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Minister of Arts & Culture Lulu Xingwana needs to immediately provide a full account of what has happened to the R150 million budget publicly earmarked by her department last year for 2010 FIFA World Cup arts and culture projects, an amount that has still apparently not been paid to applicants.

With four months left before the tournament and still no allocated funding, those who applied, including the Grahamstown National Arts Festival and the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, will probably have to abandon their 2010 specific projects as these take time to plan, prepare and produce.

According to a report in the Mail & Guardian newspaper, arts and culture practitioners have not received any of the funding pledged by the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) at a public meeting last year. The report also revealed that an internal forensic investigation into the department has been instituted after some irregularities, including the suspected disappearance of money set aside for the World Cup.

Adding to the problem is the fact that the 2010 World Cup task team, set up to deal with arts and culture proposals, was dissolved at the end of January this year without completing its work. According to the DAC one official will now take over their tasks.

How can a single official cope with the amount of work that still needs to be done, much less replace the proficiency of an expert task team which boasted members like Professor Pitika Ntuli, singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka and artistic director Aubrey Sekhabi?

The DAC's conduct in this regard has been highly problematic and suggests a disregard for South Africa's arts and culture professionals as well as a lack of commitment to showcase the country's rich and diverse arts and culture to international audiences.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on the minister to immediately unlock the World Cup funds for those to whom they have been designated, and for a full disclosure regarding the budget at the next Portfolio Committee meeting in Parliament.

I will also pose parliamentary questions in this regard to the minister to establish whether the money has indeed been misappropriated, why the task team of experts has been dissolved and to ensure that the results of the forensic investigation into the department be made public.