Public Protector confirms Minstrel Lotto funding probe
A decision by the Public Protector to investigate Minstrel funding comes after the City of Cape Town laid a complaint, requesting a probe into how the Cape Minstrel Carnival Association spent just over R40 million received from the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund. Read more below:
The City of Cape Town welcomes the decision by the Office of the Public Protector to investigate its complaint relating to the Lotto funding disbursed to the Cape Minstrel Carnival Association.
On 16 February 2015, the City submitted a formal complaint, requesting that the Public Protector investigate how exactly the association spent the nearly R40,64 million paid out by the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund between 2012 and 2014 - particularly in light of the fact that the City and Western Cape Government also invested several million rand into the event.
At the time of negotiating the terms of the City's financial investment into the most recent Tweede Nuwe Jaar celebrations, the Cape Cultural and Carnival Committee indicated that it had not yet received additional funding and that it was too late to secure additional sponsorships - only for the City to discover that they had been the beneficiaries of very significant funding.
The National Lotteries Board has confirmed that R13,32 million was paid in 2012 and 2013 for carnival costs, and that R27,32 million was paid in 2014 for carnival costs (R14,32 million) and the Carnival Heritage Museum (R13 million).