Heads expected to roll over mismanaged Covid relief cash

Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa says he wants all monies stolen from artists Covid-19 relief funds recovered and given to artists .

On Monday, Mthethwa finally broke his silence on a forensic report into the alleged mismanagement of R300 million meant for Covid relief grants for artists. 

The National Arts Council (NAC) has handed over a report to Mthethwa on an investigation it commissioned into how the relief money was irregularly distributed to various beneficiaries.

Some successful applicants of the funds apparently received more than they asked for and for multiple projects, while thousands of artists continue to wait their turn.

The department’s spokesperson Zimasa Velaphi said Mthethwa would be addressing this issue on Monday during a planned media briefing.

According to the NAC, the report confirmed some of the allegations and said heads will roll. But questions over the independence of this probe remain unanswered, according to the Democratic Alliance (DA).

Artists around the country held protests over the past year, demanding answers over the management of Covid relief funds and the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP). The latter included the R300 million which was allocated to the NAC last year.

This month, the NAC announced that since its last engagement in August, the NAC had made progress with regard to the finalisation of PESP and promised to have concluded all final payments by mid-October. It encouraged beneficiaries to submit all outstanding reports so their payments could be finalised.

Soon after the NAC opened applications for the funds in October last year, allegations and complaints of mismanagement and maladministration of the PESP began pouring in from members of the creative industry. These include some NAC panel members who were involved in the PESP adjudication process.

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The forensic investigation revealed several irregularities pertaining to the management of the PESP, including financial mismanagement, process irregularities and lack of adequate oversight regarding its implementation.

“From the report’s findings, none of the recently appointed council members were found to have engaged in any wrongdoing,” the NAC statement reads.

“The NAC plans, without prejudice, to institute disciplinary hearings against those negatively implicated in the forensic report. Such processes will be done against a timeline with firm deliverables set against each milestone. The political principals will also be provided with progress reports in this regard.”

Opposition parties have demanded transparency in how government is dealing with the PESP scandal, following months of relative silence.

DA MP Tsepo Mhlongo sent a parliamentary question on the investigation into the PESP to Mthethwa over two weeks ago and has expressed concern that he is yet to be responded to.

He wants to know how the firm which conducted the investigation was appointed and the exact terms of reference of the report, and whether they include accounting.

The Inkatha Freedom Party’s member of portfolio committee on sport, arts and culture, Inkosi Bhekizizwe Luthuli, said the party had noted the NAC’s recent announcement on the report after it also complained about the long wait for answers. 

simnikiweh@citizen.co.za