Restoring KZN’S pride
New arts and culture head wants a more fruitful chapter for province
THE continuous pursuit for social cohesion and restoring national pride are some of the main priorities of Kwazulunatal’s newly appointed head of arts and culture, Ntokozo Chonco.
Chonco, 44, spoke about how he planned to streamline the KZN Department of Arts and Culture so that it was aligned to the National Development Plan and to also balance clean audits with service delivery.
“The department last had a clean audit three years ago and for me that is concerning but I don’t want us to get clean audits and then have nothing to show for it in terms of actually making people’s lives better,” he reasoned.
One of the things that he has been dealing with since taking up the position earlier this month was filling 73 critical posts that had been vacant.
“We will soon be advertising those posts in four batches. But the other thing that I have to deal with is the absenteeism of senior managers because some people have been on sick leave for months,” said Chonco.
Born and bred during the height of political violence in the Mpumalanga township, outside Hammarsdale, Chonco did not escape without scars as he not only lost his father, Kenneth, when he was a teenager, but was shot at on numerous occasions.
“It was a difficult period when my father died. I had to find a weekend job at a local butchery where I earned R10 a day, which went towards my and my sister’s school fees. It also helped my mother with household expenses.”
The father of two was one of the first ethekwini municipality councillors, a position he held until 2000. He said politics was not about positions but about serving people.
“I take every position, even the one I’m in, as a responsibility on my shoulders. I have to account to the government, the executive and the people of KZN. This responsibility is a privilege, it’s not an entitlement, so I need to treat it as such and remain humble,” Chonco said.
In matters of arts and culture, he has extensive experience. His previous appointments include deputy director-general responsible for traditional affairs in the KZN Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, a post he held for six years.
He said provinces such as KZN were sometimes characterised by tribal and cultural tensions but he believed more effort needed to be directed at social cohesion programmes.
“We shouldn’t have a situation where one culture is seen to be prioritised over others because that is going to hurt rather than make this province prosperous, and that is the same with language issues,” said Chonco.
He said libraries in the province should have all books written by local authors as that would help people learn about each other’s cultures and even appreciate their languages.
Chonco is an avid reader and his home library is filled with books by local authors. He was re-reading Professor Themba Msimang’s famous book on Zulu culture, Kusadliwa Ngoludala (The older times of plenty) at the time of our interview.
He also reads a lot of modern literature and encouraged South Africans to support local authors.
He watches a lot of local TV content, except when his favourite football teams, Manchester United and Kaizer Chiefs, play.
“I’m really enjoying Uzalo at the moment and when I’m not home I get it recorded. I think it’s one of the best productions we have, and I’m not being biased just because it’s shot in Kwamashu,” he said.
Chonco expressed concern about the lack of available space in the province’s various archive units and said KZN’S rich history was being lost as it “floated” around with no proper plan in place.
“The last archives were done in the 1970s, and that is worrying. I have made archive space one of my priorities because there are people who are currently in possession of items of great historical value.”
Material that he believed needed immediate archiving included information on KZN events from the 1800s, such as the Anglo-boer War and 1879 Battle of Isandlwana.
“The colonisers documented events by writing them down, while our great-grandfathers told the stories to the next generation. That mouthto-mouth process worked then, but we are not as good and unfortunately when the colonisers left they took all the written works with them and all of that history is now sitting in a museum in London,” Chonco explained.
The Durban resident said he was also concerned about the tension between some of the Maskandi music artists, which he said was hurting the vibrant industry.
“There is a lot of work we need to do with Maskandi artists… I think we need to have empowerment programmes for most of our musicians so they are skilled at earning a living through their art so they (don’t) die paupers and leave nothing for their families”.