Sports, Arts, and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa says those found guilty of mismanagement of government funds, will face the full might of the law.
Mthethwa has presented the Independent Forensic Report on the Presidential Employment Stimulus Package (PESP).
R300 million was set aside for the project assigned to the National Arts Council, with 5% being retained by the National Arts Council (NAC) for administration purposes.
R285 million was set aside for project funding for the creative sector.
Following multiple claims of mismanagement of the PESP and complaints from the creative sector, the NAC council members launched an independent forensic inquiry on 29 July this year.
Payments to artists were halted so investigations into the allegations could be concluded.
Mthethwa says the investigations revealed that indeed there were a number of irregularities which include mismanagement of funds.
“This outcome was presented to me last week by the NAC and it points to a myriad of irregularities ranging from mismanagement of funds. They also found that certain individuals have been the main players and main culprits in this. And they range from management, senior management, staff, adjudicators and former council members of the National Arts Council.”
Minister Nathi Mthwethwa briefs the media on the Presidential Employment Stimulus Package :
Allocation of the funds
Some beneficiaries of the artist COVID-19 stimulus package were approved but never received the funds, while others received more money than what they applied for.
“The NAC council discovered a myriad of challenges which included; 1 Applicant being approved and contracted for more funding than they had applied for. 2, Over 55% of approved beneficiaries had not been allocated funding. 3, the NAC had approved more beneficiaries than there was funding allocated,” says National Arts Council Princess Celenhle Dlamini.
The report further identifies the individuals responsible and who are to be held accountable, Mthethwa clarifies.
“People who were part of that process, some of them adjudicating were not supposed to be part of that process. So, if anybody asks, what happened to the R285 million, most of that is in the hands of the artists. There are people who got money who were not supposed to get money and I’m coming here specifically on the issue of council members who were not supposed to get a cent and they got some of that money. But there hasn’t been any fraud committed so far, unless there is something else coming. Money has not disappeared. R285 million will be accounted for at the end of the day. The inappropriate befitting of those funds, that’s what we are dealing with.”
Mthethwa says disciplinary processes will be instituted against all those implicated in the report, and if further investigations reveal any criminal acts committed, they will face the law.
Meanwhile, about 4% of funds, still needs to be finalised and distributed to the correct beneficiaries.
So far, 1 309 applicants have benefited from the PESP programme.
