Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie continues to give mixed signals over his decision to make public the names of athletes and artists who get funding from the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture (DSAC).
On Monday, McKenzie indicated that he will be publishing the details of athletes, super fans and artists who are being funded by his department in a bid to make the process of funding transparent.
However, by Tuesday, there was a series of confusing statements from him.
“We have athletes and artists struggling to raise money to attend sporting events and exhibitions. How do we justify paying for fans?” he said.
When it comes to publishing the list of funded athletes and artists, the minister said the list will include people who got funding during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The minister added that he will be making the much-talked about list public on Wednesday while promising to fire corrupt sports, arts and culture officials.
“The list will include people who received grant funding and money during Covid. We should not include people who were asked to perform and got paid on the list. I have been bombarded by people saying that they don’t get help from the Department of Sport, Arts & Culture, but the department says they did help, let’s get the truth at 10am,” he said on Wednesday morning.
“We have majority good people working for the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, we have a corrupt few mafias but we also have those that got intimidated by those creatives who invoke the names of politicians to demand funding. I will fire the corrupt ones and protect the good ones, we will make SA proud,” he said.
However, in a statement issued by the department on Tuesday evening, the department said it has noted the outcry stemming from the minister’s pronouncements as well as reports that the department failed to help BET award winning SA artist, Makhadzi, to travel to the US for her award.
“The Department of Sports, Arts and Culture has noted the public reaction that followed the recent instruction by the Minister, for the department to publish the names of creatives and athletes who have received money from the department.
“Subsequently, DSAC, has received enquiries from the media about the lack of financial support provided to Makhadzi by National Government on her recent trip to the BET Awards in the United States. Makhadzi made the country proud by receiving a BET Award for best new international artist. DSAC strongly rejects the assertion that it has not supported Makhadzi. Over the past 14 months, Makhadzi has been booked by the department to perform in several national engagements, receiving as much as R230 000,” said Zimasa Velaphi in a statement by the department.
Reacting to the confusion, secretary-general of the GOOD party, Brett Herron, wrote: “Good point. When the Minister said he wants to publish the list of all those who received funding from the department, I was not expecting paid gigs to count as funding. @GaytonMcK are we getting a list of paid gigs or recipients of some sort of grant funding?“
The department commented on the claims of non support saying: “DSAC therefore, rejects the notion of creatives, who have received support from the department, inferring that they have not received support to pursue their talents,” it said.
The Star