The much-awaited Limpopo Legends Awards to honour the late actor Patrick Shai and musician Steve Kekana, among others, have been dealt a devastating blow after the provincial department of arts and culture withdrew its financial sponsorship.
The awards, which are organised by the Limpopo Arts Movement (LAM), are scheduled to take place at The Ranch hotel outside Polokwane on November 5.
To rub salt to the wound, the new MEC for sport, arts and culture in Limpopo, Nakedi Sibanda-Kekana, will not be available to hand over the awards to the families of the deceased icons.
Instead, Sibanda-Kekana will attend the Limpopo Sports Awards, organised by the department and scheduled to take place on the same date as the Limpopo Legends Awards.
The withdrawal of sponsorship and Kekana-Sibanda’s unavailability have piqued LAM leadership, who said it is deliberate sabotage by senior departmental officials who politically differed with Thandi Moraka, the former MEC for sport, arts and culture.
Moraka, who was axed by Limpopo premier Stan Mathabatha during a cabinet reshuffle a fortnight ago, launched the awards this year.
During the launch, Moraka awarded Skeem Saam actress Lydia Mogokoloshi and Mahotella Queens lead singer Hilda Tloubatla R10 000 prize money each.
LAM has written to Mathabatha and implored him to intervene, as the withdrawal of sponsorship will jeopardise the awards.
In the letter, which we have seen, LAM accuses the department of reneging on its initial promise to sponsor the awards. “We are very disappointed after [the] chief of staff indicated that the MEC won’t attend the Limpopo Legends Awards to hand over the awards to recipients as agreed way back with former MEC Thandi Moraka, and to assist the project financially,” reads the letter.
LAM said it requested the department to pump R250 000 into the awards.
The organisation said R100 000 will be paid to recipients of the awards while R150 000 will take care of sound and stage, as well as artists who will perform at the event.
“We are disappointed to hear that the MEC won’t come as the department has its own sports awards on the same day. We don’t want to interfere with politics, we support the new MEC Nakedi Sibanda-Kekana the same way we did with Thandi Moraka.
“As the department stakeholder, we are calling on the office of the premier to intervene and rescue us. We have been engaging with the department for a while, now they want to sabotage our event, which is aimed at acknowledging the role played by Limpopo legends,” reads the letter.
The spokesperson for the department, Kenny Mathivha, said Sibanda-Kekana will meet with LAM leadership on Wednesday in an attempt to resolve the impasse. “LAM will do a presentation again and hopefully we will find each other thereafter,” said Mathivha.
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