MBABANE – The Swaziland National Council of Arts and Culture has refuted claims that it sabotaged the Association of  Swaziland Theatre Groups.

Albany Mdlovu who was the acting president before they stepped down claimed that the Council never supported them in any way ever since they took office in 2011 until their last day in office.

“We were never even oriented by the Council yet we even recommended Thokoza as a venue for the orientation and furthermore we never got any funding in any way yet we incurred costs on our daily office duties including meetings,” said Mdlovu.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Council of Arts and Culture Stanley Dlamini said they tried four times to engage the association but they never showed up and as a Council they never fund associations but let them propose projects they assist in if possible.
“All orientations are done in the boardroom as we try to eliminate financial implications. It was impractical for them to propose a venue which needed funding when they couldn’t afford the necessary funds,” said Dlamini.

Mdlovu also claimed that three months in office they were also forced by the CEO of Arts and Culture to vote out the then President which they did.
“The CEO told us to get rid of Maswati  Dludlu who was the President of the association which we felt was for a personal reason but we did,” said Mdlovu. He further said as an association they were invited together with an artist to a festival in South Africa and the CEO told them to organise transport and he would assist them financially but he never did until they decided to officially step down.

“It is true that I recommended that Maswati Dludlu  be removed as that was against the constitution of Arts and Culture since he was president of two associations. On the issue of the SA trip I told them to forward the invitations which they never did because we wanted to base the funding on those invitations,” said Dlamini.
Dlamini further said as a Council they consider formal proposals which are in writing not verbal.