Dear Editor
The DA has written to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Sports, Arts and Culture, Joe McGluwa to request that both the Minister and the Mzansi Golden Economy (MGE) adjudication panel be summoned to appear before Parliament. Their continued evasion of oversight cannot go unchecked while public funds are allegedly being used as a political campaign tool.
Unsurprisingly, the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, is dodging my written parliamentary questions on the misuse of MGE funds, while using taxpayer-funded MGE money to support events linked to his own political party, leaving established festivals and artists without the funding they need to survive. This deliberate misappropriation of public resources must be urgently investigated by Parliament.
Official complaints reveal that MGE funds were prioritised for events linked to the Patriotic Alliance (PA), while long-standing festivals that sustain jobs and tourism, including the National Arts Festival, Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK), Woordfees, Suidoosterfees, the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, the Cape Town Carnival, and the Open Book Festival, were defunded and told to apply to the MGE fund, only to have their applications summarily rejected. Thousands of artists, festival staff and tourism workers now face uncertainty because politically connected events were given priority over festivals that grow South Africa’s creative economy.
On 17 September, I submitted written questions to the Minister seeking clarity on the Department’s due diligence processes, the appointment of adjudication panel members and the rationale for withdrawing funding from established festivals. The Minister has failed to respond within the required ten-day period and has still not provided the Portfolio Committee with documentation he undertook to deliver at the start of September, including the full list of MGE-funded applicants and explanations for why deregistered companies were approved for funding.
These questions followed the MGE adjudication panel flatly denying any political ties when I first questioned them at the portfolio committee in early September 2025. It was only after I revealed their active political roles and that they had little experience in the arts and culture sector that they were forced to admit it. The PA spokesperson, who bizarrely chairs the panel, aggressively tried to defend himself by claiming his “constitutional right” to support the PA. I reminded him that the Constitution also guarantees transparency, fairness and accountability in public administration, principles that apply to everyone entrusted with public funds.
Both the King IV Code on Corporate Governance and the Public Service Regulations require a proper conflict-of-interest vetting process before appointments are made. Yet the panel and department openly conceded that none had been done, with the department further indicating the Minister solely set criteria and selected adjudication panel members. Serving as both a political party official and a decision-maker in the Department’s funding process is a textbook example of a conflict of interest and cadre deployment.
The Mzansi Golden Economy Fund was established to grow South Africa’s creative economy and expand opportunities for artists, not to bankroll the Patriotic Alliance’s political ambitions.
The DA will continue to pursue full transparency on MGE allocations and ensure that the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture is held accountable for the misuse of public resources, the absence of conflict-of-interest safeguards and the Minister’s persistent disregard for Parliament’s oversight role.
Regards
Leah Potgieter MP
DA Spokesperson on Sport, Arts and Culture