Musicians’ war over art department’s R15m in grant money

Veteran pop star Mercy Pakela is among a number of musicians accusing the Cultural & Creative Industries Federation of SA of “mishandling” a R15 million grant allocated to it by the arts and culture department.

He told City Press that, instead, he feels like he wasted his time serving in an organisation where he was not appreciated by the artists. “Which money did we mishandle while the federation didn’t have funds? I was getting a salary of only R15 000 a month, when I was a deputy president.” He said it was “sad” that some artists seemed to think that when you are nominated to sit on a board, you automatically become a millionaire. Penny said that during his tenure, the board did well to build the organisation in all provinces, organising the artists into categories, including musicians, performance and celebration, visual arts and crafts, and language and publishing.

It said its last tranche of R5 million received in 2016/17 “was also allocated, but both allocations were based after the submission of a project plan”. Responding to allegations that since the new board took over in 2014 the federation had not conducted a single annual general meeting , the organisation said it had scheduled one in July last year but the department “received a letter from the SA Arts & Culture Youth Forum to stop the AGM”.

Former 999 music manager and businessperson Brian Mokoena blamed Sibongile Besani, chief of staff of Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa, for stalling the process and delaying the conference.“I have done my job to make sure all the meetings from all the 52 districts were held. It was not an easy process, but we managed to achieve the first step,” Besani said.

Source: Entertainment Trends (entertainmenttrends.net)

Who has access to that account, how and when can it be utilized? The mandate on this slush fund isn’t clear. What’s the criteria? WelcomeMsomi CANNOT be the only thief and signatory, it’s impossible. Who else co-signed & helped themselves and why aren’t they behind bars to date?

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