POWER , PERFORMANCE & THE CULTURAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
FRIDAY EDITION | PODCAST / MULTIMEDIA
IS ART POLITICS, OR HAS POLITICS MASTERED THE ART?
By Thami akaMbongo Manzana.
Let us stop pretending.
In South Africa, art has always been political. But what we are witnessing today forces us to ask a far more disturbing question:
Has politics mastered the art of performance so well that we can no longer tell conviction from convenience?
To understand this moment, one must revisit a parliamentary episode that shook the Cultural and Creative Industries.
At the centre of it was Liam Jacobs, then a Member of Parliament for the Democratic Alliance (DA), relentlessly questioning Minister Gayton McKenzie and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) on the National Arts Council (NAC) adjudication and board processes.
Liam Jacobs did not whisper.
He did not flatter.
He confronted.
Central to the interrogation was the National Arts Council (NAC) Board and adjudication processes, particularly concerns raised around a process reportedly shared by Liesl Penniken, a member of Jamali Music group and the Patriotic Alliance (PA) member, which ultimately resulted in the appointment of Mr Eugene Botha as the National Arts Council (NAC) Board Chairperson, also affiliated with the Patriotic Alliance.
For many practitioners, this was not political theatre — it was long-overdue accountability.
Questions of conflict of interest, political alignment, and institutional capture were placed squarely on the table. For once, Parliament did not feel distant from the sector. Artists were watching. Organisations were listening. Practitioners felt seen.
Then politics reminded us of its true nature.
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FROM TRUTH TO POWER — TO POWER ITSELF
The shock came swiftly.
Liam Jacobs left the DA and joined the Patriotic Alliance, working alongside the very political ecosystem he had publicly challenged.
Let us be honest:
This was not a small move.
It was seismic.
For a sector already fatigued by broken promises and revolving-door leadership, this moment shattered a fragile belief — that someone inside Parliament might actually hold the line.
The sector asked itself quietly:
Were we witnessing courage — or positioning?
Because when those who speak truth to power suddenly sit at the same table as those they interrogated, the meaning of accountability changes.
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Image: Minister Gayton McKenzie
MINISTER GAYTON MCKENZIE AND THE PERFORMANCE OF POWER
Minister Gayton McKenzie understands performance. That is not an insult — it is an observation.
From bold statements to viral soundbites, from populist confidence to public clashes, his political style resonates with many who feel unheard. But the Cultural and Creative Industries must ask deeper questions beyond personality and presence.
Under his leadership, we were promised an end to “business as usual.”
Yet the same systemic contradictions persist:
• DSAC and its entities Adjudication processes remain contested.
• Political proximity continues to raise eyebrows.
• Sector clusters receive millions (mostly registered as NPC without NPO certificates) while ordinary sector organisations (registered as NPC without NPO certificates) are disqualified to receive funding from the same government through Mzansi Golden Economy (MGE) funding.
• Regulations are spoken about, but implementation lags behind rhetoric.
So when those who once questioned the Minister now work within his political orbit, what does that tell us?
- Is this reconciliation?
- Is it strategy?
- Or is it proof that politics absorbs its critics faster than it reforms itself?
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CAN THE ARTS TRUST POLITICIANS?
This is the question many are afraid to ask out loud.
Can we truly trust politicians to safeguard the Cultural and Creative Industries — when arts and culture are often treated as political currency, election tools, or ideological stages?
History tells us something uncomfortable:
• Ministers come and go.
• Policies change names but not outcomes.
• White Papers are revised while artists remain unprotected.
• Promises are made in public, forgotten in implementation.
The moment artists begin to believe individual politicians will “save” the sector, we surrender our power.
Because politics is not built on permanence — it is built on alignment.
WHEN POLITICS BECOMES PERFORMANCE
Perhaps this is where the truth lies:
- Politics has become performance art.
- Parliamentary debates are staged.
- Moral outrage is timed.
- Silence is strategic.
- And transformation is postponed.
Artists understand performance. We know the difference between rehearsal and reality. Between a script and lived experience.
So when we see politicians perform outrage one year and practice accommodation the next, the arts must ask:
Was the critique real — or was it a role?
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THE DANGEROUS LESSON FOR THE SECTOR
The biggest danger is not political betrayal.
It is political normalisation.
When practitioners start saying “this is just how politics works,” the system wins.
When silence replaces scrutiny, capture becomes easier.
When access replaces accountability, integrity dissolves.
And when artists begin adjusting their politics to funding cycles, appointments, or proximity to power — the art loses its teeth.
Image: Eugene Botha
THE QUESTIONS WE CAN NO LONGER AVOID
So let us ask the hard questions — not politely, but honestly:
• What happens when those who once exposed power structures begin benefiting from them?
• Is political courage sustainable without independence?
• Are parliamentary interventions about justice — or future positioning?
• Can the Cultural and Creative Industries afford to trust individuals rather than enforce systems?
• When politicians cross floors, do values cross with them — or were they always negotiable?
• Is Minister Gayton McKenzie confronting the system — or mastering it?
• And in a world where art and politics constantly mirror each other, who is directing whom?
Finally:
If politics is an art, and art is political — who in this country is brave enough to stop performing and start governing?
The Cultural and Creative Industries are watching.
And this time, we are not clapping.
WATCH THE EPISODE BELOW:
National Arts Council (NAC) Board Appointment
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