Natasha Thahane has taken to her social media to issue a statement regrading claims that she received funding from Baleka Mbete and the Department of Arts and Culture.
It has been going on for days that Baleka who was a government official as of 2017 provided money for her studies at the New York Film Academy, which amounted to more than R1m.
The actress who is the grand-daughter of Arch-Bishop Desmond Tutu, got dragged this past weekend due to her revelation.
In her words, Natasha claimed that Baleka Mbete obtained the funds for her and tweeps were enraged by this.
She has since backtracked on her statement and claims she does not have a personal relationship with the politician.
The actress has denied having received R1 million from Mbete or the Department of Arts and Culture.
“I did not receive R1 million from Baleka Mbethe or the department of Arts and culture. If you receive to the interview you would realize that I was taken out of context and before I even go through the process I would profusely like to apologize to Baleka Mbethe and the department of sports and art and culture because when I watch back and listen to the interview it sounds like I have a personal relationship with mam Baleka which is not a case,” Natasha said.
She stated that her first and last encounter with Baleka Mbete occurred after she was coming out of a meeting.
“She advised me to explore the department of arts and culture because they have funding opportunities and that was the first and last conversation. She did not make any calls on my behalf,” she said.
According to her, she obtained R350 000 from the department, and the rest was provided by her family.
Kgant the limit is not R250 00 hmmm story sa gao a se hlakane
“Gave her a call” turned to “we were in the same building” ahhhhhahhh o na amanga
Yane about atlest the funding didn’t go to waste that was a good acting believable net the script was poorly written pic.twitter.com/R2oz1ALYhc
— Tshwarelo Ngwenya🇿🇦 (@funkyngwenya) November 30, 2021
