A recommendation to fund the Eastern Cape Music Awards with R1m this week has left a city’s sponsorship committee bitterly divided.
In a surprise move, the Buffalo City Metro’s committee chair Mawethu Marata, who is also the local economic development portfolio head, moved that the ECMA event receive R1m.
The proposed sponsorship is an increase of R750,000 over the initial R250,000 recommended by city manager Andile Sihlahla for the event.
This led to an argument between ANC and DA councillors.
The latest developments took place on Tuesday, during a meeting where ANC and EFF councillors Sindiswa Gomba and Phindiwe Kaba walked out in protest at some of Sihlahla’s funding recommendations.
The event is headed by ANC regional leader Koko Godlo, who was elected as an additional member in the party’s Dr WB Rubusana regional committee, and Marata as deputy chairperson of the structure in August, the same poll that controversially put Pumlani Mkolo in the chair.
In the report tabled before the committee on Tuesday, Sihlahla recommended that the third ECMA should be sponsored with R250,000.
DA councillor Francis Mdinwa said: “As the DA we recorded our dissent on the matter. We fought over this item when Marata said the money should be increased to R1m.
“But the ANC is the majority in the committee and they supported each other despite the issues we raised.”
The committee’s new recommendations will be tabled in a special BCM council meeting where the council will make the final decision about the sponsorship.
DA caucus chief whip councillor Dharmesh Dhaya said the R1m proposal was of great concern.
“It is such a huge jump from what the city manager recommended.
“We believed the increase is excessive and we were the only opposing views.
“Last year the event did not get any funding from BCM and now, on the day of the meeting, the recommendation was increased by R750,000.
“That is too much, in our opinion,” said Dhaya.
When the Dispatch contacted Marata and Godlo for comment on Wednesday they said they were in meetings.
In April the Dispatch reported that the awards for this year had been postponed indefinitely. Godlo said at the time that he’d had to call the event off after his main funder, BCM, pulled the plug.
He blamed ANC infighting for the metro turning its back on the event.
Godlo claimed he was sidelined because he had supported Oscar Mabuyane for the party’s provincial chair in October 2017’s elective conference, and then Cyril Ramaphosa for ANC national president.
Dr WB Rubusana region in BCM, of which Godlo is a member, supported Mabuyane’s rival Phumulo Masualle to serve a third term as provincial chair.
He said he was also being punished for supporting then-suspended ANC regional secretary Mkolo as chair of the region but refused to give names of those he accused of “purging” him.
In 2016 BCM injected R500,000 towards the awards.
While Sihlahla recommended that the annual Buyel’-Ekhaya Music Festival be sponsored with R3m, the committee decreased the amount to R2m, Berlin November’s recommended R2m to R1.5m and Cruel Summer’s recommended R1.5m to R600,000.
It increased the Count Down Music Festival’s recommended R1m to R1.2m.
The committee supported Sihlahla’s recommendations to give the ninth Mdantsane Summer Reunion and London Roots R400,000 each.
BCM’s final decisions on the recommendations are expected soon but the meeting date has not yet been set...