Artists express shock
Former Khaya FM radio DJ and music impresario Ike Tladi was also among the most vocal critics to lash out about the alleged theft of the funds.
Anger, shock and disappointment have spread throughout the South African arts and music scene following the arrest of internationally acclaimed and celebrated actor and playwright Welcome Themba Msomi in Durban on March 15.
He was arrested in connection with millions of rand that went missing from the coffers of the Living Legends Legacy trust fund in January.
Msomi was arrested by members of the Hawks Serious Commercial Crimes Investigation Unit on charges of theft. He was then transported from Durban to Ekurhuleni, where he made a brief appearance at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court on March 18. His case was postponed to April 2.
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The 76-year-old is the founder of a Zulu dance and music platform for aspiring young actors and singers. He shot to fame in theatre when he created an adapted version of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth in isiZulu called Umabatha in the mid-’60s.
Umabatha won Msomi high acclaim in the world of the arts and theatre and earned him enormous wealth and fame abroad. He was later also a nominee for the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award for best theatre choreography.
Msomi was among several other local artists nominated by the Minister of Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, as one of the administrators and distributors of the trust’s funds to artists deemed to have contributed to political change and the advancement of democracy in the new dispensation.
Musicians, playwrights, writers, actors and composers in Gauteng and other parts of the country have since expressed their “shock and disgust” at the alleged involvement of Msomi in the theft of the funds set aside by the Department of Arts and Culture in September 2018.
In January this year, the arts fraternity listened in disbelief as singer Letta Mbulu, chairperson of the Living Legends Legacy Programme (LLLP), announced that R8-million had vanished without a trace from the LLLP’s coffers.
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News of the theft was received with scorn and mixed emotions by many in the arts industry.
Speaking from her home in Soweto, fashion designer and cultural activist Meisie ‘Sister Bucks’ Mosimane, known for her exquisite stage costume designs for some of the country’s famous musicians, including the late Miriam Makeba, Brenda Fassie, Hugh Masekela and gospel singer Rebecca Malope, voiced her anger at what she described as a “disappointing disgrace”.
Mosimane and Tladi demanded that the Hawks widen the investigation.
“These funds never reached the artists they were intended for, but ended up in the hands of a select few with the right connections in high places,” claimed Tladi.
Tladi cited several local artists, journalists, art activists, musicians and playwrights who had been neglected and sidelined by the authorities despite their vast contribution to the arts and entertainment industry during apartheid.
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“Why are people like bra Don Matera and Sol Rachilo and creative artists like Sister Bucks Mosimane in the doldrums, while the very funds aimed at helping them celebrate their legacy and contribution to the arts are looted by those who lived a life of comfort in exile, earning millions of dollars?”
Beezy Bailey, the son of former Drum magazine owner and founder Jim Bailey, himself a renowned artist, had this to say about Msomi’s arrest: “In a country where the government sets an example that if one is trusted with public funds they are there to steal, why should artists who are creatively and morally adventurous be better than the mere career of politicians?
“An example has to be made with a prison sentence,” said Bailey in response to Kathorus MAIL’s request for comment.
Remarking on the arrest, Minister Mthethwa was reported as saying: “It is with great relief that I have received the news that a suspect is now in custody. I have full confidence that the law will now take its course.”
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While the rest of the country waits in anticipation for more details about the alleged theft of the trust’s funds, scores of local musicians and artists contacted by Kathorus MAIL about the issue said they expect more shocking revelations to come to light about the LLLP and the missing funds.
Kathorus MAIL attempted to make contact with Msomi’s legal representation via the SAPS to receive comment on the matter of Msomi’s arrest but our attempts were unsuccessful.
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