City’s arts boss gets the boot

Quinton Mtyala

RENOWNED artistic director Zayd Minty has been fired by the City of Cape from his lucrative job as manager of arts and culture, where he earned in the region of R800 000 annually.

Yesterday, in statement issued through his lawyer, Minty indicated that he would challenge his dismissal.

He was dismissed for taking his staff to the Overberg without the consent of city manager Achmat Ebrahim.

“I intend to refute the allegations that have been made against me and to clear my name through the legal processes at my disposal.

“After all, a name is all we have and I have always taken pride in maintaining a reputation of integrity and commitment to excellence,” read his statement.

Minty had been instrumental in launching several artistic initiatives in Cape Town, including The Fringe district, located to the east of the CBD, which would become the city’s design and innovation district.

Of his job at the City, Minty said on his LinkedIn page that a key part of it was to transform the department.

“From a unit with a social development mandate to a department with a broader mandate (economic, social, spatial and cultural). This included strategic stakeholder engagement, revisioning the department’s role in the administration, writing the new policy, increasing and capacitating the staff body”.

A source at the City said Minty had been hauled over the coals for taking his staff to Houwhoek in the Overberg without the consent of Ebrahim. City policy is that when on official business, staff need permission to leave the boundaries of the city.

“The rule is that when officials go out of the municipal boundaries, they have to get the consent of the city manager. What also made it bad for him was that he had taken along a consultant who had incurred costs to the City,” said the source.

Acting mayoral committee member for tourism, events and economic development JP Smith said: “Zayd Minty was the manager for arts and culture. A fair disciplinary process was followed, the outcome of which was his dismissal. At this stage we cannot divulge the exact reasons for the disciplinary process given that Mr Minty continues to have the option of responding to the City’s decision.”

The ANC’s acting spokesperson in the City, Charlotte Heynes, said Minty’s firing was news and that opposition councillors had not yet been informed about his dismissal.

“All we know is that two of the directors in the human settlements directorate were fired. We are going to do our own investigation as to (the reasons) why they were fired,” said Heynes.