Western Cape Appropriation Bill 2020 – Vote 13 Department of Cultural Affairs & Sport

Meeting report

Introductory remarks by the Chairperson

The Chairperson noted that he had not received any apologies for the meeting. He allowed the Minister to make brief introductory comments followed by the Head of Department before they would deal with the adoption of the minutes. The Western Cape Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport, Ms Anroux Marais (DA), stated that she did not have anything to add at that moment.

Mr Brent Walters, Head of Department: Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, firstly stated that their budget had increased from R749 million which was a revised application to R806 million on the final application for 2021 and the Paleontological Heritage Tourism Group. There were the increases which That is a total increase of R91 million which is made up of various facets, and he briefly listed the following: an increase of remedial funding through arts; capacitation of the Western Cape Archive and Records Services; funding for the Netball World Cup, the Afterschool Programme and provisional allocation for the rollout of the Archaeological programme were asked for in addition to the budget given to the Department and some of the increases were approved.

Mr Walters flagged the Committee’s attention to amendments made to the Annual Performance Planner. They added a document called ‘Addendum’ to the Annual Planner Programme. It should have technically been part of the plan, but the national department gave them second indicators after the document went to printing and these amendments were not in the original list. They had to be added because they will be audited on them. There were also minor amendments to the numbering of the pages.

He claimed that the Department was very excited about this year and expressed his confidence that as a Department they would be able to perform. They presented themselves to the Committee for scrutiny and for them to take the Department through the various sections for which they are prepared to take questions and factor into their planning.

The Chairperson asked the Committee if they had any questions at that moment based on the overview provided by Mr Walters. He tabled Note 13, Cultural Affairs and Sport and drew attention to its paging from page 695, ending on page 732. He tabled the first 10 pages for questions from the Members.

Discussion

Ms A Bans (ANC) drew the Committee’s attention to page 717, table 7.5. ‘On page 719, Table 8.1.1, why are advances to households discontinued’. ‘Can we gain clarity on that? ‘On Page 716, Table 7.2, with non-profit institutions, why is the budget increased and which institutions are receiving funding’?

The Chairperson clarified that they were commenting on pages 695 to 705. He expressed his delight with the priorities indicated on page 698 And Employee Research Subsidies and empowering people. There was however an overlap on growth and jobs that was mentioned on page 700 which he asked for clarification on, specifically about what the tangible programme is being run by the Department with regard to sports amendment goals. He asked for an elaboration on Netball and women in sport that was mentioned earlier by Mr Walters.

Ms Bans had a follow-up question on the Corona virus. She wanted to know whether the Department had a plan to address the virus that has already got confirmed cases in the Western Cape.

Her second-follow up question was on non-profit institutions and if the Department could provide them with the details of the funding distributions and which NGOs were receiving funding. ‘Where is the Department getting the money from, which areas are being funded and how much’?

Mr M Kama (ANC) had a follow-up question on the Netball World Cup. ‘What engagement do the Department and Federation have with the municipality within the existing infrastructure, and how do they utilise those available spaces’. The community of Elsies River and the municipality are at logger heads regarding the Sleepy Hollow Sports Field. This area has great netball participation – there is a team there and they were using the same facilities. Funding will always be an issue so he suggested that they work with different levels of government to ensure that the current infrastructure is protected.

His second follow-up question related to page 699 on the R8.5 million earmarked each year to support arts and culture organisations. ‘How much of this is earmarked for the rural towns’? It must be understood that they are the furthest parts of the province and those communities do not receive much support.

Netball World Cup Funding

Mr Walters clarified that with funding for the Netball World Cup, it would be held in 2023 and they are ensuring that they accumulate enough funding to roll out courts and popularise netball all over the Western Cape. This will be the first year that they looked at the transfers that have come this year. They still need to sit down with The Netball Federation to determine their readiness because they have some idea of the progress that should have been made but the federation could have their own ideas. They want to see growth in that sport and they believe it is a good opportunity to promote the sport, especially as a women-based sport and to get the country energized with netball.

