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Cul­ture Min­is­ter Michelle Ben­jamin has moved to al­lay con­cerns among lo­cal artistes, say­ing dis­cus­sions about pos­si­ble tax­a­tion re­main ex­plorato­ry and are far from be­com­ing gov­ern­ment pol­i­cy.

Speak­ing at a me­dia con­fer­ence at the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) head­quar­ters on Tues­day, Ben­jamin said her pri­or­i­ty since as­sum­ing of­fice has been to im­prove earn­ings for artistes, not to im­pose ad­di­tion­al fi­nan­cial bur­dens.

“I know that is still a con­ver­sa­tion, and my of­fice re­mains open. From day one, I start­ed meet­ing with artistes, and my main goal has been to en­sure that artistes earn more. As far as I un­der­stand, this is mere­ly a con­ver­sa­tion and is far from im­ple­men­ta­tion,” she said.