Public Protector confirms Minstrel Lotto funding probe
A decision by the Public Protector to investigate Minstrel funding comes after the City of Cape Town laid a complaint, requesting a probe into how the Cape Minstrel Carnival Association spent just over R40 million received from the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund. Read more below:
The City of Cape Town welcomes the decision by the Office of the Public Protector to investigate its complaint relating to the Lotto funding disbursed to the Cape Minstrel Carnival Association.
On 16 February 2015, the City submitted a formal complaint, requesting that the Public Protector investigate how exactly the association spent the nearly R40,64 million paid out by the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund between 2012 and 2014 - particularly in light of the fact that the City and Western Cape Government also invested several million rand into the event.
At the time of negotiating the terms of the City's financial investment into the most recent Tweede Nuwe Jaar celebrations, the Cape Cultural and Carnival Committee indicated that it had not yet received additional funding and that it was too late to secure additional sponsorships - only for the City to discover that they had been the beneficiaries of very significant funding.
The National Lotteries Board has confirmed that R13,32 million was paid in 2012 and 2013 for carnival costs, and that R27,32 million was paid in 2014 for carnival costs (R14,32 million) and the Carnival Heritage Museum (R13 million).
Following a number of postponements of this year's event, chronic mismanagement, non-payment of service providers and a lack of transparency, the City requested the committee's audited financial statements in January. However, this was not forthcoming, prompting the request to the Public Protector.
‘We welcome this announcement by the Public Protector and will await the outcome of the investigation. There are so many deserving projects across the Cape Flats and Cape Town that are desperate for funding and that could have done much good with this massive amount of money. For the actual minstrels, it is terrible news, as there are many good people who dug deeply into their pockets to buy uniforms while the funding was there but had likely not reached them. With that type of funding, I imagine that the Minstrels event could have been massively promoted and could have serious sponsorships attached by now with huge legacy and job creation benefits for the participants, such as is achieved by the Rio Carnival,' said the City's Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.
Statement issued by Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, City of Cape Town, March 25 2015
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