PAYMENTS & APPEAL PROCESSES By Thami aka Mbongo Manzana |  The Creative Passport The  National Arts Council (NAC)  has provided important updates regarding  PESP 6  for all artists and beneficiaries. Here’s what you need to know: 1. Appeal Processes The media statement detailing the  PESP 6 appeals process  was finalized on  24 December 2025  and is scheduled for publication in the  first week of January 2026 . Applicants will have  30 days from the date of publication  to lodge their appeals. 2. PESP 6 Payments Payments for  PESP 6  were successfully made on  24 December 2025  to beneficiaries who had submitted their required documents to the NAC. For those who  have not yet received payments , you are advised to  WhatsApp the NAC CEO with your project numbers  so that payments can be checked. If you do not have the NAC CEO’s contact number,  The Creative Passport can assist you . We...

                             Image: DSAC Logo     (Source: DSAC)  MONDAY EDITION |  UMRHABULO, POLICY & PUBLIC DISCOURSE HOW CORRUPTION IS NORMALISED IN SOUTH AFRICA’S CULTURAL & CREATIVE INDUSTRIES By Thami akaMbongo Manzana |  The Creative Passport There is a disease quietly eating away at the Cultural and Creative Industries in South Africa — and many are too afraid, too exhausted, or too compromised to name it. Let us be clear from the outset: It is ILLEGAL for adjudication panel members, council members, government officials, or employees of public entities to demand payment, favours, percentages, or “gratitude” from funding beneficiaries. Yet it happens. Repeatedly. Systemically. Brazenly. And everyone knows.                            Image: MGE Logo      (Source: DSAC)  WHEN ADJUDICAT...

                Image: Parliament of South Africa      (Source: www.gov.za) WHY THE CULTURAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES MUST FOLLOW PARLIAMENT By Thami akaMbongo Manzana |  The Creative Passport For many practitioners and organisations within South Africa’s Cultural and Creative Industries, Parliament often feels distant — a place of politics rather than practice. Yet decisions taken in Parliament shape the very conditions under which artists create, organisations operate, and institutions survive. To work in the cultural sector without understanding who represents your interests in Parliament is to operate without knowing where power, accountability, and opportunity truly lie. This article reflects on why it is important for practitioners to know their representatives, monitor their work, and actively engage the parliamentary processes that directly affect arts, culture, and the creative economy. REPRESENTATION IS NOT ABSTRACT —...

Reflections on Writing, Memory and Why Arts Coverage Still Matters By Thami akaMbongo Manzana | The Creative Passport There was a time when writing about the arts in South Africa felt intentional. It felt rooted. It carried weight beyond promotion or publicity. Arts journalism was not trying to impress — it was trying to understand. In those days, you could open a newspaper or tune into a radio programme and find voices that knew the sector intimately. Writers who had sat in dark theatres, dusty community halls, rehearsal rooms and galleries. Critics who were not removed observers, but cultural witnesses. They wrote because they believed that what artists were doing mattered to the country. WRITING AS PRESENCE, NOT NOISE Arts journalism once functioned as a form of presence. It was not always loud, but it was consistent. It followed artists over time. It traced ideas, movements, failures, breakthroughs, and shifts in cultural thinking. Importantly, it treated artists as thinkers — not ...

  SUBSCRIBE TO THE CREATIVE PASSPORT (FREE) By Thami akaMbongo Manzana |  The Creative Passport The Creative Passport is an independent online media platform covering Arts, Culture and the Creative Industries in South Africa. Subscribe for free by entering your email address in the sidebar to receive new articles, interviews and podcast updates directly in your inbox. The Creative Passport is an independent platform focused on Arts, Culture and the Creative Industries. Readers are encouraged to follow, comment and engage constructively. HOW TO FOLLOW THE CREATIVE PASSPORT RECEIVE POSTS BY EMAILS