The Minister of Sports Arts and Culture (DSAC), Gayton McKenzie has joined the parliament’s portfolio committee in a probe against irregularities in the Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa (CCIFSA).
The latter is the controlling body in the cultural and creative industries. On Wednesday, the minister announced that he will be instituting a forensic investigation against CCIFSA.
He was responding to questions from other political parties at the National Assembly.
Industry generates a lot of money, but is fraught with challenges
His fellow members of parliament highlighted that the creative industries contributed a lot of money into the country’s GDP. However, the industry has been enduring endless challenges.
In his response, McKenzie acknowledged that there were problems in the creative sector.
He also assured the National Assembly that he is doing a clean-up.
“I just want to say that it’s not new problems. But this is a new government with the new minister. So give us a chance,” said McKenzie.
He then moved on to CCIFSA and said they would not be getting any money from the department.
“CCIFSA has been getting money from the department for years but they never reported back. They never told us what they were doing with that money.
“This is the first time that CCIFSA has not received a cent, and it will not receive a cent from the department.
Forensic investigation
“Tomorrow morning at 10:00 I will be instituting a forensic investigation. I will inquire what happened with all these monies that CCIFA received. Because those monies were meant for the artists. This is to show you that we are working on that issue,” he said.
The forensic investigation was actually initiated by the Portfolio Committee of Sports Arts and Culture last week. This after they received questionable reports from DSAC and CCIFSA.
At that time, CCIFSA former president Joy Mbewana accused McKenzie of interfering in their work. She also demanded DSAC to finance CCIFSA because they “fulfilled” their mandate. But a Portfolio Committee member, Eugene Mthethwa, exposed Mbewana and said the reports submitted were fraudulent.
Eugene Mthethwa welcomes the probe
Mthethwa has since welcomed McKenzie’s call. He said: “As the EFF, we welcome the minister’s call. We are happy that CCIFSA will finally account for all the monies they received, this is long overdue. The former minister, Nathi Mthethwa, must also be probed because this mess happened right under his nose. We warned him but he turned a blind eye.
“This forensic investigation must also be extended to all provinces. In fact, we will be calling all the provincial leaders and their teams to come and account for all the monies they received in the name of local artists,” said Mthethwa.
Mbewana was also approached but she failed to respond t questions sent to her.
