Director general's report card

Itumeleng Jerry Mosala is on his way out. A major newspaper advertised his job on October 15 and the requirements he was supposed to have fulfilled were spelled out. These include overseeing the work of the various national performing arts bodies and funding institutions, managing the country's heritage and legacy projects, injecting economic life into the cultural industries, providing a framework for the language policy and international cultural relations.

Mosala became arts and culture Director General when it was separated from the Department of Science and Technology in 2003; he was former vice-chancellor of the Technikon North West and former president of the Azanian People's Organisation.

The job of director general is a three-year contract appointment and in his tenure Mosala has presided over a sector that is disparate and forever at war with itself. He was at loggerheads with leaders in the film industry over a lack of top-up funding from government last year and, in 2004, was at the centre of a scandal involving appointments at the National Arts Council funding body.

Mosala has on more than one occasion hit out at the arts sector for not doing enough to address racial inequality in its disciplines.

Back home, however, staff at the department says he hardly puts in an appearance at the workplace.

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