The financial records of the Kwazulu Natal Arts and Culture Council are being investigated, reports Suzy Bell
Chaos surrounds the powerful provincial funding and administrative body, the KwaZulu Natal Arts Cultural Council (KZNACC), as an internal audit and an external investigation gets wrapped up to determine whether or not the council is guilty of misuse of government funds earmarked for community arts organisations.
As accusations fly within and about the council, the Department of Education & Culture has stepped in to investigate.
The Kwazulu-Natal minister of Education and Culture, Dr Vincent Zulu, this week told the Mail & Guardian that he was not happy with the councils interim report and the way the monies were allocated, and, more cryptically, that certain rules were not followed. He would not comment further until he had seen the outcome of the investigation. And, in an irregular move, the council itself has appointed its own auditing company, Ngubane & Co, to investigate where we went wrong says the director of projects at KZNACC, Gugu Ngcobo.
Meanwhile, a highly placed source, whose name could not be printed for fear of reprisals, has told the M&G that the KZNACC is guilty of misusing funds and dishing out money to friends instead of legitimate community arts projects … The source adds that the council is also broke and that funding dried up four months ago.
This was independently confirmed by another source familiar with the councils situation, who also insists on remaining anonymous. The source says the council is now broke and are about to be kicked out their offices as they havent paid their rent for several months. The council would not comment on either of these allegations.
Under question in the audit and the investigation is the distribution of the cash grant from the government for the 1996/97 financial year, which was just over R3-million.
The KZNACC has also, over the past month, floundered amidst regular accusations from Durban artists who slate the organisation as totally inefficient. One cultural worker who has had dealings with the council said last week: I know that very few community groups are actually being funded by them. They have major administrative problems and no strategy. We need to challenge the legitimacy of the council, what exactly are they doing? It is a mood reflected by several community arts workers approached for comment this week. Amongst the allegations levelled at the council by Durbans art community are that no control is kept over funding and that the present system leaves itself open to the gross mismanagement of funds.
Mi Hlatshwayo, director of KZNACC, admitted there were problems, because we have just been born, [January 1995] . Hlatshwayo side-lined the major issues. Ngubane & Co finalised their audit recently but Hlatshwayo was adamant it was an internal document not for public consumption.
Regardless that its public money, and a public document? He replied: No, you dont understand how these things work. There is bureaucracy and we are not a private company so you cannot see our audit.
A highly placed source within the department of arts and culture has said: There is a strong possibility that the council will be dissolved early next year.