Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie of South Africa has disbanded the National Arts Council (NAC) council with immediate effect, citing amongst others, continued labour disputes, a lengthy employee strike, financial mismanagement and governance failures as per his letter to the president of the council.
Council chairperson Eugene Botha revealed that all members resignation took place on Tuesday. He also stated that he respects that it is the minister’s decision and he has no intention to take the matter to court.
Established by Parliament in 1997, the NAC is a government body responsible for approving funding allocations to various arts disciplines inside South Africa. The organisation has been struggling with leadership problems and poor management, among other issues.
Earlier, McKenzie had sent a letter to the governing body members of the NAC, requesting a meeting at the very next occasion to discuss the issue that has been ongoing for years and is holding up employee bonuses and the subsequent workers strike that happened in March. Workers had been demanding annual bonuses and fair treatment since the 2019/2020 financial year.
The Minister accused the Council of failing to manage the bonus issue properly. He said that not only did they keep postponing but also that there was a clear absence of leadership that had to make a final decision and that this was quite unacceptable. He also requested the immediate provision of governance documents, including an internal audit report and a draft of the settlement agreement.
At that time, more than a month had elapsed without any agreement being reached, as the council had decided to delay the new discussions until 29 May. As McKenzie, the delay was the last thing the matter had and it had not only been causing the employees financial difficulties, but the situation had also been subject to growing public scrutiny.
Meanwhile, the NAC is still in the spotlight for the scandals of corruption and irregular procurement. Vlcetnt Mashale, Acting CEO and Reshma Bhoola, Interim CFO were among others contacted by the Public Protector’s Office last year about allegations of corruption within the organisation.
