Department of Sport, Arts and Culture Q4 2022/23 Performance, with Deputy Minister

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed everyone to the meeting. She acknowledged the apologies from Minister Mr Zizi Kodwa, Mr B Madlingozi (EFF) and Ms V Van Dyk (DA), who would depart early.

Ms R Adams (ANC) moved to adopt the agenda, seconded by Mr M Zondi (ANC).

The Chairperson asked the Department to present its 4th quarter briefing.

Presentation by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) on 4th Quarter (2022/23) Performance

Dr Cynthia Khumalo, Acting-Director General, DSAC, led the Committee through the presentation, explaining that there would be a brief introduction and an overall overview of the Department in terms of performance, which will then look specifically at the Department’s programmes. She told the Committee that the final part of the presentation, the expenditure report, would be led by the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). She noted that the presentation is required by law and that it is important to allow the Committee to do oversight of the Department and its entities.

The presentation would focus on DSAC’s performance from January to March 2023 and highlight challenges that the Department experienced while trying to achieve its set targets. There were 43 total targets that DSAC needed to achieve in the 4th quarter and of these 43, the Department achieved 35 targets, equating to an 81% achievement rate.

Dealing with the performance indicators, Dr Khumalo told the Committee that one of the reasons why eight of the targets were not achieved was because of administration, specifically the number of prioritised manual services that were modernised. In programme two, which dealt with sporting issues, four of the targets were not achieved. This would include sporting events at schools, the number of sporting clubs provided with equipment, the participation rate in sport and the number of heritage legacy facilities. Under programme three, only two of the targets were not achieved. These were the number of monitoring reports of the implementation of social cohesion, and secondly, the number of targets each group supported. Programme four, the Heritage Promotion, and preservation, achieved all targets except for one, which was the number of records digitised.

The following slide gave a graphical representation of the programme summary, which showed that Programme One achieved 81% of its six targets. Programme Two achieved 60% of its ten targets. Programme Three achieved 16 of 18 targets (89%) and Programme Four achieved 89% as well (eight of nine targets).

Programme One, which provided support structures to the Ministry, management, corporate services, the office of the CFO and the office accommodation, aims to ensure effective and efficient administration, bringing together a range of administrative and support functions. Its targets included enrolling 5% of its interns in positions within the Department. This target was surpassed with 6.09%, with the reason being that the interns were enrolled earlier and beyond the target number because of identified placement opportunities within DSAC and the availability of the budget.

The next target was the number of manual services that were modernised which was not achieved. The target was two, but only one of these projects (the database for sports, arts and culture made available to the public) was achieved. The unachieved target was the project of setting up the public entities’ reporting system. The tender was advertised but the Department received no response. This project was then moved to the new financial year. The other projects, such as the sports, arts and culture awareness campaigns activated to profile the work of the Department achieved all four of its’ targets. There was a target to uphold one imbizo, which was achieved. DSAC also set a target to pay all invoices (of which there were 2405) within 30 days, which was achieved. The total amount of these invoices amounted to just over R210 million.

Programme Two, the recreation, development, and sport promotion, comprised three sub-programmes. The Winning Nation programme which supports high-performance athletes to achieve international sport. The Active Nation programme which is all about the promotion and participation of sport creation by facilitating opportunities for people to share space and equipment to schools, and the 3rd sub-programme involves infrastructure support to municipalities, construction of community playparks, implementation of heritage legacy projects to transform the national heritage landscape as well as the development and liberation of heritage sites. This particular programme, which focused on the number of athletes supported through the sport science programme during the year, achieved 47 of its original target of 10 athletes. The Department set a target to support 1 000 athletes in sport academies, and the Department overachieved in this area. The Department failed to achieve the 50% national federation target, which was 0%. The data transformation project’s target was not achieved due to the fact that the Department could not assess the transformation status due to the late ordinance submission by the national federations. Only 16 of the 19 federations submitted their data sheets to DSAC. The Department sent out reminders and this will become stricter in the future. The three federations that failed to submit their data sheets were Chess SA, Basketball SA and the Football Association of South Africa (FASA). The Department will continue to assess the performance in this respect.

