The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture in the province is under fire from artists, who are concerned about being left out of the Mapungubwe Arts Festival.

The concerned artists marched and presented a memorandum to the office of MEC Joyce Mashamba to raise their concern last week in Polokwane.

Led by Roxley "The Bishop" Masevhe, the artists say they are concerned about the inclusion of Gauteng-based kwaito artists on the list of those who will perform during the festival that will take place from 8-16 of December.

The artists say they are against the inclusion of Gauteng-based artists in the battle of the DJs and the children’s festival, where some of the artists are featuring in both categories, for example Arthur and Chomee.

"The gospel artists included on the list are only from Vhembe and Mopani, but we have five districts," says the memorandum.

"We feel that our artists are being marginalized and undermined. Our artists are rarely included in festivals happening in other provinces and as such, they must not be disadvantaged in their own province.

"We demand that the released list be reviewed so that local artists will make up 60% of the list and artists from other provinces will make 40% only," says Masevhe.

Masevhe also states that: "We demand a minimum of R25 000 payments for local artists who will be miming and R35 000 for live performance as is done for Gauteng artists.

Hloki Sebola, senior manager communications in the department, says: "The reason why we also include national and international artists in this festival is because we want to attract more people in order to make a profit."

Sebola says the list of artists to perform during the festival is decided by the service providers, although they were not yet identified by Tuesday afternoon, hardly ten days before the start of the festival.

Only T-MusicMan was already employed to organize the jazz festival, which is regarded as the main event.

Sebola also disputed the claims that international artist Kirk Franklin will be paid over R2-million for her performance. Surprisingly, Sebola could not tell how much profit was made from last year’s festival, which failed to attract many people despite millions being spent on it.