Parliament postpones South African Roadies Association’s presentation of its complaints against Department of Sport, Arts and Culture “until further notice’
By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor
It is a presentation that many in the creative and cultural sector looked forward to as for weeks they started speaking about the long-awaited meeting on social media once they got wind of it.
But the presentation by the South African Roadies Association (SARA) to the Parliamentary Committee on Sports Arts and Culture, scheduled to take place in Parliament in Cape Town on Friday, March 28, 2025, is off. At least for now. The Portfolio Committee has postponed the hearing indefinitely, citing members of the committee’s commitments to other parliamentary duties on the day, CITYLIFE/ARTS can reveal.
SARA, a Newtown based Non-Profit Organisation (NPO), which trains youth especially from formerly disadvantaged backgrounds, such as townships and rural areas in the live events technology sector since last year lodged a complaint with the Parliamentary Committee against the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture’s Acting Director-General Dr. Cythia Khumalo for what the organisation dubs “dishonest and false statements” allegedly made by the senior civil servant in Parliament regarding SARA.
Khumalo speaking to the Parliamentarians last year according to SARA, characterised Backstage Academy South Africa as “the backstage Academy’s lack of compliance and accounting for monies given to it,” and therefore, forming the basis of the centre of the dispute between the two parties.: This “dishonest and false” statement, SARA argues, is “flawed” rationale used by the Department to stop further disbursement of fundsforthe Backstage Academy South Africaproject.
SARA has since added DSAC and Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, to its complaints to Parliament.
With regards to McKenzie SARA alleges that the Minister“deliberately made false and misleading public statements” that may harm the organization’s reputation without first verifying the facts or giving SARA a hearing.
“Your organisation since I was appointed has been swearing me on facebook and twitter every day. They wrote open letters to me the first week I became the Minister.
One individual for instance I went to see, why did you guys spend 20 million on this individual? No, we bought him a building, no we are renovating his building for 20 million, and we are bringing out the individual next week also,” reported Sunday World newspaper a week ago about SARA’s complaint against the Minister.
In relation to DSAC, SARA claims that the department broke agreements signed with SARA committing DSAC to fund a number of projects that would assist SARA to upscale its current crop of technologists through Backstage Academy South Africa once fully operational by upgrading its courses currently consisting of an entry level-on-the job training course and an accreditedNQF-Level 4 qualification, to a degree level in collaboration with the highly respected industry global leader in live events technology training, Academy of Live Technology based in the UK.
The other two issues that SARA claims have stalled are the alleged commitment made by DSAC to SARA to fund SARA’s operationsand administration and the funding of the organisation’s International Projectsthat would see its members partakein international engagements such as industry trade fairs and conferences that would equip SARA students with the latest information on the fast evolving live events technology sector, preparing them for the future.
The other project affected by this stand off is SARA’s Live Event and Technical Production Conference (LETPC) that has been running in the country since 2015 and attracted international and continentalplayers in the sector to exchange information and the latest industry trends and information with their local counterparts.
However, the dispute has stalled all the four projects.
Khumalo asked by parliamentarians last year is said to have claimed that with regards to Backstage Academy South Africa, the dispute centres on the fact that although the academy would be a unique one on the continent, SARA did not account for moniesdisbursed to it. SARA however refutes such claims as not based on facts, claiming that the organisation has accounted for every centre disbursed to it so far.
CITYLIFE/ARTS understands that last year, DSAC requested the Auditor-General of South Africa to visit SARA House in Newtown to audit the Backstage Academy South Africa on the funds disbursed to it so far in the establishment of the training institute. The organisation confirmed to this publication this week that indeed the Auditor-General of South Africa staff visited SARA House to do the audit on the 07 May 2024, and that a final audit report was furnished to DSAC with regards to the Backstage Academy South Africa.
Freddie Nyathela, SARA President also confirmed that there is a pending Promotion of Access to Information Act request SARA made to DSAC, which was initially refused by DSAC as the department claimed that giving access to the final signed report of the Auditor-General of South Africa on Backstage Academy South Africa would compromise third party information contained in it. CITYLIFE/ARTS saw the letter signed by Khumalo refusing to grant SARA’s request to access the document based on compromising third party information that is said to be contained in the report.
SARA thereafter lodged an appeal with the Department.
The publication has since learned that the PAIA request has since been escalated to Minister McKenzie, and therefore, it is currently on his desk to make a final determination of whether ornotto give the document to SARA.
CITYLIFE/ARTS this week approached Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture’s spokesperson Sibongile Maputi to confirm the postponement as well as the new date when SARA would make its presentation of complaints to Parliament. At the time of publishing, Maputi had not come back to us.
However, the publication saw a letter addressed to Nyathela from Parliament, signed by the Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture Chairperson Joseph Job McGluwa, informing SARA of the postponement. Nyathela confirmed receipt of the letter postponing the meeting.
“The Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture, as part of its oversight mandate, has been diligently working to create a platform for discussions with various entities, federations, and stakeholders on 25 and 28 March 2025. However, the Committee faces a programming challenge due to the upcoming Parliamentary oversight period. Notably some Committee Members serve on multiple portfolio committees. These Members will therefore be engaged in oversight travel assignments with their respective alternate Committees.
It is crucial for all Members to participate in these discussions, as the Committee’s decisions hold significant importance. Consequently, we have no option but to postpone the scheduled meetings until further notice. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause,” the letter seen by CITYLIFE/ARTS reads.
“It is unfortunate that this long dragging complaint had to be postponed, especially after SARA had submitted the requested presentation and supporting documents on March 18, 2025. And SARA hopes that a new date will be scheduled as soon as possible,
And also, SARA was puzzled and disturbed by the Portfolio Committee in our recent communication with regards to our compliant when it erroneously suggested that our complaints’ extended to the Auditor-General of South Africa and the Public Protector, which is not the case. We are however glad that SARA has since clarified its Complaints to the Portfolio Committee in its presentation sent to the committee ahead of the then scheduled meeting,”said Nyathela.