Mzwakhe Mbuli slams minister Nathi Mthethwa for 'tarnishing' his name

02 November 2021 - 10:00 By Joy Mphande
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Mzwakhe Mbuli denies minister Nathi Mthethwa's claims that he received R12m.
Mzwakhe Mbuli denies minister Nathi Mthethwa's claims that he received R12m.
Image: Supplied

Popular poet and activist, Mzwakhe Mbuli has set the record straight after nminister Nathi Mthethwa’s recent comments during an interview on SAFM claiming that he had received “R12m” from the government in the past three years.

Speaking to TshisaLIVE, Mzwakhe said it was unfair that the minister was tarnishing his name by making these claims without him being given the right of reply. 

“Mthethwa was asked about opera singer Sibongile Mngoma and other arts practitioners who slept for four days at the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) entrance. Instead of providing the required answers, he dropped my name out of context. My name was used as a scapegoat by Nathi Mthethwa without the right to reply,” he said.

This is not the first time that Mzwakhe has accused the minister of using him as a “scapegoat” when addressing the media.

In October this year an article was published in The Star newspaper about the ANC owing him R700,000 for his involvement in the Caster Semenya collaboration album by various SA artists in 2010 approved by the late Jackson Mthembu and Winnie Madikizela Mandela.

“It is an open secret that the ANC owes me. In 2010 at Luthuli house I was asked by the late minister in the presidency Jackson Mthembu to mobilise SA artists in defence of athlete Caster Semenya after she won the gold medal in Berlin. Nathi Mthethwa was not there in 2010. Mthethwa has deliberately distorted the truth, twisted the facts.”

When TshisaLIVE reached out to Department of Sport, Arts, and Culture spokesperson Masechaba Ndlovu for comment on the matter, she said the department still stood by the statement it issued on October 5. 

“We are a caring government. Mr Mbuli is a living testimony of this. For the past five years, DSAC has supported Mr Mbuli financially to the tune of R12m for various projects. Through the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP), the president has ensured that artists have received R272m out of R285m meant for artists, precisely because the president understands the importance of the creative sector.” read the statement.

Mzwakhe Mbuli has denied the claim saying: “If I have received 12-million [the] SA Revenue Service (Sars) must step in, please. The 12-million is ambiguous and misleading. Mthethwa must tell the truth ... Using my name in the media won’t derail the much-awaited Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP) 350-million final report.”


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