Johannesburg, 16 November 2021: The National Arts Council (NAC) wishes to announce the closing date and completion of beneficiary payment processes to be undertaken in relation to the implementation of the NAC Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP).

The Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP) commenced in October 2020 for the following purposes:

1. To offer support for employment retention in the cultural and creative institutions and organisations, i.e. Stream 1, with an allocation of R85 million and
2. To create work opportunities in the cultural and creative industries i.e. Stream 2, with an allocation of R200 million.

To date, the National Arts Council has distributed over 97% of the allocated R285 million for funding. The balance of 3% are beneficiaries who have not fully reported or submitted the relevant documentation for release of their funding.

In closing out the PESP process the NAC wishes to address the following four (4) Beneficiary Groups, which will be dealt with in more detail below:

1. All PESP Beneficiaries who have not submitted any project reports;
2. All PESP Beneficiaries who have submitted only the first project report;
3. All PESP Beneficiaries who have been advised of first or second report queries;
4. PESP Beneficiaries who were paid 70% on the old Guiding Figure and did not sign the addenda and had a remaining balance of 30% due to them.

We would like to thank beneficiaries whom have implemented their projects successfully and completed their projects timeously. In addition, we thank beneficiaries for being patient as we resolved the challenges encountered during the implementation of the PESP.

To close out the PESP, The National Arts Council would like to inform the sector that the deadline for submission of all reports has been set for the 30th of November 2021.

As part of the close-out process, the following notices need to be noted and adhered to in accordance with the Beneficiary groups below:

Beneficiary Group 1:

All PESP Beneficiaries who have not submitted any project reports should note that:

1. A satisfactory first report (interim) must be submitted by no later than 22 November 2021
2. A satisfactory second report (final) must be submitted by no later than 30 November 2021

Beneficiary Group 2:

All PESP Beneficiaries who have submitted only the first project report should note that:

1. A satisfactory second report (final) must be submitted by no later than 30 November 2021

Beneficiary Group 3:

All PESP Beneficiaries who have been advised of first or second report queries should note that;

1. They will need to resolve these timeously to ensure they are in line with the second report submission deadline of the 30th of November 2021.

Beneficiary Group 4:

For the PESP Beneficiaries who were paid 70% on the old Guiding Figure and did not sign the addenda, and had a remaining balance of 30% due to them should note that;

1. If they have submitted satisfactory first and second reports and are fully compliant, the NAC will be paying the second tranche.
2. Beneficiaries that have not submitted the second report, must submit it by 30 November 2021, pending approval of the first report to be paid for their second tranche.

Additional Important Notice:

This notice applies to All Beneficiary groups (1-4) listed above:

• All beneficiaries should note that payments can only be paid to individuals and/or organisations that are tax compliant;
• The major query with the approval of reports by the NAC has been the lack of proof of payments against the first report budget. Beneficiaries are urged to pay attention to this and to provide the NAC with proof of payments and/or to highlight these on bank statements;
• Beneficiaries who fail to respond to the above requests timeously will be obliged to submit proof of expenses incurred against the first tranche payment made by the NAC;
• Beneficiaries (Notice 1- 4) who fail to meet the above set requirements for close-out should note that they will forfeit the balance of their project disbursement and will be considered to be in breach of their contracts.

In Closing, the National Arts Council wishes to thank industry and looks forward to engaging with industry constructively to deal with the lack of funding challenges within our sector. We are also cognizant of the research from the South African Cultural Organisation (SACO) that states that the cultural and creative sector contributes almost R80 billion to the national fiscus, in terms of GDP, and over 1 million jobs (7.03%). These statistics demand us to recognize that this sector is a key contributor to the nation and needs all the support to sustain it.

End.

PESP queries please contact: PESP@nac.org.za
General queries please contact: info@nac.org.za
Media queries please contact: media@nac.org.za