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ANC KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Siboniso Duma, who is also the province's MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs.
Darren Stewart/Gallo Images
- ActionSA says the KwaZulu-Natal government made commitments to dole out R28 million to host the SA Music Awards.
- The party has written to an oversight committee in the legislature to investigate, for which a government rebuttal has been issued.
- However, the provincial government insists it will only "invest" R20 million for a R350 million return of investment through the SAMAs, which have the 'support' of industry.
ActionSA KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Zwakele Mncwango has written a complaint to the provincial oversight authorities about requests from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) to divert a disputed amount of funds from government programmes to prop up funds for the SA Music Awards (SAMAs).
News24 revealed this week that the provincial government had applied to the provincial treasury for virements to allow it to raise R20 million to host the SAMAs.
Virements are the transfer of funds from one financial account or part of a budget to another.
The awards show is expected to take place on the weekend of 17 and 18 November at the Durban International Convention Centre.
Documents show that the EDTEA requested R28 million but the provincial treasury, which raised "concerns" in its response, approved R23 million.
In a response this week to News24 queries, EDTEA MEC Siboniso Duma's spokesperson, Ndabezinhle Sibiya, pegged the amount to be committed to the show at R20 million.
Duma doubles as chairperson of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal.
Sibiya said:
From the proposed investment of R20 million, more than R350 million will be injected into the provincial economy over the next two months.
He called the R28 million figure a "politically manufactured fabrication", which Mncwango denied on Friday.
READ | KZN govt scrambles to poach funds from several programmes to host R20m SAMAs extravaganza
Mncwango wrote to Nhlakanipho Ntombela, the EDTEA chairperson in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature, informing him about treasury and EDTEA documents that shine a light on plans to divert funding from key government programmes such as workers' salaries and R5 million from Ithala.
EDTEA moved to respond to Mngcwango's claim that there was a "sinister" SA Music Awards budget.
On Friday, Sibiya gave a rebuttal to Mncwango's letter to the legislature in what he called a "sinister" budget.
Sibiya said Mncwango's statement, which was accompanied by the letter he wrote to the legislature, is "laced with fabrication".
"Based on these messages, we are left with a distinct impression that there is an attempt to erode hope for a better future of tourism, hospitality and entertainment sectors in this province," Sibiya said.
He added that Mncwango and "many others who are attempting to undermine the hosting of such an economically beneficial event and want to see the poor suffer from joblessness, and other major socio-economic challenges".
In documents seen by News24, EDTEA officials made an initial proposal which included poaching R6 million in salaries from one sub-programme.
However, the proposed virement of salaries totals R18 million.
Mncwango wrote:
We are in possession of documents that relate to EDTEA requesting the provincial treasury to approve a virement and transfer of R23 million for the department to cover all costs for the SAMAs by redirecting R18 million from its compensation of employee’s budget and R5 million from Ithala, where they had double-budgeted for chemicals and detergent, totalling [...] R23 million.
The provincial treasury, in writing, explained to EDTEA officials that diverting funds from Ithala could only be achieved through the legislature.
"The EDTEA portfolio committee at the KwaZulu-Natal legislature is the main body that approved the department's budgets, and it is for this reason that we request that, as the chairperson of the committee, you convene a special portfolio committee meeting as a matter of urgency to deliberate on this matter, bearing in mind that [the] awards show was not budgeted for by the province," Mncwango said in his letter.
"It is the committee's responsibility to play [an] oversight [role] over the executive council and the government department, and must therefore pronounce its position on this matter, and if they see it feasible to use a large sum of money to fund the award ceremony."
He made reference to the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality's reported plan to fork out R25 million for the SAMAs.
Mncwango said:
We wish to make it known that ActionSA is not disputing that the SAMAs be hosted by the province, but we do not believe that hosting the awards show should cost the two levels of government this much in public funds.
In a media statement, Mncwango said: "Most concerning [is] that the department requested provincial treasury to redirect R18 million from its compensation of employees budget and R5 million from Ithala ... The R5 million discrepancy from the initial R23 million that the department requested treasury to redirect and the R28 million reflecting on the PowerPoint presentation [by EDTEA officials] raises numerous questions of whether something more sinister could be at play."
*This story has been updated to add the comment of the EDTEA.