Job creation and growth

Any major event that the Department hosts in Arts and Culture or sports promotes tourism which is a source of funding. At the moment there is the COVID-19 situation which can have an impact but it is an evolving situation and one has to follow what the Department of Health directs the country to do. If they say that one may not go ahead, then one cannot. Beyond that, with job creation, the Premier introduced the idea of Self-Adhesive Communities and wanted to make that the focus for the next five years.

The Department has started to talk about youth unemployment in relation to the Self-Adhesive Communities and can expect assistance with that. There has been job creation amongst youth and they are looking to this Department of about 4000 youth to work within the organisation.

As a fictitious example to illustrate, there will be programmes from this Department that looked at how constructive programmes work. The Department has committed itself to funding programmes such as the Mass participation; Opportunity and access; Development and growth (MOD) centers and community centers and has tried to tackle the issue of youth unemployment. When looking at job creation there are various levels in the Department such as SANPARKS which works for various Departmental programmes and the MOD centers that also employ people in schools.

The Heritage area

The Department was looking at a balanced approach where it will protect heritage but at the same time have development pressures relating to the Western Cape population growth. Recently he came across a document that said that since 1995 there has been a 63% growth in the population.

Ms Brenda Rutgers, Chief Financial Officer: Western Cape DCAS, stated that the main reason why NGO funding increased was because of the additional allocation which includes R30 million for netball, R3 million for youth in service, and R8.5 million for NGO funding.

Municipalities decrease

She stated that overall; the Department had to take a budget cut of R3.75 million which was before receiving additional allocation. It is important to remember that the additional allocation is earmarked so they cannot allocate it anywhere else and cannot use it for any other purpose. The main reason for the decrease of the municipalities funding is because of the Department’s overall budget cut.

Discontinued advances to households

The Department generally does not budget for households. That would consist of when either people resign or retire; they pay the retirement package and gratuities. Generally, with retirements, they can budget for it, but cannot budget for resignations. There will be variations in terms of expenditure trends with that particular item because it cannot be projected for accurately.

Responses

Corona virus concerns

It is a health decision and the Department is not an expert in that field. The situation is evolving, and they will follow the dictates of the Department of Health.

Funding process

There is an application process that must be followed, and the Department of Arts and Culture would address that.

With sports, it is dealt with similarly, except that there is a fixed band of organisations – they are federations. He estimated there are about 132. They are meant to put in proposals and will receive their funding limits.

Netball World Cup

There is a committee that consists of the National Department, the Netball Federation, the Chief Director Cultural Affairs (DCAS) and the City of Cape Town who all sit on that Committee. Essentially the engagement about where the funding will go and how much it will be affecting the city has to be done in conjunction with that committee. They record the impact on Sleepy Hollow and the Elsies River community.

Nationally there is a plan for the Joint District Area Development and if one is going to go beyond the municipalities, and then they had to negate other municipalities. Most of these vicinities will be built on that model. 

The Funding process

Mr Guy Redman, Chief Director of Cultural Affairs: DCAS stated that they now have R22 million and they were coming from R15.5 million. They were cut last year down to R13.7 million and now they were down to R22 million. The first element they are going to address is the shortfall limits placed on them. The bulk of the balance would go to NGOs. It is also split into different categories between the NGOs into: established organisations, intermediate organisations, foundation organisations and an allocation also goes to continuous development.

After last year it was found that 90% of the applications that came through the process were from the City of Cape Town. Even though their strategic intent was to cover the rural areas more, most of the responses were coming from the City of Cape Town region and other more developed areas. They have decided that they are going to have an allocation for rural areas. The situation that happens is similar to what happens nationally - in the Mzanzi’s Growing Economic Fund, many of the applications are coming from the Gauteng province and fewer from the Limpopo Province and other provinces. Currently discussions are underway to see how specific allocations can be made for rural areas – where they can say a certain percentage will be allocated for rural areas. They are looking at that and seeing how they can address it because they have one application from the Central Karoo which is not a true reflection of how it should be done.

The call went out in October last year before they knew they had this additional money – they were only informed about it in February. They are busy with its allocation and are trying to see how they can use the new money most effectively in the plan. They are working with the plan.

