Over 12 000 artists have signed an online petition to get answers on how an orchestra registered a month earlier received R54-million from the National Arts Council (NAC).
According to letters seen by Sunday World, the matter, which was discussed in parliament on Friday, has been reported to the auditor-general and the Special Investigations Unit.
Since it was assembled, the Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra has been in the headlines for wrong reasons.
It is alleged that it received funding from the NAC because its CEO, Bongani Tembe, is also a member of the council, which was appointed by then arts minister Nathi Mthethwa.
The online petition, which was started by DA’s Tsepo Mhlongo in 2022 and is currently sitting on 12 023 signatures, was discussed in parliament’s plenary session on Friday.
The petition seeks to find answers and scrutinise the funding of the orchestra.
“Because of my oversight function, I know that the minister allocated R54-million in November 2021 to a newly formed Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra when there are at least four other existing orchestras with struggling members that could have benefitted from the allocation,” says Mhlongo in the petition.
“This is the biggest heist ever committed in the sports, arts and culture sector since the dawn of democracy.”
The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission’s records show that the orchestra was registered on September 28 2021, a month before it received funding to the tune of R54-million in November of that year.
A memorandum of understanding signed between the NAC and the orchestra shows that two amounts of R41 557 256 and R10 389 314 were agreed to be paid into the orchestra’s bank account in November 2021.
Mhlongo said: “Aside from the clear conflict of interest, why would the minister endorse the creation of another orchestra instead of subsidising current orchestras that are in dire need, artists who are desperate?”
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