WHO IS CCIFSA? AND WHO MUST ACCOUNT FOR R51.8 MILLION? By Thami akaMbongo Manzana  The recent statement by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) confirming serious financial irregularities involving R51.8 million transferred to the Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa (CCIFSA) between the 2014/15 and 2023/24 financial years has opened serious questions that cannot be ignored. According to the forensic investigation conducted by Gobodo Forensic and Investigative Accounting (GFIA), the findings point to extensive governance failures, breaches of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), weak oversight, and financial mismanagement. But South Africans especially artists, cultural workers and practitioners must ask a deeper question: Who created CCIFSA? Who protected it? Who benefited from it? And who must now account? This cannot simply be reduced to an administrative scandal. This is a decade-long political and institutional project involving M...

  Statement on Forensic Investigation into CCIFSA Media Statement 7 May 2026 The Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Mr Gayton McKenzie, has received the final forensic investigation report into the Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa (CCIFSA), conducted by Gobodo Forensic and Investigative Accounting (GFIA) on behalf of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC). The investigation, which examined R51.8 million in public funds transferred to CCIFSA between the 2014/15 and 2023/24 financial years, has found extensive financial irregularities, governance failures, and breaches of the Public Finance Management Act and the Department’s own policies. Key findings include: An irregular contract addendum signed in March 2016 increased the original CCIFSA funding agreement by R772,884 with no submission, no justification, and no proper approval. R5.4 million in unspent funds at the end of the 2016/17 contract period was not returned to the Department as requi...

Where Memory Bleeds and Truth Speaks Loud: A Review of Letters From Tomorrow By Thami akaMbongo Manzana Sibusiso Khwinana Theatre  The South African State Theatre  30th April to 10 May Written & Directed by Mbasa Tsesana Lunga Khuhlane as Mkhonto  Anele Matoti as Gqozo Ter Hollmann as Van Schroer Dramaturge by Allen Cebekhulu Stage Manager by  Thandokazi Nasiphi Mahlati  There are productions that entertain. There are productions that educate. And then there are productions like LETTERS FROM TOMORROW — theatre that confronts you, unsettles you, and refuses to let you leave unchanged. Currently staged at the South African State Theatre in the intimate Sibusiso Khwinana Theatre space, this work by the unapologetically bold playwright and director Mbasa Tsesana is a necessary eruption of truth in a time where silence has become far too comfortable. From the moment you enter the auditorium, the tone is set. The haunting sounds of Simphiwe Dana’s Umkhonto ...