Mr Thabo Tutu, Director of Sport Promotion: Western Cape DCAS, stated that with the World Cup they received R30 million which would form part of creation of a special type of funding for the company that is going to manage the World Cup. Linked to it is the LOC (Local Organisation Committee) that is also going to manage the World Cup. When a country receives a chance to host the World Cup for netball, a fee is paid to the International Netball Federation and the money is also allocated there. They also received R4 million for netball courts and they will meet up with the netball structures to decide where the courts are going to be located. Linked to this is also the training and development of umpires. They have had meetings with the netball structures to look at what they are going to do in terms of facilities, but they agreed that funding needs to be allocated to poorer communities.

He stated that the application process for sports federations for funding and the various categories opens from 1 April 2020. The applications close on 30 September 2020. Thereafter, they collate everything and meet up with the federations in January-February where they give presentations to the department about what they are planning on doing. Thereafter those that qualify for funding from the department receive their funding. This applies to all federations that apply this year. 

Mr Walters clarified that the process opening this year in April is for funding for 2021.

The Chairperson asked if they can move forward to page 708. He asked if the Committee could be provided with the current funding policy with regard to that page and if there are any possible amendments for those to be made available as well.

Discussion Page 708

The Chairperson asked when a federation falls short in terms of their funding how were they held accountable.

Ms L Botha (DA) referred to page 698 and wanted to know with regard to the heritage sites, where they were in terms of the visiting of tourists. ‘On page 699, with the Netball World Cup, what were the areas per district earmarked for the provision of infrastructure in under-resourced areas’?

With the afterschool programme for the youth in service and the 5500 job opportunities in five years - what will that number be for this financial year that we are going into? She commended the MOD programme and spoke about a primary school they visited that was implementing the programme. She was able to see how the MOD programme inspired people without qualifications to thrive and congratulated the Department on leading the initiative. She stated that the purpose of the MOD programme was achieved in that it was intended to influence South African children in those types of areas.

Responses

Funding shortfall accountability

These are community-based structures. Most of them are part-time organisations in arts and some are professional organisations. In the sport arena, they are mainly amateur which means they are not as regulated. There are several thresholds that they sign with the Department. It depends on how much funding they receive which determines the extent to which they are audited. One looks at their financial statements and requires their reports. If they fall short on any of these, they are called in to have a discussion. The Department attempts to intervene unless the shortfall amount is not rescuable. In most cases they find some way to assist them. If they know the organisation is struggling, especially with amateur organisations, they tend to not have the financial acumen to present their statements in the correct manner. It should be noted however that this is improving with time.

Engaging with those groups to ensure they have financial clarity to be accountable with the Department.

The general rule is if we find it is an organisation that does not want to comply with us, then we do not fund them.

Netball Areas District

They are still in the process of working it out with the federation.

MOD centers

He thanked Ms Botha for the feedback on the MOD center. Besides inspiring young people, it felt great to inspire the operator of the programme. The programme needs to be done over a long period of time and consistently so people can expect success. These small steps repeated over time become part of the institution’s culture.

Youth employment

Ms Bridget Hannah, Deputy Director of the Afterschool Programmes: Western Cape DCAS confirmed that the Department creates work opportunities in the field the student studies.

Ms Botha asked for clarification on whether the programme is on an application basis and Ms Hannah confirmed that it was that students must obtain certain results in matric applicable to the relevant programme.

The Chairperson asked for more information to be given to the Committee about the programme’s application process.

Ms Botha reverted to the topic of MOD centers and asked for a clarification on whether there are still 181 of them and if there is opportunity for expansion.

Mr Walters confirmed that she has the correct number of MOD centers and elaborated that there are 154 neighbouring schools which are neighbours to the MOD centers. They have 20 recreation centers where they have Early Child Development level young people that are starting the programme. They also have volunteer schools where a teacher must volunteer, and they are close to the MOD centers and they provide them with equipment. There is always room for expansion, but it is budgeted.

The Chairperson confirmed that they would be engaging with the Department throughout the year and stated that he would close the first 10 tabled pages for then. He tabled pages 706 to 732 and stated that they have amicus that the Committee could refer their questions to and asked for input on those pages. There is consensus about the MOD centers that the Committee would want to visit more regularly to get an idea of their scope and impact.

