Mrs. Mbeki and SABT

[Katharine Kanter]

"a new spirit of cultural expression which is linked to nation-building"


The following piece by A. Sichel, appeared in the Pretoria News (South Africa) on March 23rd. (I've pinched the Link from the ballet.co Website, and shortened it considerably.)

Since Mbeki, Nelson Mandela's successor, is emerging as the central figure in the push for African unity, industrialisation, and access to high technology, that Mrs. Mbeki is behind this makes it all the more significant.


Article begins

'Classical ballet has found a new champion in Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni. The Governor is taking the Arts and Culture Minister to task for not funding this art form.

Mboweni (...) said he used to consider ballet as "white people's things". But he was approached by First Lady Zanele Mbeki to consider becoming the SABT's patron. (...)° Mboweni refers to this company as embodying a new spirit of cultural expression which is linked to nation-building.

Referring to his tenure as Labour Minister in the first democratic cabinet, Mboweni said: "When I was a member of government we made two mistakes
"The first one was to stop the national philharmonic orchestra".

"The second mistake was to stop supporting the ballet". (....)

He described an encounter with Arts Minister Dr Pallo Jordan in which he suggested that ballet cannot just be supported by the corporate sector but needed State funding

"What are you talking about?" retorted Jordan, who referred to "those Eurocentric people doing things in Mamelodi (where the SABT does outreach programmes) like the colonials used to do."

Unfazed, Mboweni has now set up a meeting with the minister "to discuss the ballet company".

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank has pledged money to the SABT.'