The minister returns. He once was the minister. Then he was the premier of KwaZulu-Natal. He assumes his post-1994 Arts and Culture mantle, and appoints Bongani Tembe as his adviser. Tembe serves on the board of the National Arts Council (NAC) and heads up the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra (KZNPO).
The State Theatre implodes. The minister appoints a new board to come up with a plan to reopen it. The board includes Doreen Nteta, CEO of the NAC; Edmund Radebe, chairperson of the Playhouse Company Board; and Tembe. The lottery distribution agency responsible for arts and culture comes into being. The minister appoints Nteta, Radebe and a few others to the agency.
The board of the Playhouse forgets to switch off a tape recorder after a meeting. A transcript appears of board members making racist statements about Indians. There is an outcry. The minister appoints Nteta to investigate the allegations of racism. A report is delivered. It is never made public. The minister demands that the board resigns. They refuse. The minister threatens to hold off their grant. The board resigns. A reluctant Radebe resigns from the lottery board and vacates the State Theatre board.
The Playhouse has no board. The minister appoints an administrator to oversee it. Opera Africa premieres its Princess Magogo opera about the IFP leader’s musician mother. Tembe and his partner, Linda Bukhosini, play the lead roles and the KZNPO plays the music. They hear that money is going to flow to Opera Africa from international broadcasts of the live premiere. They threaten not to perform unless they are paid more, unless they have the right of first refusal to their roles for the next five years, unless the KZNPO has the right of first refusal to play the music for five years. Opera Africa relents. The minister provides funds to ensure that the demands can be met. The premiere proceeds.
The minister changes the law. He can now appoint and remove boards of publicly funded bodies. He can now appoint their chairpersons. The minister appoints an interim board to the Playhouse. He includes Tembe as the only arts representative. The staff union petitions him to reconsider, citing Tembe’s conflicts of interest as the KZNPO is a client of the Playhouse. The minister ignores the petition.
Opera Africa stages Princess Magogo at the State Theatre. Tembe is still a board member there. Opera Africa does not use Tembe, Bukhosini and the KZNPO. They are taken to court to stop their performances. The court denies the application. More legal action is threatened. The NAC stops the funding for Opera Africa. The minister appoints a three-person committee to investigate the Princess Magogo saga. Nteta is part of the committee.
The NAC board is to change. The minister reappoints John Kani, Kiren Thathia and Tembe. The board objects. Legally, the board is to re-elect three of their own to provide continuity. The minister relents. The board elects Kani, Lisa Combrink and Marilyn Martin.
A new board is announced. Martin is excluded. There is an outcry. Legal action is threatened, and Martin is reinstated. Bukhosini is appointed to the new board. She heads up the opera and music subcommittee that Tembe used to head. Opera Africa’s funding is still on hold. The committee’s report is still awaited. The minister appoints a new chairperson of the board.
Nteta informs the minister of allegations of abuse of power, financial irregularities and non-compliance with the Labour Relations Act against senior board members. Subsequently, the NAC suspends Nteta on allegations of abuse of power, financial irregularities and non-compliance with the Act. An investigation is launched into the allegations against Nteta. The minister says it’s an internal matter.
The Playhouse board advertises for an artistic director. Bukhosini applies. Tembe recuses himself. The union refuses to participate in the process. The board offers the post to Bukhosini. The union demands that they reverse their decision, or staff will strike. The minister says it’s an internal matter.
Watch this space for the next instalment of this local content soap opera.
Mail & Guardian art reviewer Kathryn Smith has been awarded the Standard Bank Young Artists Award for Visual Art. Other winners are Mncedisi Baldwin Shabangu for drama, Portia Lebohang Mashigo for dance, Tutu Puoane for music, and Moses Taiwa Molelekwa (posthumously for music). Smith is co-curator of the exhibition of the DaimlerChrysler Award for Creative Photography that has been won by Guy Tillim. Photographers nominated were: Angela Buckland, Jakob Doman, Stephen Hobbs, Brent Meistre, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Jo Ratcliffe and Andrew Tshabangu. In the Cape M&G contributors Mike van Graan and Guy Willoughby have been selected as joint winners at the second Performing Art Network of South Africa Festival of Reading of New Writing.