Discussion pages 706 to 732

Ms Botha asked what the Department’s contribution to the Department of Social Development was with regard to the Golden Games.

Ms Bans asked for clarification on how the R50 million budgeted for the Afterschool Programme was being allocated as indicated on page 729.

Mr Kama referred the Committee to page 725, table 8.3 If one looks at the last financial year, the appropriation was R42 million which was later revised to be R20 million. It looks like we are having high budget estimates. About R20 million was taken away last year. ‘Why do we keep revising the budget estimates’?

Ms Botha wanted to know with athletics within school sports, with the learners who do well and are chosen to go to the next level, ‘what support do they receive from this Department’?

Ms Bans referred the Committee to page 722, table 8.2 where it showed a 25% increase in arts and culture. ‘How will organisations or communities that are under resourced be supported by this increase’?

The Chairperson asked what is happening with the Museums Improvement Amendment Bill and elaborated on Ms Botha’s question with an example of learners who excel at rugby.

Responses

Golden Games Budget

Mr Paul Hendricks, Director of Sport Development: Western Cape DCAS, clarified that about R510 000 was budgeted.

Support for school sports at higher levels

He confirmed that it is recommended that primary school children do not compete at national level, but they still do. The Department assists with some flight costs, transportation and accommodation but not completely. The students must pay for their uniforms themselves. They partly assist them with funding at the provincial level and completely assist them at the interprovincial level. The budget varies from year to year, so it is difficult to allocate exact amounts every year.

Mr Redman clarified that the reason for the increase in the budget was because of the R8.5 million that was made available for arts and culture and NGOs. Before they received the new amount, they had R3.9 million available for NGOs. They will be growing the amount available to NGOs. They are going to be making an allocation for rural districts where the smaller NGOs operate. Additionally, they will be allocating money to the Artisan Schools Programme.

Ms Rutgers explained that R54 million was allocated to be split between the Afterschool Programme and MOD centers. Research was done in the sport sector to determine what its contribution was to economic development.

Mr Tutu clarified that the Museums Improvement Amendment Bill was gazetted and they would be processing comments on the Bill within this financial year.

Ms Nomaza Dingayo, Director of Archives and Records Services: Western Cape DCAS, clarified that the funding for archives was set at R75 million. When the adjustment of the budget was done, and money was transferred to the Department of the Premier to a process called Section 33. The Department of the Premier performs functions set around innovation, such as project management services, project managers managing the ECM, change of management and licensing. The money the Department sends to them is part of procuring those services. It is also used to advance signatures which they are processing.

The Chairperson adjourned the part of the meeting that required feedback from the Department.

He noted the sad passing of a family member of a staff member after the cycle tour and extended the Committee’s condolences.

Mr Kama asked that the Committee conclude deliberations on the budget for the Phillipi Stadium.

Ms Botha proposed that the Committee paid a site visit to the heritage site that was raised in the earlier discussion to determine how money was spent. The Chairperson stated that he was not being forthcoming on the matter earlier, but he agrees with Ms Botha that the Committee needs to have more heritage site visits.

The Committee extended their condolences to Mr Waseem Matthews, the Procedural Officer of the Committee, for the loss in his family.  

Ms Bans asked for a distribution list of how they allocated funding to the NGOs.

Mr Matthews clarified that he would obtain this for the Committee and clarified that there was a request for the current funding policy of the federations, where the NGOs were based and the areas where the Netball World Cup would be based.

Ms Botha proposed that they ask the Department for their plans regarding the Netball World Cup and checking their progress by the end of the year on where they are in terms of that plan. She asked if they could see what funding the federations received per district and how they have spent the money and whether that spending was justified.

Mr Matthews proposed that the Committee invites the Western Cape Provincial Sports Federation to make a presentation.

Ms Botha was unsatisfied with the answer given by the Department with how they are supporting learners who reach the next level with their respective sports. She emphasised the point that the purpose of the departmental support was to ensure that the learner was not impeded in reaching their full potential as their parents cannot bear the financial burden themselves.

The Chairperson adjourned the meeting.