Question NW2764 to the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture
13 December 2021 - NW2764
Ceza, Mr K to ask the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture
(a) To what extent did a certain person (name and details furnished) play a role in securing funding from his department for a certain person (name and details furnished), (b) what were the terms and conditions of the funding and (c) what is the name of the person in his department who approved the funding? NW3279E Original Question:-To what extent has, the former Speaker of Parliament Mrs. Baleka Mbete influenced the funding for Actress Natasha Thahane for a New York scholarship? What were the terms and conditions of this funding to Natasha? And who approved the funding in the department?
Reply:
(a). My Department is not aware of the role played by the former Speaker of Parliament, Mrs. Baleka Mbete towards securing the funding for the, Actress Natasha Thahane. What we know is that Ms. Thahane made a request for financial support towards her studies at the New York Film Academy directly to me as the Minister.
This request is similar to many others that my office and the Department constantly receives from members of the public. The public does this possibly because I am the political head of the Department.
(b). The funds were for Ms. Thahane’s tuition fees at the New York Film Academy in New York (USA) and the terms for her contract with the department was for her film studies and the condition was that she should complete her studies in film.
(c). The funding was approved by Deputy Director-General (DDG/IG) for Institutional Governance branch, (as DDG for the branch in 2017).