Johannesburg - After the virtual meeting held to address the ongoing Presidential Empowerment Stimulus Programme (PESP) fund saga, artists have vowed to continue their sit-in at the National Arts Council (NAC) until there is a resolution.
Over the past few weeks, members of the arts industry have raised concern about how the R300 million fund was, allegedly, being mismanaged.
Opera singer Sibongile Mngoma, who has been at the forefront of the sit-in, said the council was hiding its mismanagement of the funds.
“They don’t want people to discover just how deep or how far they have gone. They are protecting themselves, trying to buy time until the new funding comes in. But the issue with that is, you can’t give people more funding when they have been corrupt.”
At the end of February, the NAC had to suspend its chief executive and chief finance officer, due to mismanagement of funds.
As it stands, the PESP fund was open to all creative and cultural workers to present ideas on how to keep the sector above water through employment creation and retention of jobs.
The applications process was finalised by December, with an approval of 1 374 successful applicants, which translated to funding that was more than what was available.
“They had approved the applicants, which amounted to R611 million while there was only R300 million in funding available,” said board member and head of communications for the NAC, Dr Sipho Sithole.
He said the council discovered that it had run out of money because there were people who were granted more money than they had requested.
“For instance, a successful applicant who requested R389 000 gets approved for R1.6 million … the list is endless. That over-approval was amounting to R27 million in excess to what people had asked for.”
He added that some companies were approved for more than one project, which also added to the overpayment.
“We needed to fix this by first ensuring every approved applicant received a grant.
“We do this by making sure no one gets more than they requested, and that amount is approved and compliant. Secondly, no one should get more that R2 million based on their application and the number of jobs that will be created from the project.
“Thirdly, no single company should be funded for more than one project. We have also revised the guiding figure from R25 000 to R10 895.”
He said such a decision by the NAC would enable the council to accommodate every approved applicant. The 761 applicants who would have been excluded were now going to be funded along with the 613 who applied by the first closing date.
“All of this meant we needed to withdraw the initial letters of approval to adjust the figures, reissue new letters and re-contract people. That caused a delay, as management could not pay out based on the old approvals.”
He added there were two sides: people who were angry that their contracts had changed, and those who were happy that the council was making sure no one ‘unduly benefits’ while others are left out.
“We are paying people under the new contracts, those that have been adjusted need to return the contracts, so that the NAC can proceed in making payments. Management has promised that every contract that has been returned with the new terms, they will pay within 72 hours.”
Sithole added that no amount of explanation would make people happy.
“No money has been syphoned out of the NAC. Every cent is being accounted for. As of Friday, we have already paid out in excess of R37 million to about 230 beneficiaries. We reissued 1 130 grant letters and began to receive signed grant letters and contracts. That’s why we are now back to making the payments.”
He said the aim was to make sure that by the end of March, all approved beneficiaries would be paid.
Mngoma said the council was trying to force people to sign the letters by the end of March to show that they have done the work.
“But if they still haven’t paid the money then it is not worth it.”
She said the grant letters ensured that the council had a paper trail.
“We want people to be paid, but we also want the current management and council to go because they have proven themselves incapable of doing the job.”
She said she didn’t understand why it was taking so long to disburse the money that should have already been paid out.
A virtual meeting was held at the weekend to address the various issues with the PESP fund, but Mngoma and other artists were not satisfied with the answers they received from both the council and the Department of Arts, Culture and Sport.
Mngoma said the sit-in will continue, while the artists wait for a resolution.
“The problem is they think we will get tired and leave. We are not going to do that. We have time. They have made sure we have time by rendering us helpless, so we will use our time wisely by waiting right here.”
The Star