The South African Arts and Culture Youth Forum in the Free State is seriously upset and worried about what looks like serious corruption in how the Department of Sports, Arts, Culture, and Recreation is handing out contracts. Led by MEC Ntombizanele Sifuba, the department apparently gave a big tender straight to Battle of Municipalities (BOM) without letting anyone else even bid – skipping all the normal rules and shutting out other deserving companies and creatives.
This kind of sneaky behaviour shows a total lack of transparency and fairness. It’s the people’s money meant for arts and culture, and we’re not okay with it being misused like this.
We’re calling for an immediate full investigation and for the police to step in and hold whoever is responsible accountable. Enough is enough – corruption has no place in our creative sector.
We’re urging the department to put the people of the Free State first, fix their procurement processes so they’re open, fair, and follow the law. Public servants should be serving us, not lining their own pockets.
We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with every artist, cultural worker, and young creative in the province. We won’t stop pushing until this stops and resources actually reach the people who need them.