The next indicator dealt with the number of people participating in organised sport and active recreation. The target was 90 000, but only 55 736 was achieved at the end of the 4th quarter. Among other factors, one of the biggest contributors to this target not being met was the protected strike. The annual target of proactive action has been overachieved in terms of annual performance. Mitigation plans will continue to be considered to overcome any unplanned external factors that might negatively impact any of DSAC’s performance indicators. The number of sport recreation and performance plans implemented and the number of schools, hubs and sports clubs that received equipment and attire as per their established norms was targeted to be 1 000, but only 625 of the schools, hubs and sports clubs were provided with said equipment. The delays in procurement and the impact of the aforementioned strike negatively affected the Department’s achievements in this area however, in terms of corrective action, the finalisation of the transversal tender and the improvement of oversight of end-reporting of customised indicators has been implemented.

The number of learners in the school's sporting area was not due for report in the 4th quarter, but this information will be provided in DSACs annual performance report. The number of learners participating at the district school sports tournaments was achieved at 44 347, which is more than the 5 000 original target. The number of municipalities provided with technical and or management support during construction achieved the target of 50. The number of community outdoor gyms and playparks was achieved at its target of 10.

Moving on to the infrastructure performance indicator, only one of the three heritage legacy facilities targets was met, the Dr JL Dube Amphitheatre developed to maintain the heritage landscape. Due to a storm, this project was also negatively affected in May this year. In terms of deviation, it was the Enyokeni (Isibhubhu) Cultural Arena, where the environmental impact assessment had not been approved which requires further engagements with traditional leadership in the province, together with the Sarah Baartman Centre of Remembrance. The contract for the Centre of Remembrance was terminated. The site was vacated in July 2021 due to contractual disputes with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI), the implementing agent. Follow-ups have been done with the DPWI and formal assessments by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) have been done as the new implementing agent. Dr Khumalo said that this change will hopefully result in improvement within this area.

Programme Three, which included arts and culture promotion and development and, covers sub-programmes like national language services, cultural and creative industries development and includes the international corporation social cohesion and nation building. The national language services deal with the promotion of national languages, and culture development deals with issues of expanding market access, capacity building and promotion access, and international cooperation deals with issues of travelling across international borders and addressing issues on the restriction of international travelling and social distancing. The Mzanzi Golden Economy is the strategy of the Department and promotes patriotism utilising national days and supports and develops the creative industry. The target for multilingual human language technology projects was five and seven were achieved. The target for the percentage of official documents received, edited, and translated was 100%, of which the Department translated and edited 125 documents. The number of bursaries awarded was not due for reporting for the 4th quarter, but this target was achieved. The number of local and international market access platforms target was eight, which was achieved. The target of eight capacity building projects was achieved. The number of provincial community arts development programmes implemented target per year was nine which was also achieved. The number of youth focus development programmes achieved both of its targets. The target for the number of advocacy platforms of social cohesion was five and the Department achieved 9, which is mainly due to the Department’s ability to work with social cohesion advocates throughout the country.

The Department was not able to achieve the number of monitoring reports of the implementation for social cohesion and nation building. The reason for this is that the implementation depends on the existence of social compact. This project has not been finalised and there have been struggles and challenges because of the dependencies on other stakeholders. Target setting will be done upon the finalisation of the social compact plan. There was one target for the national days that celebrations were held, which was achieved. On the number of projects created through the Mzansi economy, the target was 29 and an overachievement of 36. The number of artists placed in schools was 300, and 302 artists were placed in schools. On the number of reports produced by the South African Cultural Observatory (SACO) which is the research wing of the Department, 16 was the target and SACO was able to produce these reports. The number of films and documentaries supporting telling stories of the history of liberation, cultural and heritage importance had a target of 10, all of which was achieved.

