Funding delays by SA government threaten livelihoods of artists

Nearly a month after South African artists were promised that they would be paid, recipients of the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme 6 (Pesp 6), a government initiative aimed at injecting much-needed capital into the local arts industry, have still not received their funds.

The first of two payment tranches was meant to be paid out on 12 December. On 20 December, the National Arts Council (NAC) confirmed that the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) had only transferred the funds on 18 December, and said the artists would be paid by 24 December.

Yet, in early January, artists say they have still not received any payment or communication from the NAC or the DSAC.

Pesp was introduced after the Covid-19 pandemic devastated SA’s arts industry and is intended for individual artists, registered arts organisations, and community arts centres involved in disciplines such as craft, dance, literature, musical theatre, music and visual arts.

The first iteration of Pesp faced allegations of mismanagement and misconduct, as reported by Daily Maverick.

Major projects that propose employing up to 70 people are eligible for an allocation of up to R800,000, while medium-scale projects that employ up to 50 people are eligible for up to R500,000. Other projects are eligible for up to R300,000 in funding. According to an NAC media statement published on 1 December, a total of R112.1-million has been allocated to fund 424 projects during Pesp 6.

In previous years, it has supported arts initiatives like the Kalahari Arts and Heritage Festival, the Musicians with Disability and Albinism Project, and the iKasi Digital Media Content Creator programme, which introduced career pathways in film to unemployed youth from rural areas and small towns.

‘Artists are living paycheck to paycheck’

Artists say the funding delays and lack of clear communication have left them scrambling for answers. Industry stakeholders say the delay in payments has left them facing unpaid work, contractual exposure, potential project collapse and an inability to fulfil their contracts, which stipulate they must have a completed initiative by 31 March.

An artist, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of potential blacklisting, said he was approved for the Pesp 6 funding on 3 December and signed his contract a week later.

However, he said, he had received little further communication from either the NAC or the DSAC when his payment failed to come through on 12 December as contractually agreed. He has since tried to communicate with the NAC and was told that an instruction had been made for his payment to be processed, but he has still not received the money.

“The impact of the delay is something that cannot be articulated easily in words. When people say artists die poor, they don’t know that these are the reasons,” he told Daily Maverick.

“The creative sector in South Africa is on its deathbed, and we are watching silently; many don’t want to speak out for fear of being targeted or blacklisted from receiving future funding.”

He provided Daily Maverick with screenshots of exchanges between him and the NAC showing that he had submitted all the required documents by 11 December to the relevant representative and had followed up on the payment on 15 December.

However, the NAC representative did not respond to his repeated attempts to follow up. Later, a different representative informed him that his documents had not been submitted.

In mid-December, the NAC’s acting CEO, Vincent Mashale, told Daily Maverick that the payment delays meant that artists would receive the second tranche of their payment at the end of January, and they had been given extensions for their projects. He has yet to confirm the new deadlines for payments.

“Please note that beneficiaries have a two-month window period to complete their projects. This means that they will be expected to report by 31 May 2026, should they not be able to complete their projects by 31 March 2026,” said Mashale.

However, the artist Daily Maverick spoke to said that this information hasn’t been communicated to him or any other artist. He said the ordeal had profoundly affected his mental health, and his work was in limbo.

“Artists are living from paycheck to paycheck. The economy has hardly recovered since the Covid era, and everyone is expected to move along like nothing is happening,” he said.

The NAC did not respond to Daily Maverick’s questions, including about how many artists are affected or when the payments would be made. The DSAC was contacted for comment, but had not responded. DM