An opera about the life of former South African president Nelson Mandela that premiered Friday at the State Theatre in Pretoria was forced to close three days later when organizers claim it ran out of money, AFP reports.

The National Lotteries Board of South Africa (NLB) denies withholding a grant for the performance, Mail&Guardian reports.

“On 26 May, an email was sent to the organisers confirming that payment would be made on that very same day. The payment was made within three working days of receiving the signed grant agreement,” lotteries board spokesperson Sershan Naidoo said on Tuesday.

The French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported Monday that “Madiba:
The African Opera” premiered Friday but was forced to close three days later when it ran out of money to pay performers.

The opera, which tells the early life story of the anti-apartheid icon who died in December, was to go on tour from Pretoria to Mandela’s childhood village and final resting place in Qunu in the Eastern Cape. From there it was expected to tour South Africa before heading overseas.

Unathi Mtirara, Mandela’s grandnephew said 2.86-million rand ($273,353) was paid Monday.

“When the grant agreement was finalized on May 21, two days before the premiere of the opera, the NLB had to follow its routine compliance and verification processes before transferring the funds,” he said.

The original grant application for the play was 11.8-million rand, and the NLB awarded 2.86-million rand.

Naidoo said the board was not in a position to fund the entire amount because of its limited budget.

The budget for funding to welfare, sports, recreation, arts, culture, heritage, and environmental groups is 2-billion rand a year, he said.

The NLB has been swamped with 14,400 applications for funding totaling 40-billion rand,
he said.