Media Statement: For immediate release
The National Arts Council of South Africa (NAC) has received an alarming number of complaints from successful beneficiaries who have become victims of various crimes because of publishing their names and the amount of funding granted on our website.
Following the seriousness of these complaints which are life-threatening to our beneficiaries, the NAC Council and Management have deliberated on the matter extensively to find ways to balance transparency and protecting our beneficiaries as it is our ethical obligation.
After careful consideration of the risks associated with publishing the names of the successful beneficiaries and the amount granted, the NAC Council has resolved to cease publishing beneficiary names and only publish the project number, project name and the amount granted to protect the identity of our beneficiaries. This resolution was also informed by a benchmarking exercise that the NAC undertook to ascertain how other funding agencies are announcing their successful beneficiaries’ outcomes.
Subsequent to this resolution, the NAC Management has been conducting consultative sessions with various key stakeholders such as the sector federations to inform them of the changes. We are pleased to confirm that the majority of federations were in agreement that we ought to protect the lives of our beneficiaries. The NAC Management would like to thank all the key stakeholders who attended the various consultative sessions for their valuable input on this matter.
This resolution is also guided by the Protection of Personal Information Act which ‘’gives effect to the constitutional right to privacy’’ preventing organisations from sharing personal information which may compromise the safety or harm the subject.
As the NAC, we would like to assure the sector that we remain committed to transparency as it is embedded in organisational values. As such, all information pertaining to the disbursement of our funding will be available to our stakeholders upon request in accordance with the POPI Act. In addition, all the names of our beneficiaries will be published in our annual report as per the National Treasury reporting standards.
Enquiries:
General: info@nac.org.za
Media: media@nac.org.za
Issued by the National Arts Council of South Africa
About The National Arts Council of South Africa (NAC)
The National Arts Council is an Agency of the National Department of Sport, Arts and Culture. It was established in April 1997 through an act of Parliament (Act No. 56 of 1997). It is the largest Arts & Culture funding agency in South Africa, responsible for serving most of the arts disciplines namely, Dance, Music, Theatre, Craft, Literature, Visual Arts and Multidiscipline.
Please click on the link below to download the statement in PDF Format:
MEDIA STATEMENT – CHANGES ON OUTCOME ANNOUNCEMENT FINAL
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