R300m in arts funding mismanaged, two officials suspended

AN INVESTIGATION into the mismanagement of R300 million meant for creatives across the country is under way.

The NAC’s chief executive and its chief financial officer have since been suspended.

Following protests and sit-ins at the NAC’s offices in Johannesburg over the past few weeks with artists demanding answers regarding the Presidential Employment Stimulus Package, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa yesterday announced the forensic investigation would look into how officials overcommitted the R300m, with some creatives getting nothing, and others receiving more than they had applied for.

The arts and culture industry is among the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, with scores of institutions having closed shop for good, and others having no way of recovery.

Mthethwa apologised to creatives yesterday, promising heads would roll.

“People overcommitted the money and funds that were given to them. Part of the R300m is still there, part of it has been disbursed and part of it is still being disbursed,” he said.

The department had received R665m from the National Treasury in September last year, of which R300m went to the NAC, R150m to the National Film and Video Foundation and R60m to the Sports Trust.

The balance went to sports compliance projects, heritage, presidential and economic projects, as well as arts and culture projects in the provinces.

The call for grants had opened in October last year, and at the start of 2021 a group of adjudicators complained about how the process was handled, and the complaints landed with the new NAC council for attention.

The new council then went to the NAC management for answers on the disbursement process.

Mthethwa said the council did not receive straightforward answers from the NAC, and the story “kept on changing”.

“As a result the council took a decision on March 1 to halt the disbursement process until further legal advice. The council was not receiving assistance from the NAC management. They then took a decision to suspend the chief executive and the CFO on March 1.

“Subsequently they discovered that the budget as allocated was mismanaged by the NAC, mainly by way of overcommitment of available funds that were allocated to creative sector organisations by more than double the allocated amount in their possession,” he said.

The department was also looking at getting additional grant funding, but had so far been unsuccessful with the National Treasury.