Department of Arts and Culture on its Annual Performance Plan: meeting postponed

Meeting report

The Chairperson opened the meeting and expressed her disappointment at the absence of the Minister or Deputy Minister as there was a need for the political leadership to be present for the Annual Performance Plan (APP) presentation. She could understand if they were absent for other meetings, but not for the APP. She sought the Committee’s guidance for a decision on whether to accept the Department’s presentation or to cancel the meeting and reschedule it for a date when the political leadership would be present.

Ms T Mampuru (ANC- Limpopo) said that the absence of the Minister and the Deputy Minister was disgusting. The President had, in 2014, divided the responsibilities between the Minister and Deputy Minister and she was not happy that neither of the two were present.

Ms P Samka-Mququ (ANC- Eastern Cape) said that the Department should be given an opportunity to indicate whether apologies had been forwarded and whether a letter had been written by them to indicate that the Director General was acting on their behalf.

Mr Vusithemba Ndima, Acting Director-General, DAC, said the Minister was in a Cabinet meeting. He had spoken to the Parliamentary Officer and a letter was on its way. He said the Deputy Minister had to attend to a family matter. He did not have a letter of apology from the Deputy Minister. He added that no letter had been given to the Director General asking him to act on their behalf.

The Chairperson said she understood that Wednesday was Cabinet days but there was no letter of apology received. The Parliamentary Officer should have sent it to the Committee. She understood that the
Deputy Minister had to attend to family matters, but there was also no letter of apology.

Ms Mampuru said that there could be no excuses, the Committee members too had issues that needed their attention but they sacrificed to be at the meeting and as such this issue compromised their time.

Ms L Dlamini (ANC- Mpumalanga) said that Cabinet only met fortnightly. She had never seen the Minister in attendance at a meeting for more than three years. The Minister needed to be accountable to the Committee, not the Director-General. The Minister was not taking the Committee seriously.

Mr C Hattingh (DA- North West) said that the same issue of the political head not attending meetings kept cropping up.

Ms Mampuru said that as the Committee whip, her position was that the officials should go back to Pretoria and organise a return date where the Minister or Deputy Minister would be present.

The Chairperson asked the Director General if the Minister or Deputy Minister had been present when they made a presentation to the Portfolio Committee of Arts and Culture.

Mr Ndima indicated that neither of them had been present.

The meeting was then closed for a short period while the Committee deliberated.

Upon resumption, the Chairperson said that no apologies had been received from the political leaders of the Department and that it was important for the Committee to engage with politicians from the Department. She was therefore releasing the delegation and to return with their political heads on a date to be agreed on because this was a presentation on the Department’s annual plan and it was important therefore that the political leaders be present

The meeting was adjourned.