Johannesburg - Former minister of sports, arts, and culture, Nathi Mthethwa, who was last month appointed ambassador to France, has been hailed for some of the key achievements and milestones he achieved as minister.
Mthethwa fell out of favour after President Cyril Ramaphosa removed him as Minister of Sports, Arts, and Culture early this year.
Mthethwa said his approach to the sector was underpinned by the Mzansi Golden Economy strategy, which prioritised five pillars, including the South African Cultural Observatory, cultural diplomacy, public arts, and an art bank, as well as some of the key arts and music festivals across the country, including Macufe Festival, Joy of Jazz, and many others.
"We intensified our efforts in key strategic pillars of the arts and culture economy through festivals and other areas. We saw festivals as flagship events as artists perform in these festivals and gain financially. These festivals have created massive job opportunities for artists and support staff," he said.
He added that in 2022, the Department of Sports, Arts, and Culture ensured that the government as a whole adopted the Cultural and Creative Master Plan, and in 2014 this was followed up by the formation of the Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa (CCIFSA) in a bid to give artists a unified voice within the country’s cultural economy.
"In 2014, the department facilitated the formation by artists of the CCIFSA for a united voice of the practitioners, as well as the formation of the Living Legends Legacy Fraternity in 2015 in order to honour, recognise, celebrate, and support these living human treasures as a group while they are still alive. The department invested millions of rand for the outfit’s sustenance and self-sufficiency," he added.
Mthethwa, who was ridiculed last year for his proposal for a monumental flag, as well as the funding of various orchestras, said this was symbolic of the government’s intervention in three cities.
"Since 1994, the government has been funding three philharmonic orchestras in three provinces located in three cities, namely, Durban, Cape Town, and Johannesburg. In 2022, the department broadened its scope to include other provinces through the formation of the Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra (MNPO), chaired by Constitutional Court Judge Leona Theron. The department, through MNPO, now funds 38 entities, including other provinces, community-based philharmonic orchestras, music schools, and youth orchestras. This new initiative has seen more than 1 000 job opportunities created within a year," he said.
He added that the department promoted social cohesion and nation-building by, among other things, appointing social cohesion advocates to deepen the process of unity in diversity in our society.
He said the department had been able to fund about 250 community arts centres annually in all provinces while ensuring financial support for about 300 creatives who were part of the Artists in Schools programme across the length and breadth of this country. This took place in schools offering arts education.
"The department created more spaces through theatres in provinces where such were non-existent nor recognised; today we have the Mandela Bay Theatre Complex in the Eastern Cape and the Northern Cape Theatre. In Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and the North West, work is under way to create these spaces in order to undermine apartheid's spatial development," he said.
The Star