Celani Sikhakhane
The pressure is mounting for the KwaZulu-Natal government to release a R1.1 million forensic investigation report believed to expose corrupt deals made with by the Department of Arts and Culture senior officials of a R15 million recording studio in Durban.
About R12 million was injected to the KZN Music House institution in the 2016 /2017 financial year to provide relief for KZN musicians, but not a single CD was released by the production house.
This prompted the launch of a forensic investigation and it was alleged that officials within both the KZN Music House and the Department of Arts and Culture were involved in corrupt dealings.
The corruption eventually led to the collapse of the institution.
Thokozani Tzozo Zulu of the Creative and Culture Industry of South Africa in KZN said that the damage the corruption has caused to the province’s musicians and music scene is giant. He said he wants corrupt heads to roll, as many artists are still struggling as a result of their alleged crimes.
“Musicians in KZN are struggling because of greedy people who decided to enrich themselves with our monies,” Zulu said.
Zulu welcomed the inquiry into the dealings, but said it needs to be released to the public as a matter of priority.
“That is why we want the provincial government to release a full report as soon as possible, so that we could know who these heartless officials are,” he continued.
When the provincial government decided to launch the KZN Music House, the Sarafina legendary Mbongeni Ngema was commissioned to look after the institution, but he was later let go after several musicians complained about him.
The institution was launched to curb KZN’s high unemployment rate and to avoid the brain drain of musicians leaving the region for Gauteng to seek recording companies.
Bradley Singh of the DA in the KZN legislature said it is regrettable that the KZN treasury had ordered that the release of the audit be split, with only the criminal allegations being mentioned while internal matters are withheld.
“We will not tolerate only part of the audit being released and the rest being covered up by the DoAC,” said Singh.
Head of communication in the KZN government, Lennox Mabaso, said: “We are confident that we will release the report when the time is due and the Premier will make sure that the people of KZN gave a full knowledge of the report.”
