Having starred for the past five years in the Oscar-nominated movie, Lost in his Portfolio, the minister formerly known as the arts and culture ambassador, has ridden off into the sunset to the land of the rising sun. Tokyo will now have its Little Ben and local, publicly funded arts and culture institutions will have a chance of recovery after a too-long period of “ben there, done squat”.
After the 1994 elections, and armed with 10% of the shares in the major film studio, the Inkatha Freedom Party nominated the affable Dr Ben Ngubane to co-star with Winnie Mandela (fresh from her role in Dirty Pretty Thing) in the comedy drama Between Strangers at the New Arts, Culture, Science & Technology Department. Then the IFP — with a long record of violent blockbusters — branched out and had Ngubane play a leading role in their first drama, Trading Places, with Lionel Mtshali assuming the role of minister.
While Ngubane was being scarred by the brutal politics as premier of his home province, Mtshali brought the politics of the province to the department and appointed his homeboy, Dr Musa Xulu, as the Deputy Director General responsible for arts and culture. Xulu demanded — and got — the lead role in There’s a Zulu on My Stoep, in My Museum, in My Theatre and Oh No, Even in My Gallery, thoroughly intimidating all and sundry with his traditional weapons of bluster, arrogance and sheer volume as he drove his terrifying version of transformation through the cultural laagers of the descendants of Piet Retief.
So unsuccessful and not in the national interests was their first movie, that Mtshali and Ngubane were then contracted by the IFP to star in Trading Places Again, and Mtshali returned to the battle of whether Ulundi or Pietermaritzburg should be the capital of KwaZulu-Natal, while Ben Ngubane donned his Incredible Sulk outfit and reclaimed his much-diminished inheritance. Xulu got the boot and reincarnated himself as the manager of a small town with a big salary, before being suspended for refusing a role in Good Boy.
In their statement on the sudden departure of Ngubane to green tea pastures, the IFP said: “Dr Ngubane provided an important IFP contribution to the governance of South Africa for the past 10 years, both as a competent and effective minister of science and technology, as well as a respected and admired premier of KwaZulu-Natal.”
Interestingly, they limited his competence and effectiveness as a minister to science and technology, perhaps mindful of the Mail & Guardian‘s 2003 Report Card in which the former minister for arts and culture scored an F.
This was always going to be Ben Ngubane’s final year in the arts and culture portfolio. He had unique opportunities to go out with a bang. Instead, he leaves behind a self-inflicted, dubious legacy that includes:
- The country’s premier funding body — the National Arts Council — being in complete disarray with consequent loss of respect from its international arts-council peers and increased wariness from international donors;
- A reputation for having compromised the constitutional right to freedom of creative expression by changing the law to all but eliminate the principle of arm’s-length governance of public institutions;
- Unresolved tensions between his adviser and his party leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, in the matter of Princess Magogo, an opera about Buthelezi’s mother;
- Growing racial polarisation resulting from senior appointments in his department;
- Striking workers at the Playhouse theatre protesting against a perceived nepotistic appointment with its roots in Ngubane’s failure to address similar concerns when appointing the board; and
- Artists protesting the lack of improvement in their conditions in the past 10 years and growing concerns that the celebrations of a decade of democracy, to be coordinated by Ngubane’s department, are heading for the greatest flop list due to poor management.
So, was Ngubane pushed before there’s a shake-up in his department? Or did the heat in the kitchen get too much so that he begged to go as far away and as quickly as possible? Or was he being spared an election fight for which he had lost his appetite as an IFP member who had grown closer to the African National Congress, and was now given an opportunity for an honourable exit for loyal service to the president?
The haste with which Ngubane left his position certainly raises intriguing questions that the public statements by the doctors of spin are not even hinting at. Whatever, may he have fun, peace and lots of sushi.
Meanwhile, a warm welcome to the all-too-brief arts and culture reign of Minister of Minerals and Energy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka in the run-up to the elections. If only she had more time, this highly competent and effective minister would discover the huge mines of untapped talent and the boundless creative energy in the sector, with much of these already under black ownership. What is needed, minister, is real structural empowerment.