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GroundUp reports that the Office of the Public Protector (PP) is mediating the dispute between the National Arts Council (NAC) and a group of protesting artists who have been staging sit-ins for two months.
Performers and creative have been staging sit-ins at the council’s offices in Newtown, Johannesburg since 3 March. They are demanding answers about the management of Covid-19 relief funds and the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP). Earlier this week, the artists went to the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture head office in Pretoria. According to a NAC statement on 14 May, over R200 million has been paid to 1,300 beneficiaries, which amounted to 70% of the total grant for the PESP of R285 million. Savage Tau, one of the protesting artists, stated: “That’s not true. The reason we’re here is because … it’s more than the PESP now … it’s about the Constitution – that the artists are not seen as employees but as freelancers. We die as paupers because of the law, which is not right.” At the end of April, Oupa Segalwe, spokesperson for the PP, announced that Advocates Busisiwe Mkhwebane and Kholeka Gcaleka would mediate the dispute. He reported that the advocates had met with Minister Nathi Mthethwa and members of the NAC council and had held a separate meeting with the artists at the end of April.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Julia Evans at GroundUp
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page