The cast of Pienaar the Musical spent half of a Monday night on cold pavements of the State Theatre in Pretoria.
Their ordeal was as a result of the Limpopo department of arts allegedly failing to book them accommodation.
The cast members were rescued by two police officers just after midnight, who organised a last-minute transport to a two-bedroom house in Thembisa, east of Johannesburg, where only half of the 35 cast and crew could be accommodated.
The rest slept in a vehicle.
Speaking to Sunday World on Tuesday morning, the writer of the show, Precious Manaka, said the cast did not have a decent sleep, had not bathed, and were being transported back to the State Theatre at the back of a van for the opening day of the show.
She said they feel hurt and disappointed that the department failed to keep a promise to support the cast and crew.
“We are feeling very angry. We had no problem organising things for ourselves for our biggest show, but we were promised support by the department,” said Manaka.
“We thought accommodation was sorted until later on in the day.”
Manaka said she received a call from the department’s chief director Vero Mokgonyana on Monday night, who said they will not be receiving help after pictures of them sitting on the pavement started trending on social media.
A social media user by the name of Jimmy Mohlala took the pictures of the group and posted them in a desperate call for help.
In the viral post, Mohlala wrote: “The department promised to assist and accommodate our cast of 35 artists.
“To our surprise, we finished our rehearsals late tonight [Monday night] and found out there’s no accommodation. The team is sleeping on the corridors of a cold Pretoria night.
“Now the MEC [for arts and culture], the chief director for arts and culture Vero Mokgonyana, is [sic] not taking our calls.
“If anything happens to us, we call upon Limpopo people to know what the department has done to us.”
Manaka said Mohlala is not part of the cast and crew, and had not been authorised to take the pictures of the group and post them on social media.
Pelane Phakgadi, spokesperson for the department, dismissed the claims by Manaka and Mohlala as untrue.
In a statement on Tuesday morning, the department said it cannot be held at ransom to procure accommodation for a team that left the province without having had prior agreement with the department.
“Firstly, to deal with allegations of a ‘promise’ made by the department in relation to the accommodation is a blatant lie, and safe to say only a request has been made without having been approved,” said Phakgadi.
“The department does not fund artists’ organisations.”
He added that the group is one of the best theatre groups in Limpopo, but not the only one.
However, Manaka insisted that the department offered accommodation for three nights in Pretoria, and promised to move cast members elsewhere for the remainder of the show.
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