THE KZN Department of Sports Arts and Culture has renewed and approved its departmental special payment policy.
It was approved in June 2023.
According to this revised policy, artists must meet certain requirements before being paid.
The policy also specifies how much artists, athletes, specialists, cultural experts, oral history interviewees, visual graphic artists, cartoonists, voice-over artists, photographers, and performers should earn and at what level.
But KZN artists have rejected the revised policy.
They complained that they were not consulted properly.
The KZN Federation of Community Art Centres chairman, Edmund Mhlongo, told the Daily Sun that there was no consultation with the art centres.
"As far as this issue is concerned, I don't recall any consultation with KZN DSAC. All I know is that when they started the process, we rejected this policy because it was not in line with our needs in the industry. It had too many discrepancies and as a result, we rejected it. Therefore, we were surprised when it was imposed on artists," said Mhlongo.
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The general secretary of the Cultural & Creative Industries Federation of South Africa (Ccifsa), Howard Msomi, said they were not happy with the old and the current policy.
"We've been telling the department the same thing. We were also not consulted with the revised new policy. Therefore, we are hopeful that they will give us a chance to comment on it," Howard said.
The spokesman for the Department of Sports Arts and Culture, Nathi Olifant, dismissed the artists' claims.
"The issues regarding this policy were raised during recent consultations with sector representatives. The Acting HOD was receptive to the sector's inputs and pledged to consider them, especially when liaising with artists, and amend the policy, if necessary," he said.
Olifant said the department cannot function in a policy vacuum.
"The review was an internal effort to align the policy with the sector's inflationary challenges.
"It is worth noting, though, that once the sector raised discomfort, the policy was circulated to the sector leaders for their input. Our understanding, as mentioned above, is that the department is waiting for sector inputs," said Nathi.
