Arts Council CEO and CFO should be sacked following damning relief fund report

15 November 2021

The DA calls for the National Arts Council (NAC) CEO, Rosemary Mangope, and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Clifton Changfoot to be dismissed following the release of the forensic investigation report into the maladministration of Covid-relief funds.

The DA has long called for the report to be made public. Although this report revealed that there are no funds unaccounted for, it highlighted the extend of the mismanagement of crucial funds meant to support artists affected by the economic devastation brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, including funding from the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP).

Both the NAC CEO and CFO, as well as the senior project manager, Eugene Marillier, were found to be derelict in their duties with harsh criticism against Ms Mangope and Mr Changfoot in particular.

With regards to the CEO, the report found that Ms Mangope “failed to provide adequate oversight and was negligent in managing the execution of the administrative compliance processes which allowed 1 104 applications to be considered for evaluation when they ought to have been disqualified,” and she also “failed to act with fidelity, honesty and in the best interest of the NAC in managing the financial affairs of the PESP by not ensuring that the approved applications remained within the allocated budget of R285 million as opposed to the over-committed amount of R428,073,778. Ms Mangope, therefore, contravened Section 50 (1) (b) of the Public Finance Management Act (“PFMA”)…”

She also failed to follow generally accepted recruitment practices when employing Ms Marillier as the senior project manager.

The investigation found that Mr Changfoot “failed to provide financial management oversight to ensure that the 92 Stream 1 applications were indeed authorised by Exco, prior to processing any payments,” and that he “failed to act with fidelity, honesty and in the best interest of the NAC in managing the financial affairs of the PESP by not raising concerns that Exco’s approval of Stream 2 applications that exceeded the allocated budget of R285 million”.

The report states that neither Mangope nor Changfoot assumed responsibility in finding suitable solutions to address the over commitment of limited funding.

And to this day, it is the artists that continue to suffer. The Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, has failed to act at almost every turn. He has in fact, taken every opportunity to show his disdain for the people he is meant to serve. If not for external pressure, he would not have commissioned an investigation. It took months of pressure for the report to be released. And still, this out of touch Minister receives an exorbitant salary while artists continue to struggle to survive.

It is time President Cyril Ramaphosa fires Minister Mthethwa. He does not have an ounce of compassion for those working in the creative sectors, and is clearly completely incompetent. Not only should the NAC CEO and CFO be relieved of their posts, but the Minister’s head should roll as well. The lack of oversight that the report continuously references also speaks to his utter failure as Minister.

Issued by Veronica van Dyk, DA Deputy Shadow Minister for Sports, Arts and Culture, 15 November 2021