Programme Four, which involves heritage promotion and preservation, covers national heritage archive services and public library services. This programme supports newly built and modern libraries, the promotion of national identity, books, documenting, bursaries, development of heritage policies,  and the upgrading of the national archive infrastructure, which also deals with the sub-programme of South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC) referring to the standardisation and transformation of South African geographical names. In terms of performance indicators, the number of students awarded with heritage bursaries was not due for reporting, but the target was achieved, and this will be reported on in the Department’s Annual Performance Plan (APP). The target number for books documenting living human treasures was five, of which all five were achieved. The target for the number of public awareness activations on the “I am the flag” campaign was four, of which the Department achieved all the targets, which is attributed to the increased demand from the stakeholders. The target of providing 20 flags to schools was met. Due to the higher demand from partnering departments, DSAC hosted three workshops to advance knowledge of National Symbols, overachieving in terms of its original target of two workshops. The Department set a target of three heritage legacy projects where exhibition content would be developed, and this target was achieved. The Department also achieved its target of one progress report on resistance and liberation heritage route sites, which was developed and approved.

The Department failed in terms of its target for digitised records. DSAC set a target to digitise 240 records, 150 of which would be treason trial dictabelts and 90 would be the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) audio tapes. The Department digitised 322 TRC audio tapes but failed to digitise any treason trial dictabelts. The reason for this is that the archeophones were faulty and had to be taken for repairs and servicing in France. As for the TRC audio tapes, the Department attributed this achievement to the increased capacity due to the involvement of an intern on a 24-month contract. In terms of corrective measures, the archeophones have been repaired and work should continue accordingly in future.

DSAC set a target to financially support 29 libraries and this target was surpassed with an additional two rollover project libraries that were newly built and/or modular libraries. Lastly, the Department set a target of a number of Gazette notices on standardised geographical names to be published, which was also achieved.

Dr Khumalo then asked the CFO to lead the Committee through the Department’s financial performance report.

Mr Israel Mokgwamme, Chief Financial Officer, DSAC, explained that of the R6.3 billion budget, the Department spent R6.2 billion (98.9%). This resulted in an under-expenditure of R68 million (1.1% of the budget). The main contributor to this was the compensation of employees, which underspent around R32 million. The Department attempted to keep the under-expenditure in this area by bringing contract workers against funded posts so that even if all the positions were not filled by the end of the financial year, the Department tried to temporarily fill these spots and provide experience to unemployed workers where needed. The next contributor was goods and services, which experienced an under-expenditure of about R7 million (1%). DSAC also underspent on its transfer payment, contributing to the biggest under-expenditure (R28 million).

Mr Mokgwamme then explained the expenditure per programme. In the Administration programme, the Department spent 97.1% of its budget, with a remaining under expenditure of R15 million. With the Recreation Development & Sport Promotion programme, DSAC spent 99.5% of the budget, with the under-expenditure coming in at R7 million. The Arts & Culture Promotion & Development programme spent 99% of its budget, with a remainder of R17.928 million attributed to the transfers. The Heritage Promotion & Preservation programme spent 98.9% of its budget, with an under-expenditure of R27.9 million. This under expenditure is because of the project that the National Library of South Africa was not able to complete before the end of the financial year.

The next slide showcased the budget figures for the Department per economic classification. Regarding Current Payments, which consisted of the compensation of employees and goods and services, DSAC spent 96.3% of its budget with a R39.6 million variance. The Transfers and Subsidies budget covered provinces and municipalities, Departmental agencies and accounts, higher education institutions, foreign governments and international organisations, public corporations and private enterprises, non-profit institutions, and households. DSAC spent 99.4% of its budget in this respect. The Payments for Capital Assets classification budget covered buildings and other fixed structures, machinery and equipment, heritage assets, software and other intangible assets. The Department spent 99.8% of its budget in this area. The Department spent 100% of its budget on the payments of financial assets.

