Justice smiles on art centre

THE Durban High Court has ruled in favour of the Centre for Fine Art Animation and Design and reinstated its accreditation.

The ruling means that that all decisions taken by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and Council on Higher Education (CHE) are suspended. The CFAD can continue to educate and empower its talented students and its college will not be closing down at the end of the year.

Founder of the CFAD, artist, political cartoonist and humanitarian Dr Nanda Soobben was elated when he heard the news.

“Our future plans include strengthening the college and evolving to another level ahead of our 25th anniversary. We are also involved in major animation projects, one related to Nelson Mandela and another brought to us by an American producer. These create opportunities for our students and graduates and enable CFAD to highlight KwaZulu-Natal on the global animation map. I am also working on an illustrated autobiography detailing my experiences growing up in apartheid, my work as a political cartoonist, the challenges CFAD faced, and the importance of arts to democracy.”

READ RELATED: Accreditation for art school still pending

Despite the difficult four years the school was faced with, which included robberies at its previous premises and bursary funding failing to arrive, manager and spokesperson of the centre, Shabnam Palesa Mohamed said the love of art, education, young people’s potential and the sheer determination of the centre’s founder kept the CFAD going through a challenging chapter.

“Coupled with the unwavering support of our families, friends and supporters, we have a superb legal team lead by senior counsel advocate OA Moosa SC, advocate I Veerasamy, attorneys Kuben Moodley and Nico Archary from Pather and Pather attorneys, and of course there is my own unwillingness to give up on this iconic centre, as an activist, attorney, creative, and its general manager,” she said.

Meanwhile, third year scholarship student Calum Brown said she was happy when the verdict came through and was elated, relieved and proud that CFAD fought for art, not only for her, but future artists. “I will treasure this as I go forward and create a career for myself, but I will never forget my grounding.”

The court case outcome was a very big relief. We are pleased to know that the stressful time has passed and we can continue with our studies without any worries. Art is a personal act of courage. This quote means that through art you can express different thoughts and feelings. CFAD and Dr Nanda Soobben give us the opportunity to do so. I have also been given the opportunity to digitally archive Dr Nanda Soobben’s artwork, which is a great honour. Since I love graphic design, that is the field in which I plan on pursuing when I have completed my studies. I encourage people with a passion for art to pursue it and to never give up on your dreams. The sky is the limit,” said third year student Nikita Tiffany Francis.

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