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Mandela the Opera: Producer absconds with the production payroll
[The Telegraph] Production celebrating the early life of Nelson Mandela draws big crowds - but cast and crew say government money provided for their wages has disappeared, along with the opera's creator who may have fled the country.A South African producer who put on an opera about Nelson Mandela after his death two years ago has disappeared without paying his cast or crew, according to reports. Unathi Mtirara, who is distantly related to the former South African president, is said to have received R1m (£45,000) in grant money from the government but has vanished without a trace. A lawyer acting for a guesthouse where Mr Mtirara put up his stars but is alleged not to have paid the bill said his colleague got hold of his wife who told him: "catch me if you can" before hanging up. A member of the Mandela opera’s production team told the Pretoria News daily paper that Mr Mtirara’s phone was going straight to answerphone and some believed he may have left the country. "He disappeared with the money and left us in the lurch," the unnamed crew member said. "All his and his wife's numbers are off; his social media pages no longer exist." Madiba: the Africa Opera was created by Mr Mtirara, a grandson of Mr Mandela’s cousin, to explore his childhood in the tribal lands of the Eastern Cape as well as his well-documented struggle against apartheid. Posted by: Besoeker 2016-03-04 |
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