Watch! Natasha Thahane Addresses R1 Million Government Funding To Study And Her Relation To Baleka Mete. Blood And Water actress Natasha Thahane recently made headlines upon revealing that her ties to government officials assisted her with funding for her study’s abroad. This was revealed through her interview with MacG, when she spoke of her study’s at the New York Film Academy in 2017.
It turns out that the media and the public very much misinterpreted Natasha words, and she has taken to social media to address the entire issue. During her interview on MacG’s Podcast And Chill, Natasha claimed that she asked former speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete to assist her in acquiring funds to study in New York.
“I asked Mam’ Baleka (Mbete) and was like, ‘Mama, I need to go back to school. I’ve been accepted… I don’t know what I’m going to do, can I have funds? Please arrange something for me.’ She managed to speak to (the department) Arts and Culture and they were able to help me,” she said.
Social media users were not happy with Natasha and the government for embracing social privilege and using nepotism as the granddaughter of Bishop Desmond Tutu to get state funding. Natasha has now said in her statement that she did not receive R1 million from Mbete or the department of sports, arts and culture for her studies and everything she said was taken out of context.
The actress apologized to Mbete for speaking about her in a manner that made it sound like they had any relation which is not the case. The actress claims to have bumped into her after a meeting and asked for advise on how to
“She was at a meeting, I was in the building and I approached her and explained that I’d been accepted to go study and asked for advice with regards to any funding,”.
“That was my first and last conversation with her. She did not make any calls on my behalf, she did not send any emails on my behalf. I apologise for diluting the entire scenario because I made it seem like I had a personal relationship with her, which is not the case.” she said.
After sending her application to the department as advised, she was then told her application had been approved. Natasha claims to have received a total ofR350,000 for the first semester of which R315,000 was paid towards her tuition fee and the remaining R35,000 was paid after submitting a grade report and proof of attendance. She added that she also received help from a family member.
This seems a bit tricky considering that in the interview she had mentioned that Mbete is the one who spoke to the department on her behalf.
