Southern African Anti-Piracy Group SAFACT Shuts Down Due to Lack of Funding

• The Southern African Federation Against Copyright Theft (SAFACT) announced that it is shutting down.
• The group lacks proper funding and multiple members no longer support the initiative.
• The anti-piracy group fell apart after being plagued by multiple scandals including accusations of sexual harassment.

The Southern African Federation Against Copyright Theft (SAFACT) is shutting down after nearly two decades of fighting piracy. Following a number of scandals including one that involves accusations of sexual harassment, the majority of the people supporting the initiative have backed out. SAFACT was formed in 1999 and was supported by a number of members from the media industry.

The anti-piracy organization had no option but to shut down after their funding was pulled by its members. The employees were informed about the shut down in October, and they were promised one week of severance pay for every year that they served.

A SAFACT letter seen by MyBroadband states: “The SAFACT board of directors do not believe that there are any compelling reasons that an organization such as SAFACT should still be in existence. It is not anticipated by the directors of SAFACT that any new members will want to fund SAFACT. SAFACT has effectively become dormant as it cannot operate without any funding.”

There are no specifics on why the group came to the decision but reports point toward recent scandals in the organization. Two female employees accused a senior executive of sexual harassment, who resigned without participating in disciplinary hearings. A report by MyBroadband also claims that money was laundered from the organization and multiple accusations of mismanagement and administration are the possible reasons for the shutdown.

Managing Director for United International Pictures in South Africa Peter Dignan is the current chairman. He only talked about the lack of funding and did not provide any further details. All of the major members of the federation including Disney Africa, MPA and Multichoice have pulled their funding, leaving no choice to the anti-piracy group.

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