NACSA responds to the axing of the entire NAC board
by Kim Gurney
It is incumbent upon artists and their organisations to ensure the new National Arts Council (NAC) board realises its original objectives, according to the Network for Arts and Culture South Africa (NACSA). It said that the sector as a whole should be governed in the interest of arts and culture, rather than the narrow self-enrichment, political or other interests, of a few.
NACSA also said the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) should shoulder much of the responsibility for the governance and management crises that have beset the statutory funding body over the past year.
NACSA's comments followed news that the NAC board was axed last month by the Minister of Arts and Culture, Dr Pallo Jordan. He called a meeting with the board in his Cape Town office on November 16 and asked them all to resign with effect from December 1.
Only four members of the board subsequently tendered their resignations. A core group instead chose to mount a legal challenge to overturn the Minister's decision. The Cape High Court has postponed their application until January 28 and dismissed the board members' appeal for NAC funds to fight their case.
In the meantime, the DAC has dissolved the entire board as of December 14 and is in the process of appointing an interim board to function in its stead until a new board is elected. In a statement, the Minister said the NAC had lost the confidence of the arts community and was not in a position to carry out its assigned responsibilities.
His move follows a year of serious allegations and counter-allegations that critically compromised the ability of the NAC to function effectively (see December's news story on ArtThrob).
Nominations for new board members are open until February 1. The DAC says no-one will be disqualified from nomination by having served either on the dissolved or the interim NAC board.
An interim CEO will also be appointed on contract until April 30, 2005. During that time, the governance and accounting authority of the NAC will reside with the DAC.
