Since its launch in 2022, concerns have been raised about the efficacy and transparency of how the orchestra spends public funds. The Cape Philharmonic Orchestra, for example, declined a once-off grant of R3.2 million from the Mzansi Orchestra on principle.
The Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra is now in its third year and has received R68 million in public funds to date.
The Auditor-General of South Africa does not audit the Mzansi Orchestra because it is a non-profit company and not a government agency. But it does audit the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, which oversees the National Arts Council and the funds paid to the Mzansi orchestra. The Auditor-General also found a ‘potential conflict of interest’ because Tembe holds the same position at the KwaZulu-Natal and Johannesburg Philharmonic orchestras, both of which received grants from the Mzansi orchestra in 2022.that he recuses himself from any discussion of funds allocated to his other orchestras.that ‘irrespective of safeguards … the conflict will not go away’.
In 2022, its inaugural year, the orchestra received R41.5 million from the NAC. The orchestra staged a national tour of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in three cities, conducted by world-renowned Marian Alsop and featuring South African musicians and opera singers who have achieved success on the global stage, including Michelle Breedt, Zandile Mzazi, and Wouter Kellerman.
The orchestra brags of having created more than 1,000 “job opportunities” in the music industry in 2022. Almost half of these were members of choirs who performed alongside the orchestra for one or two nights during the national tour. Another national tour was staged in 2023. Alsop, who is the Mzansi orchestra’s ‘resident conductor’, was billed to conduct but did not due to health reasons.