A House Divided: The NAC board apparently fails to deliver unified response to Arts Minister
by Kim Gurney
The board of the National Arts Council (NAC), the statutory body that allocates state funding to artists, is apparently divided in its response to a request two weeks ago from the Minister of Arts and Culture, Dr Pallo Jordan, to resign. This follows 12 months of a protracted saga of allegations and counter-allegations against various senior officials that has compromised the ability of the NAC to operate effectively.
It is understood that while some board members have agreed to resign, others are digging in their heels. Their opposition to the Minister's request has delayed an announcement on the issue. The current response from the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) is 'No comment'.
Media reports that the Minister issued board members with an ultimatum to resign or be fired was this week disputed by board members, however. Japan Mthembu, a member of the executive committee of the NAC board, told ArtThrob no such ultimatum had actually been delivered. This was corroborated by another board member.
The Minister does, however, have the power to appoint the chairperson, remove board members or dissolve the entire board, following legislative amendments made in 2001.
These amendments were met with some controversy as they were perceived by critics as eroding the generally accepted principle of 'arm's length governance', which was advocated by the DAC itself.
This latest dramatic turn of events caps a year of turmoil that began with the suspension of three senior officials in November 2003. CEO Doreen Nteta, CFO Kiran Isverlal and project manager Andre Le Roux were all suspended on full pay while various allegations against them by NAC staff were investigated.
After an external audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers and a subsequent internal disciplinary hearing, the three were effectively exonerated in September this year by a report that has not yet been made public.
All charges against Le Roux were dropped and only two relatively minor charges against Nteta and Isvarlal remained: early encashment of leave. Lawyers for the NAC advised the board to accept the internal disciplinary findings made by Advocate Ismail Semenya.
However, Le Roux told ArtThrob that the board had stopped paying his salary two months ago although he still had two years left on his contract and was found not guilty of all the charges against him. He last month took the NAC to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, an independent dispute resolution body. The case has now gone to arbitration with a decision expected within three months.
Meanwhile, fresh allegations of corruption have emerged over the past two months from NAC staff against other board members. These have added fuel to counter-allegations lodged by Nteta herself days before her suspension. These were never investigated because the matter of the suspended three had to be resolved first, according to the DAC.
Furthermore, four board members have resigned over the past year, repeatedly citing communication problems as a factor in their resignation. It appears a schism developed between the executive committee and the rest of the board, which felt sidelined from decision-making.
Although it is expected that an interim board will be put in place by the Minister, the situation is still subject to speculation. DAC spokesperson Andile Xaba could not put a time-frame on when clarification would be forthcoming.
