Mandela opera cancelled after 3 performances

[LazyLion]

An opera telling the life story of the late South African icon Nelson Mandela showed only three performances before it closed down for lack of funds, its producer said Monday.

"Madiba: The African Opera" premiered on Friday at the State Theatre in Pretoria but was forced to close three days later when it ran out of money to pay performers.

"This is due to non-payment from Lotto," said producer Unathi Mtirara, who is also Mandela's grandnephew.

"We are still waiting for them to pay, we couldn't continue pending that deal."

The opera, which tells the early life of the anti-apartheid icon who died last year, was supposed to be move to Mandela's childhood village and final resting place Qunu from Pretoria.

It was then expected to tour South Africa before heading overseas.

Mandela, who was South Africa's first black president, died on December 5 at the age of 95 after a lengthy illness.

Several books and movies about his life have been produced locally and abroad, including the highly acclaimed "The Long Walk to Freedom" featuring Idris Alba.

The State Theatre confirmed the cancellation of performances but refused to give details on the private production.

The National Lottery is a source of funding for many art programmes and charities, but sometimes struggles to cover some of the applicants.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ge/ks
Date : 26 May 2014 19:58

 

[Batista]

said producer Unathi Mtirara, who is also Mandela's grandnephew.

Nuff said...

 

[Ninja'd]

The fat lady, she sings no more.

 

[LazyLion]

due to non-payment from Lotto

It is disgusting though that we are still having problems with payments from Lotto!

 

[zululami]

The Long Walk to Fr.....

 

[LazyLion]

MANDELA PLAY RECEIVED FUNDS: LOTTERIES BOARD

The National Lotteries Board has denied withholding a grant for a stage play about the life of former president Nelson Mandela.

"On 26 May, an e-mail was sent to the organisers confirming that payment would be made on that very same day. The payment was made within three working days of receiving the signed grant agreement," NLB spokesman Sershan Naidoo said on Tuesday.

"The NLB is therefore concerned that there are media reports that the opera had to be cancelled because of non-payment of the grant by the NLB."

The French news agency AFP reported on Monday that the play titled "Madiba: The African Opera" premiered on Friday at the State Theatre in Pretoria but was forced to close three days later when it ran out of money to pay performers.

The opera, which tells the early life of the anti-apartheid icon who died last year, was supposed to be moved from Pretoria to Mandela's childhood village and final resting place in Qunu in the Eastern Cape.

It was then expected to tour South Africa before heading overseas.

Unathi Mtirara, who is also Mandela's grandnephew, told AFP: "We are still waiting for them to pay. We couldn't continue, pending that deal."

Naidoo said an amount of R2.86 million was paid on Monday.

"When the grant agreement was finalised on May 21, two days before the premiere of the opera, the NLB had to follow its routine compliance and verification processes before transferring the funds," he said.

The original grant application for the play was R11.8m, and the NLB awarded R2.86m.

Naidoo said the board was not in a position to fund the entire amount because of a limited budget.

The budget for funding to welfare, sports, recreation, arts, culture, heritage, and environmental groups was R2 billion per annum, he said.

"In the last call for applications, the NLB received 14,400 applications requesting R40 billion," he said.


Source : Sapa /gm/hdw/ar/jk
Date : 27 May 2014 12:26