The South African sports, arts, culture, and entertainment industry has been on its head since the start of Minister Gayton McKenzie's day at work. He has promised to donate his first salary to an art gallery in Kagiso, while also setting up the Joshlin Smith Foundation but has attracted more views is the list of creatives who benefitted from the Covid-19 Relief Fund.

SPLITS

His department shared the list after the government was accused of not supporting artists. McKenzie said there were very good people on that list, who mean well. He said he revealed the list for the sake of total transparency because his department has been accused of not funding projects. About 3962 creatives received their share of R72 million. Other top 10 beneficiaries include Sello Mark Magaga, who received R150, 000; Aluwani Duke Nethononda received R75k, Podcaster MacG got R75k; casting agent Obey Muchipisi received R73k, Nduduzo Fortune Mkhize got R73k; Adam Howard - R53k; Adelle Yvette Gascoyne received R53k; Bafedile Masasa (Evergreen Arts Centre) got R53k, Bafana Tsotetsi got R53k; and Ashraf Patel also received R53 000.

BIG ALLOCATION

Somizi Mhlongo's ex-husband and influencer Mohale Motaung's company, Glam Troupe, received R75,000. The company designed dresses and suits for matric dance students. A close friend reveals that Glam Troup only had two employees. "It had Mohale and his assistant at the time, who was not even employed full-time. He had no right to claim that amount," the friend said. "He received more than NGOs which have more than a handful of employees. His company was also not servicing that many clients, so they may have missed out. They had no warehouse or office where they had copious staff members." The source said he is unsure of how the claim was processed. "I am not accusing him of anything, I just know there were only two people working at Glam Troupe at the time." Zimoja called and texted Mohale but he ignored our messages and had not responded at the time of publishing.

NOT PAID

Other artists cried out, saying they had not received money from the relief fund. Mercy Phakela said she is still waiting for her money. "Even today, I have not seen it with my eyes, a whole entire legend," she said. Zahara's sister, Bandezwa Mkutukana, told ZiMoja that her sister also did not receive anything. "She didn't get a cent from the relief fund; we are still waiting. She told us that she applied but did not get anything," Bandezwa said.