Lottery blocks payment to lavishly funded songs event
Lottery blocks payment to lavishly funded songs event
Blog Article
The Lottery has stopped a grant to the lavishly funded once-a-year SATMA awards. Illustration: Lisa Nelson (SATMA logo superimposed above unique illustration)
From 2019 to 2022 the South African Classic Audio Awards obtained more than R16-million from the Lottery.
But the Lottery has withheld payment with the 2023 grant subsequent an investigation.
The NLC has questioned the Unique Investigating Device to probe alleged “double dipping” in many years wherever funders apart from the NLC also chipped in that will help fund the awards.
The scale of funding to the yearly two night time event is astonishing.
The Mpumalanga federal government has funded the awards with about R41-million after it “was awarded the correct” to host the SATMA awards for three several years, starting inside the 2020/21 fiscal yr.
This is Together with Lottery funding.
The National Lotteries Fee (NLC) is refusing to pay a R1.two-million grant it to begin with accredited for an annual regular audio awards ceremony. The identical party also acquired tens of millions of rand with the Mpumalanga provincial authorities.
From 2019 to 2022 the NLC awarded various grants totalling almost R16.4-million on the Mageza Heritage Basis, the organisers of your once-a-year South African Conventional Music Awards (SATMA).
However it halted the payment of a 2023 grant right after an inside investigation.
GroundUp has uncovered significant corruption from the NLC that came about until the earlier board and administration was changed in 2022. The brand new NLC Management is trying to cleanse up the corruption on the earlier.
The NLC’s investigation centered on both equally the 2023 funding and previously grants awarded to Mageza to phase the awards. The investigation also probed a payment of around R718,000, allegedly compensated from Lottery cash to G4 Brothers, of which Dumisani Gobe, the founder of the SATMA awards, is actually a director.
Questioned if Mageza paid G4 a licencing or any other service fees to stage the awards, Goba stated: “G4 was commissioned to try and do a production of the celebration and got compensated for all those services, like to handle and develop the main event, roadshows, etc. I'm the founding father of the SATMA Awards; I am the 1 who should be compensated for creating the concept dependant on affordability and what Mageza decides.”
The NLC has handed a dossier of its investigation towards the Distinctive Investigating Unit (SIU). It's got asked the SIU to research 4 diverse lottery-funded projects that gained grants in between October 2020 and should 2023, in addition to the payment to G4 Brothers.
The NLC has also questioned the SIU to probe alleged “double dipping” in years in which funders besides the NLC also chipped in to help fund the awards.
This features a grant of R400,000 in the National Heritage Council and just more than R62,000 from “SABC Mobile” in 2020 - precisely the same economic yr through which the function acquired Virtually R2.six-million in lottery funding and R13.five-million from your Mpumalanga Department of Lifestyle, Sports activities and Recreation (MDCSR).
MDCSR funded the awards to the tune of about R41-million immediately after it “was awarded the best” to host the SATMA awards for three several years, beginning while in the 2020/21 money year.
The Mpumalanga governing administration’s funding for SATMA about that interval was substantially bigger than grants to some other organisation for cultural initiatives and situations.
The MDSCR gave R3.five-million to SATMA within the 2019/twenty money calendar year just before ramping up its contribution soon after signing the settlement to host the awards around another a few yrs.
The total budget submitted into the NLC when Mageza used for that disputed 2023 SATMA funding was R1.two-million. But of this, only R500,000 was allotted for the actual staging from the event. Other line merchandise inside the spending budget involved R400,000 for “personnel salaries and Positive aspects”, R200,000 for “stipends” and R100,000 for “vacation.”
The awards had been held on fifteen December in the Durban Worldwide lottovip Convention Centre. Mageza claims it urgently wants the blocked grant to pay for the occasion’s assistance providers.
The SATMA awards, which ended up first held in 2006, are staged above two evenings and it is unclear how the tens of hundreds of thousands in grants through the NLC, MDCSR and other funders had been invested.
Desmond Msomi, the chairman of Mageza, did not respond to particular concerns from GroundUp, including the expense of staging a SATMA awards ceremony.
Instead, he said: “Your questions are pointed out. Having said that, we are actually recommended through the NLC this issue is getting investigated by the SIU. For this reason, we can not reply to your concerns right until we are recommended which the investigation continues to be accomplished and the quantity owed has been paid to Mageza.”
Right after Mpumalanga “gained the appropriate” to host the awards for 3 yrs, the then provincial Society, Activity and Recreation MEC, Lindiwe Ntshalintshali, described it as “a boon” to the province.
“Hosting the SATMA Awards has optimistic economic spinoffs with the Mpumalanga coffers and it also talks into the Section’s mandate of selling social cohesion.”