Local poet and prolific writer Ntsiki Mazwai wants the Minister of Sports Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie gone.
This after she was allegedly snubbed by McKenzie.
In December, Mazwai was invited by the Cuban Book Institute. The Cubans wanted to translate her poetry into an anthology.
“This was a great privilege and I was very excited. Towards the end of January, I started getting notifications from Cuba that they were having trouble with the South African government and the delegation. They were refusing for me to be in the delegation,” she said in a video clip.
Minister removed her name from list
Mazwai later learned that her name had been removed from the list. McKenzie also confirmed that he removed her name because he wanted the list to be inclusive.
In his response on social media he wrote: “My crime was wanting inclusion. I received a list that I am supposed to sign for writers & poets to go to Cuba. And I am the final signatory as the Minister at Department of Sport, Arts and Culture,” he said.
“I took one look at that list and told the acting director general, chief of staff, and my spokesperson that I want to see more inclusion. And I made it clear that it should have coloured & white people also.
“I will never be ashamed of my instruction. And I have previously met only two people on that list and I met them once. I don’t have a single person phone number on that list. And I don’t know the majority of those writers & poets. Mine was looking for inclusion,” he wrote.
McKenzie said he wanted inclusion of other races
“Racism shall never find a place under my watch. Lastly, to all these politically connected writers that are complaining, your time of giving instructions to my department is over,” said McKenzie.
That response only made Ntsiki angrier. She hit back: “REMOVE GAYTON MCKENZIE AS THE MINISTER OF ARTS AND CULTURE. He knows NOTHING about art and he is using state coffers to enrich his friends.”
“We saw and we remember how he treats artists. MAKAHAMBE. Gayton is not a leader. Our taxes are feeding slay queens. Making ministers think they are the gods of our money,” she wrote in another post.
