The whip of the ANC study group on sport, arts and culture, Inathi Mbiyo, has called for a wide-ranging investigation into alleged patronage networks, governance failures and “ghost company” funding linked to the National Arts Council (NAC) and the Mzansi Golden Economy (MGE) programme.
The MGE is the government’s flagship cultural funding instrument intended to support artists and creative industry development.
The call comes shortly after the minister of sport, arts and culture, Gayton McKenzie, dissolved the board of the NAC, citing labour unrest, financial mismanagement, governance breakdowns and procurement concerns.
Mbiyo said the study group had adopted three “non-negotiable demands”:
- First, it calls for an immediate freeze on all 2026/27 MGE funding allocations pending an independent forensic audit to trace irregular disbursements and recover funds paid to fraudulent beneficiaries.
- The second demand is for criminal investigation referrals to law enforcement agencies, including the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI, commonly known as the Hawks) and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) under the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (Precca).
- Third, the group demands an end to closed-door appointment processes, insisting that all future selections for the NAC board and MGE funding panels be subjected to open, transparent and publicly accountable parliamentary vetting.
The group said it welcomes McKenzie’s decision to dissolve the NAC board, describing it as a necessary intervention under section 5(5) of the NAC Act.
“The ANC study group on sport, arts and culture has welcomed the minister’s decision to dissolve the board of the National Arts Council, describing it as a necessary and long-overdue intervention,” said Mbiyo.
The move should be understood as a “system reset” after years of dysfunction, she added.
Genuine, tax-compliant, grassroots artists — the very people the MGE was designed to uplift — have been left without support, while public resources have allegedly been syphoned to politically connected entities
— Inathi Mbiyo, whip of ANC study group on sport, arts and culture
“Acting under section 5(5) of the NAC Act, the minister’s move to disband the board has been framed by the study group as a critical ‘system reset’, one demanded by years of institutional dysfunction, unresolved labour disputes and a pattern of fiscal recklessness that saw public funds spent on luxury mobile devices and inflated external recruitment costs even as the board claimed budgetary constraints.”
However, the group warned that dissolving the board alone does not address deeper governance concerns.
“The study group is clear that welcoming the disbandment does not mean endorsing the silence around its causes. The study group has raised pointed concerns that the minister’s executive action risks functioning as a smokescreen in which board members were hand-picked on the basis of political alignment and factional loyalty rather than demonstrated expertise in public finance, labour relations or the creative economy.”
Mbiyo further raised serious concerns about the MGE adjudication panel, alleging public funds may have been channelled to non-compliant and fraudulent entities.
“Compounding the governance failures at the NAC is a far more serious allegation, one that strikes at the integrity of the state’s flagship cultural funding instrument. The study group has levelled grave charges against the ministerially appointed Mzansi Golden Economy adjudication panel, accusing it of bypassing National Treasury guidelines and evading parliamentary oversight in order to direct portions of the R110m MGE fund to non-compliant, deregistered and fraudulent ‘ghost companies’.”
Legitimate artists had been left behind in the process, she said.
“Genuine, tax-compliant, grassroots artists — the very people the MGE was designed to uplift — have been left without support, while public resources have allegedly been syphoned to politically connected entities. This is not an administrative failure. It is, in the study group’s assessment, a potential criminal misappropriation of public funds.”
Mbiyo said the group’s position is firm that political interference and patronage in cultural funding must be eradicated.
“The study group is clear that the era of political cronyism dressed up as cultural development is over.”
The group has called for accountability measures, forensic auditing and structural reforms to restore credibility in South Africa’s cultural funding institutions while warning that the current crisis points to deeper systemic governance failures.
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