Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie has labelled festival organisers “entitled” following the recent uproar on his decision to cut funding.
In a recent statement, the Minister criticised multiple festivals that benefitted from state funds during the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2019/2020 financial year, when none of those events are reported to have taken place because of the lockdown.
“The most obvious case is that of the Cape Town International Jazz festival, which was given R3 million during the 2019-20 financial year,” he said.
“When the event did not take place during the hard lockdown in March 2020, the facts in my possession indicate that no portion of funding was returned to the department despite numerous costs not being incurred.”
Meanwhile, he has now opted to launch an investigation into which other festivals benefitted from state funds without the event taking place during the COVID-19 period.
He added, “The department has found itself in a relationship with festivals and their organisers where the expectation of funding has become a form of entitlement, despite numerous other promoters looking to fund new and innovative festival concepts.”
He has further requested fully audited financial details of all festivals funded over the last five to ten years to ensure that the monies allocated were used and spent on the purpose they have been requested for.
