National Arts Council rocked by claims of ‘irregularity’ in appointment of provincial representatives

Non-Profit Organization South African Roadies Association SARA has requested information regarding the public engagement processes with provincial arts stakeholders prior to appointment of the provincial representatives in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act from the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

The composition of the National Arts Council board called the Council, has been called into question.

This follows claims being made by some former members of the NAC from some provinces who have since relinquished their positions for various reasons. These former Council members told CITYLIFE/ARTS this week that their appointment may have been irregular.

The three council members all say that contrary to the legal requirement of the NAC Act, which requires that all nine provincial representatives on the council must be nominated by responsible provincial authority through a “transparent and public” process, their appointment did not follow due process.

Now all three say that no such process took place, but instead, they were allegedly nominated by the provincial Members of the Executive Committee (MEC) responsible for the sport, arts, culture and Recreation departments in the respective provinces. If proven true these charges could put into question the legal standing of the current NAC Council, and therefore the decisions that the council has made since its appointment in January 2021 by then Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa. The Minister of Arts and Culture is responsible for appointing Council members, nine of whom must come from the country’s 9 provinces while the rest are appointed by the minister.

“I am not aware of a public and transp4rant process before I received a letter of appointment to seat on the NAC Council  by the minister,” one such former Council said on condition that his name and the province he represented are not identified.

In light of these allegations, the Newtown, Johannesburg based Non-Profit Organisation (NPO), South African Roadies Association,(SARA) has requested information from the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture regarding the processes that took place in the provinces, leading to the appointment of the provincial representatives on the NAC Council.

CITYLIFE/ARTS understands that such request was sent to the DASC by SARA’s lawyer last week, and

DSAC in return has referred the request to the respective provinces to deal with the request. However by yesterday SARA had not received the response from the provinces. The request seen by

CITYLIFE/ARTS among other things, has requested the attendance register where the sector debated and chose the names of individuals they preferred to be considered for appointment to sit on the council by the Minister. What this practically means is that provincial authorities need to preside over a public meeting attended by the cultural and creative sector stake holders where an election of sorts takes place.

It is at these public hearings that must lead to the nomination of names from which the responsible provincial authority sends nominated candidates to be considered by the minister for appointment to the NAC Council.

At dispute is whether or not such meeting ever took place before names were sent to the minister by provincial MECS for consideration for appointment onto the NAC.

The request by SARA’s lawyer was made within the frame work of the Promotion of Access to Information Act of 2000.

Freddie Nyathela President of SARA confirmed to CITYLIFE/ARTS that the organisation’s lawyer made such a request to DSAC.

“SARA strongly believes that the NAC’s Council has been unlawfully appointed, a deliberate disregard for the law, the National Arts Council Act. This is patronage at the highest level to loot the public funds and protect rampant maladministration and corruption at the expense of youth empowerment and arts development should cease,” he told CITYLIFE/ARTS when contacted to confirm the request.

CITYLIFE/ARTS directed the following questions to Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Zizi Kodwa’s spokesperson Litha Mpondwana  with regards to these claims and here publish his response for each of the three questions we asked:

CITYLIFE/ARTS: My first question is, was there such a process, prior to appointing these individuals from the provinces that is “public and transparent” processes prior to their nomination by the respective MECS?

Litha Mpondwana: Section 4 (2) of the NAC Act, Act 56 of 1997 states that, “Every province shall be represented by a representative who shall within the province in question be elected by a public and transparent process which shall be determined and overseen by the responsible member.” Consequently, the Minister sends written communication to the provincial MECs to the names of elected provincial representatives, in line with the NAC Act. The Minister or the National Department does not get involved in a process to elect the provincial representatives.

CITYLIFE/ARTS: My second question is, are you aware of these claims?

Litha Mpondwana: We were not aware of these claims until a PAIA (Promotion of Access to Information Act) request was recently lodged with the Department on this matter.

CITYLIFE/ARTS: Thirdly, we have also been informed that a lawyer representing the Non Profit organisation South African Roadies Association has requested from DSAC information pertaining to the public and transparent processes that took place in the provinces before names of individuals were submitted to DSAC (Minister) for consideration for appointment onto the NAC Council.

Litha Mpondwana: The matter has been referred to the provinces to provide information on the processes followed when the provincial representatives were elected.

The NAC is one of several agencies under DSAC, including the National heritage Council, The National Film and Video Foundation, the playhouses such as the Market Theatre, The Playhouse and the South African State Theatre. The NAC’s mandate is to fund art individual art practitioners and arts organizations to carry out arts projects in a wide range of fields such as literature, visual art, music, theatre, dance and craft. It receives an annual budget in access of R100 million to carry out its mandate. But since the advent of Covid-19, which left the creative and cultural sector almost on its knees, in addition to its annual budget, the NAC has received extra funds called the Presidential Economic Stimulus to further disburse to art practitioners and organizations to revitalize economic activities in the sector after the devastation of Covid-19.  Under PESP, the agency has received in access of R500 million to date.

In 2021, the agency was plunged into an unprecedented turmoil when it emerged that it had mismanaged the disbursing of the first PESP Fund, costing its then Chief Executive officer Rosemary Mangope her job after a forensic report ordered by DSAC recommended that disciplinary action be taken against senior executive fingered in the inquiry.  Chaos at the NAC offices in Newtown ensued when enraged artists led by soprano Sibongile Mngoma occupied the agency’s offices for two months demanding answers relating to the chaos following the disbursement of the PESP, forcing the entire staff to work remotely as they abandoned the occupied offices. Since then the NAC has never had a substantive CEO, and instead has had two acting CEOs, including the current Acting CEO Julie Diphofa.  The arts body has also had a fair share of management squabbles since then, creating a sense of instability for a body that is at the center of arts funding in the country.  Several council members from the original Council appointed in January 2021, have since resigned for various reasons.