclude.
Media: invited witnesses or silent partners?
As the launch approaches, another critical question arises:
Which media platforms covering the Cultural and Creative Industries have been invited — and which have not?
Is media access being curated to shape a particular narrative?
Will critical voices be present — or only those aligned with the Department’s messaging?
Can the sector trust coverage that emerges from potentially selective inclusion?
And ultimately:
Is this a public process — or a staged moment?
A sector at a crossroads
The idea of Sector Clusters is not inherently flawed. In fact, if done right, it could strengthen coordination, advocacy, and development across the Cultural and Creative Industries.
But process matters.
Transparency matters.
Inclusion matters.
Without these, even the most well-funded structures risk becoming:
Detached from reality
Distrusted by practitioners
Driven by compliance rather than impact
The questions that will not go away
As 30 March approaches, these are the questions that remain:
Who truly benefits from this launch?
Who has been heard — and who has been ignored?
What is being built — and what is being bypassed?
Is this transformation — or reconfiguration without accountability?
Because in the end, the real issue is not whether the Sector Clusters are launched.
The real issue is whether the sector recognises itself in them.
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