The Lottery has stopped a grant to the lavishly funded once-a-year SATMA awards. Illustration: Lisa Nelson (SATMA emblem superimposed over primary illustration)
From 2019 to 2022 the South African Regular Songs Awards acquired about R16-million within the Lottery.
Nevertheless the Lottery has withheld payment in the 2023 grant adhering to an investigation.
The NLC has requested the Particular Investigating Unit to probe alleged “double dipping” in many years in which funders apart from the NLC also chipped in to assist fund the awards.
The scale of funding with the yearly two night celebration is astonishing.
The Mpumalanga federal government has funded the awards with more than R41-million just after it “was awarded the best” to host the SATMA awards for 3 several years, commencing during the 2020/21 economic year.
This has become Besides Lottery funding.
The National Lotteries Commission (NLC) is refusing to pay for a R1.two-million grant it to begin with permitted for an yearly conventional new music awards ceremony. A similar function also obtained tens of countless rand from the Mpumalanga provincial govt.
From 2019 to 2022 the NLC awarded a number of grants totalling Pretty much R16.4-million to your Mageza Heritage Basis, the organisers in the once-a-year South African Traditional Audio Awards (SATMA).
But it halted the payment of a 2023 grant soon after an inner investigation.
GroundUp has uncovered enormous corruption during the NLC that came about until eventually the former board and administration was changed in 2022. The brand new NLC leadership is attempting to clean up the corruption on the earlier.
The NLC’s investigation centered on both equally the 2023 funding and before grants awarded to Mageza to stage the awards. The investigation also probed a payment of more than R718,000, allegedly compensated from Lottery money to G4 Brothers, of which Dumisani Gobe, the founder of the SATMA awards, is really a director.
Questioned if Mageza paid out G4 a licencing or any other expenses to stage the awards, Goba claimed: “G4 was commissioned to perform a production of the function and got paid out for all those services, like to handle and produce the principle celebration, roadshows, and so on. I am the founding father of the SATMA Awards; I'm the 1 who need to be compensated for creating the idea depending on affordability and what Mageza decides.”
The NLC has handed a dossier of its investigation on the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). It's got questioned the SIU to investigate four diverse lottery-funded jobs that been given grants involving October 2020 and May 2023, plus the payment to G4 Brothers.
The NLC has also asked the SIU to probe alleged “double dipping” in many years where funders besides the NLC also chipped in to help you fund the awards.
This includes a grant of R400,000 within the Nationwide Heritage Council and just around R62,000 from “SABC Cellular” in 2020 - exactly the same money yr in which the function been given almost R2.6-million in lottery funding and R13.five-million in the Mpumalanga Division of Tradition, Sports activities and Recreation (MDCSR).
MDCSR funded the awards to your tune of around R41-million soon after it “was awarded the appropriate” to host the SATMA awards for 3 several years, starting while in the 2020/21 fiscal 12 months.
The Mpumalanga federal government’s funding for SATMA in excess of that period was considerably larger than grants to any other organisation for cultural initiatives and activities.
The MDSCR gave R3.five-million to SATMA within the 2019/20 financial yr prior to ramping up its contribution immediately after signing the agreement to host the awards about another a few a long time.
The full funds submitted to your NLC when Mageza utilized to the disputed 2023 SATMA funding was R1.2-million. But of the, only R500,000 was allocated for the particular staging with the function. Other line things within the spending budget involved R400,000 for “personnel salaries and Added benefits”, R200,000 for “stipends” and R100,000 for “travel.”
The awards were being held on 15 December on the Durban Intercontinental ผล หวย ลาว วัน นี้ Convention Centre. Mageza suggests it urgently demands the blocked grant to pay the function’s services vendors.
The SATMA awards, which had been to start with held in 2006, are staged more than two evenings and it is unclear how the tens of thousands and thousands in grants within the NLC, MDCSR and also other funders were being used.
Desmond Msomi, the chairman of Mageza, didn't reply to specific concerns from GroundUp, including the cost of staging a SATMA awards ceremony.
Rather, he stated: “Your concerns are noted. Nevertheless, we happen to be encouraged because of the NLC that this matter is remaining investigated because of the SIU. For this reason, we are not able to respond to your inquiries until finally we are recommended which the investigation is done and the amount owed has actually been compensated to Mageza.”
Right after Mpumalanga “gained the ideal” to host the awards for 3 many years, the then provincial Tradition, Sport and Recreation MEC, Lindiwe Ntshalintshali, described it as “a boon” to the province.
“Internet hosting the SATMA Awards has constructive economic spinoffs for your Mpumalanga coffers and What's more, it talks into the Office’s mandate of endorsing social cohesion.”