Home News Artists Suffer Amidst Allegations Of Corruption And Mismanagement In Handling Of Covid-19 Relief Funds

Artists Suffer Amidst Allegations Of Corruption And Mismanagement In Handling Of Covid-19 Relief Funds

by Zahid Jadwat

Thapelo Khunou, an artist and a lecturer at Gauteng Community College and member of College Workers Union of South Africa, addresses protesting artists. Photo: Julia Evans

 

JOHANNESBURG – As theatres and entertainment venues reel from economic losses experienced during lockdown, when they weren’t allowed to operate, many artists have had to bear the brunt of the alleged corruption in the distribution of Covid-19 relief funds.

The National Arts Council (NAC) has come over scrutiny over its distribution of the R300 million meant to be granted to artists as part of the Presidential Economic Stimulus Policy (PESP). Artists from Cape Town and Johannesburg recently protested against alleged corruption and fraudulent payments made to certain individuals.

Dr. Ismail Mahomed, who is currently the Director of the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of Kwazulu-Natal (UKZN), criticised the NAC for lacking a clear strategy in its distribution of the much-needed funds. In an interview with Shafinaaz Hassim on Salaamedia, he said: “There’s no strategy to which that fund has been administered, so there have been multiple payments made to people [and] there have been fraudulent payments in some cases.”

He explained that, under the National Arts Council Act 56 of 1997, no board member may qualify for a grant during the period that they serve on the board. However, at least five board members are alleged to have received “substantial” sums for themselves. Furthermore, certain individuals in the industry have received disproportionately large amounts of sums. He said: “We’ve seen one particular artist who has allegedly claimed up to a total of R1 million. Whilst artists have been going hungry, others are hoping to benefit out of this level of deep corruption that seeped into our country.”

Dr. Mahomed emphasised the importance of art in society: “There isn’t a single nation in the world that doesn’t reflect its soul and its spirit through its music, and its literature.” He warned that “if you take
away a nation’s poetry, music, and dance, you just have people. You don’t have an identity you don’t have a sense of
belonging.”

“On the one hand you think that Government is trying to make things easier trying, to help, and then you hear of large sums of money literally being lost through deviant means,” he added.

Watch the full interview here:

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