SA Government spends R10m of taxpayer's money on washed out jazz festival.

Nelspruit - The Mpumalanga government has been asked to explain how it spent R10m on a washed out jazz festival. The culture, sport and recreation department sponsored the two-day Mpumalanga Arts & Cultural Festival (MACfest) in Emalahleni in November at a cost of R10.1m.

But, according to provincial leader of the Democratic Alliance Anthony Benadie, only 2 858 tickets were sold for the event, with only about 1 500 people eventually attending on each of the two days.

"How can anyone justify this expenditure? We need to be realistic about the costs to the taxpayer. How much value has Mpumalanga received, and what exactly was the money spent on?" said Benadie.

Benadie said the DA was puzzled as to why the government had ever agreed to the massive budget, when it invested only R400 000 in the annual Innibos cultural festival in Nelspruit - which attracted 100 000 people over a period of five days.

"The DA cannot understand the rationale. We will therefore table urgent questions asking government for a detailed financial breakdown on how the taxpayer's money was spent so extravagantly on MACfest," he said.

The contentious jazz concert is the first in three planned annual festivals, with the first event featuring international jazz maestros such as James Ingram and Angelique Kidjo.

Government planners initially promised that MACfest would bring 30 000 music enthusiasts to the province.

Instead, the low turnout prompted Zulu guitarist Madala Kunene to complain from the main stage, while other artists also expressed disappointment.

Mpumalanga arts spokesperson Setshaba Mphahlele said he would not respond publicly to the DA's demand.

The province has, however, previously indicated that it was happy with the MACfest organisers, espAfrika, and that it would continue to fund future MACfests at the same scale as the 2008 event.

EspAfrika director, Rashid Lombard, has previously conceded that attendance had been below expectations and that both the marketing and timing of the event had been botched.

"We have a three-year contract to stage MACfest, so will make sure that we do better next time," said Lombard.