Ladysmith Black Mambazo was allocated R36m over three years to teach traditional Zulu song and dance – and to make an album with former President Jacob Zuma. City Press reports that this is among the questionable funding deals, amounting to more than R100m to have rocked the department for the 2018/2019 funding period alone. Other funding allocations which senior sources in the department claimed were questionable include: R50m paid to the National Empowerment Fund without the required committee approvals; R20m over two years assigned to the Indoni SA cultural organisation, which had already held its Miss Cultural SA Festival by the time it was paid; R12m for the Usiba cultural awards show which went to an arts federation under investigation by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU); and R10m to the Living Legends trust fund.