Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Zizi Kodwa on Tuesday announced the inaugural South African Creative Arts Awards. “It will be the most desired recognition in the South African creative industry,” said Kodwa.

Kodwa further added that the awards will be bestowed on South Africans and literary creatives in various sub domains “who exhibit outstanding artistic and technical outstanding achievement.”

The awards will be exclusively for creatives from across cultural domains who push boundaries of their creative abilities and show devotion to excellence, added Kodwa. While briefing the media, Minister Kodwa was vague on the details, and only said the awards would be announced “soon,” around the end of the financial year in late March or early April, 2024.

The announcement also comes a few weeks after the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, Tourism, and Environmental Affairs withdrew support for hosting the SAMAs. The department had put aside R28-million towards the awards, which many viewed as wasteful expenditure.

The South African Music Industry Council (SAMIC) told IOL’s sister publication The Star that it was devastated at the news of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government’s decision to pull the plug on hosting the music awards.

The industry as a whole has been disappointed by the decision to cancel, or to pull the plug on the South African Music Awards,“ said Vusi Leeuw, the president of SAMIC.

At the eleventh hour, the Recording Industry of South Africa (RiSA) announced that SAMA29 would be hosted in collaboration with Africa Fest. The awards ceremony took place at the SunBet Arena at Time Square, Menlyn Maine, on November 18.

In other news – Shakira breaks the bank to avoid tax defraud case

Shakira recently paid a huge amount to a Spanish court looking into her potential involvement in a tax defraud case. A few days after coming to an agreement to avoid trial in another tax scandal, the Colombian singer paid £5.7 million to a Spanish court that was investigating her unpaid taxes.

The second case filed in July accused the 46-year-old singer of using a network of companies to defraud Spain’s tax office of around £5.7 million in 2018, as prosecutors alleged that some of the money is situated in tax havens. Read More