The controversial CCIFSA Secretary-General (SG), Ayanda Roda, and Free State provincial coordinator, Mbuyiselo Nqodi, on Thursday left the Performing Arts Centre of the Free State (Pacofs) in Bloemfontein where they are also staging a sit-in, to go visit their fellow CCIFSA comrades in Kimberley. 

The spokesperson for the Northern Cape Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, Conrad Fortune, reveals the disgruntled artists forcibly entered the departmental headquarters in Kimberley on Monday 15 March, whereupon they embarked on a hunger strike and sit-in. Fortune tells OFM News the artists are demanding access to the R4 million promised to them by Premier Zamani Saul in his State of the Province Address (Sopa), despite the department facing stringent budgetary cuts.

Fortune says the Northern Cape Sports, Arts and Culture Department faced a R69 million and R41 million budgetary cut over the course of 2020 and 2021 respectively. This has left them reliant on the money that was set aside for relief. The spokesperson says at present, this department can only offer artists R1 million for relief. “This has not sat well with the artists,” says Fortune.

It is alleged one of the artists collapsed on Thursday from the lack of food, a rumour that Fortune confirms vaguely telling OFM News there was “a situation with one of the ladies”, but emergency medical personnel were on the ground and the situation was resolved.

The sit-in has not affected the department’s day to day operations that much, this is because the bulk of the employees are working remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Back in the Free State, the ongoing sit-in continues, after Pacofs management failed to meet with the artists, but did forward a letter – the contents of which have not been disclosed to the media.

The issue at Pacofs centres on a 2018 investigative report by forensic auditing firm, Morar Incorporated, that finds the current artistic director and acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Meshack Xaba, guilty of wrongdoing. He is embroiled in the favourable treatment of a former Pacofs council member.

Nqodi says Xaba and the artistic committee have been deliberately depriving artists in the industry of opportunities to stage productions.

Xaba ascended to the role of CEO – albeit on a temporary basis - In November of 2020 when the then CEO of Pacofs, Peter Pedlar, was suspended pending an investigation into his conduct. Pedlar joined the troubled centre in 2019 amidst expectations that he would turn the institution around.

Nqodi alleges that the industry is not represented on the artistic committee that reviews proposals for productions and submits them to the council for final consideration. He says that this maligns them and prejudices local artists. The committee is reportedly made up of people from institutions of higher learning in the city, as well as the arts and culture department. Pacofs says it is looking into the allegations.

OFM News