A leading Gauteng filmmaker has called for the immediate removal of Gauteng Film Commission (GFC) chief executive officer Keitumetse Lebaka, accusing her of presiding over the collapse of the institution and failing the province’s filmmakers.
The demand comes days after a heated Gauteng Legislature oversight meeting descended into shouting and nearly turned into a physical confrontation, as filmmakers confronted GFC officials over funding, transparency, training and employment opportunities.
Speaking to Africa Daily, filmmaker Lungisani Mthethwa doubled down on his demand that Lebaka must go.
“She’s just a slay queen who prioritises red carpet events. She’s done nothing for us as the filmmakers. Ever since she took over she’s crippled the institution, she’s brought it to its knees,” Mthethwa said.
His comments follow Thursday’s explosive portfolio committee roundtable, where tempers flared as filmmakers challenged the GFC over how public funds were being allocated and whether its skills-development programmes were translating into sustainable jobs.
At one point, Mthethwa became so agitated that fellow filmmakers had to restrain him as the heated exchange threatened to become physical.
The confrontation also exposed deep frustration among stakeholders over what they say is a lack of transparency at the commission.
Mthethwa said filmmakers were now demanding that the GFC disclose its beneficiary lists for the past five years so that the industry can scrutinise who has received public funding and how much was allocated.
“There’s no transparency, which is why we are demanding GFC to disclose the list of beneficiaries in the last five years,” he said.
“They’re not releasing the beneficiary list because they know that companies that aren’t supposed to be getting funding are in fact getting money from GFC,” he alleged.
The GFC told Africa Daily that some of the questions put to it relate to financial, expenditure, human resources and programme records and require verification against its official records.
It also said some questions contained allegations or assertions made by third parties which it wanted to properly consider and respond to.
The commission requested an extension to provide a comprehensive response, saying it had an obligation to ensure that information released publicly concerning public funds, governance, expenditure and the performance of a public entity was properly verified.
The GFC also said Lebaka was currently on sick leave and was therefore unavailable to respond to questions concerning her personal views, attendance at the roundtable, professional experience and intentions regarding engagement with filmmakers.
The commission did not, in the response received by Africa Daily, specifically address Mthethwa’s call for Lebaka to be removed.
The demand for her departure comes as questions mount over the GFC’s performance.
At Thursday’s legislature meeting, GFC officials reported that 765 people had benefited from 13 skills-development programmes during the 2025/26 financial year.
But the employment numbers presented were significantly lower.
The commission reported that five of the eight learners on its Film and Television Training for Basadi programme had secured 10-month placements, while five of the 74 learners who participated in accredited training had secured employment.
A further eight interns were placed with a visual-effects studio on six-month internships aimed at possible permanent absorption.
The figures prompted filmmakers to question whether the commission was delivering meaningful, sustainable employment or merely counting training and temporary placements as evidence of success.
The controversy also extends to funding.
GFC officials told the committee that R14.237 million had been allocated to its 2026/27 Industry Support and Development programme, including R950,000 for accredited training and R525,000 for non-accredited training.
Filmmakers, however, questioned the allocation and demanded greater visibility over the GFC’s broader finances and beneficiaries.
The demand for the five-year beneficiary list could now become a key test of the legislature’s oversight of the commission.
Mthethwa said filmmakers wanted to know who had benefited from public money and whether funding decisions had been made fairly.
The portfolio committee has already committed to follow up on the issues raised at the meeting, including seeking beneficiary information that the GFC declined to release publicly.
The confrontation has therefore shifted from a dispute over individual programmes to a much broader question of leadership, accountability and public money with filmmakers now openly demanding that the CEO herself be removed.
For Lebaka, the controversy comes at a particularly difficult moment, an institution responsible for developing Gauteng’s film industry is facing an increasingly vocal constituency questioning whether it is delivering on that mandate.