The South African Roadies Association (SARA) has again accused the Office of the Public Protector of acting unfairly towards its complaint against Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie, which dates to February last year.
SARA president Freddie Nyathela wants the Chapter Nine institution to expedite its grievance.
The complaint to the public protector underscores long-standing tensions between SARA and the department, particularly around issues of transparency, accountability, and support for technical skills in the creative sector.
It is also not the first time that SARA has complained to Sunday World about the apparent slow response from Kholeka Gcaleka’s office.
It first approached the public protector in April last year and has since sent several emails seeking updates. Despite several responses the office emailed to him, Nyathela accused the Chapter nine institution of ignoring this matter which he contends should have been finalised by now.
At the heart of his dispute with McKenzie is the minister’s public remarks that Nyathela embezzled R20-million from his department.
In his complaint, Nyathela cited the minister’s public remarks, which he said were “false and slanderous accusations”.
He further said that McKenzie and his department were “sabotaging SARA by blocking funding to the organisation’s technical and stage projects that empower youth”.
While addressing an event at Birchwood Hotel in August 2024, McKenzie reportedly took a swipe at SARA and Nyathela. “Your organisation, since I was appointed, has been swearing at me on Facebook and Twitter every day. I actually wanted to retweet, as nobody had been retweeting you to get your traction. Come here and put your issues here and let us talk. Sometimes not everything is a fight. Teach me so I now know the importance of your sector,” he said.
“You can’t bully me, as I have been in jail too long to be bullied. They wrote me too many open letters the first week when I became a minister,” said McKenzie at the time.
According to Nyathela, the Birchwood incident was not the first where the minister had ‘slandered the organisation’.
In June of the same year, during an interview with SABC News, McKenzie allegedly remarked about SARA and Nyathela, without naming them outright.
“One individual, for instance, I went to go and see. Why did you guys (department) spend R20-million on this individual? No, we (the department) bought him a building; no, we are renovating his building for R20-million; and we are bringing out the individual next week also,” McKenzie reportedly said.
In his complaint, Nyathela told the public protector the minister was referring to him when he spoke to the broadcaster.
SARA is a non-profit organisation representing technical and backstage workers in the live events industry. It has often clashed with the department over funding, compliance requirements, and support for skills development. Nyathela has been a vocal critic of how DSAC handles arts and culture funding.
He claims that bureaucracy and misinformation have stifled opportunities for the sector.
In his previous run-in with DSAC in August last year, Nyathela opened a case against the then newly appointed director-general, Dr Cynthia Khumalo, claiming she had lied to parliament at least twice.
This was in relation to Khumalo’s report to parliament in October 2023, where she outlined that R4.3-million had been committed to SARA for 2024/25. Then, a year later, SARA was claimed to be non-compliant and not accounting for funds.
This week, Nyathela wrote yet another email to the public protector’s office, this time addressed to the COO, Adv Nelisiwe Nkabinde, where he addressed the same issue.
“What I can tell you is that the public protector and its personnel are clearly not intended to deal with this matter without fear, favour or prejudice. Clearly there is an element of sabotage with the intention of frustrating this legitimate complaint,” said Nyathela.
Meanwhile, spokesperson for the public protector Ndili Msoki told Sunday World that the investigation into Nyathela’s complaint is at an advanced stage, also noting that investigators are mandated to probe without any bias.
“PPSA investigations are rigorously independent and impartial, employing a structured inquiry process that meticulously determines what occurred, what ought to have occurred, whether a discrepancy exists, and if that gap constitutes maladministration, improper conduct or undue delay,” said Msoki.
“At this stage, we are not in a position to provide a definitive timeline for completion. The PPSA will communicate the findings publicly once the investigation is concluded.”