Mr Mokgwamme briefly discussed the summary of the budget versus the expenditure per programme and economic classification. Programme One: Administration was the main contributor to under-expenditure in terms of employee compensation, with a 92% (R14 million) expenditure rate. This is the major under expenditure in programme one. Programme Two: Recreation Development and Sport Promotion experienced the biggest expenditure in Transfers and Subsidies, specifically within provinces, municipalities, and household categories. Overall, programme two experienced about R7 million in under-expenditure. Programme Three: Arts and Cultural Promotion and Development under spent in the Compensation of Employees category with approximately R4 million which can be attributed to the transfers as mentioned earlier. The programme’s largest expenditure took place in the Transfers and Subsidies category. In programme four, Heritage Promotion and Preservation, the largest under-expenditure took place in the Public Library Service category with R13.283 million under-expenditure. This is because of the transfer to the National Library. This programme experienced the second most under-expenditure of all four programmes, with the Compensation of Employees category ending with an R11.8 million (83.7%) variation. The Departmental Agencies and accounts category (the transfers to entities) came in with an under-expenditure of R12.7 million because of non-compliance with the National Library. In total, the programme underspent with R27.9 million (98.9%). With this, Mr Mokgwamme concluded the presentation.

See attached for full presentation

Discussion

Mr M Zondi (ANC) applauded the Department for reaching 81% of its targets and said that it should be encouraged by the benefit of the sports, arts, and culture economy. He noted the extreme importance of the monitoring of the implementation of the social compact. He asked what could have caused the delay in this area. The contents of this answer would be very important for social cohesion. Secondly, he asked why no reporting was required for the number of bursaries provided to qualified language practitioners per year. Mr Zondi also enquired about the reverse strategies that had been developed, asking if these strategies included a forward plan for the targets that were not achieved. 

Mr B Mamabolo (ANC) criticised the Department’s failure to achieve 100% of its targets, stating that when it comes to voting, people want to vote for a government that will achieve 100% of its targets. His first question concerned vacancies, specifically how many posts had been filled and how many were still vacant within the Department. He asked for clarification on the tender that closed in February that Dr Khumalo had mentioned. He also asked if there was a structure in place to create inclusivity among sports at schools, specifically in the spheres of rugby and cricket. He noted that many black male scholars played soccer at school, but the same cannot always be said for the other two aforementioned sports.

Mr D Joseph (DA) recently visited the Nelson Mandela University (NMU) and engaged with officials there on this entity. He asked if sports in itself will be included in the research regarding its positive impact on the country’s economy. From a financial perspective, he acknowledged the work and progress that the Committee is seeing and seconded the other Members’ questions about the vacancy rates within the Department. As for the National Library Service category, he asked if Limpopo and the North West were included in this category because he has raised this question in the past, but it was deferred to the province. What is the problem leading to the under expenditure in this area? Lastly, he asked what lessons the Department had learnt from the “I Am the Flag” project and if any of the funds had been carried over to the following financial year and if there was any plan to continue this project.

Mr E Mthethwa (EFF) commented on the support that DSAC offers to sports, including the sports facilities that the Department is supporting. He noted that the creative and cultural sectors seem to lack the same model of support. He asked what the reason for this inequality would be. Secondly, he asked for clarification on the Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of SA (CCIFSA) budget, and if it includes structural support for offices. If so, where are these offices located? As for youth programmes, what does this include? He also commented on the underspending in Limpopo, but it remains to be a province without a theatre. He asked what the plans are in this matter and how far these plans are to provide a theatre to Limpopo. Next, Mr Mthethwa asked what a sufficient budget would be for the Department, as this is constantly a matter faced by National Treasury due to the Department’s under-expenditure. Furthermore, he commented on the lack of information provided on the Department’s post-COVID recovery plan. Does the Department have a plan?

Ms R Adams (ANC) said that regarding the three national federations that were not compliant, does the Department have a plan to push the compliance of these federations because they are vital to sport and creation? She enquired about the Department’s plan to deal with unforeseen matters in not getting people to participate in sport, should it occur as a reason for deviation. She noted that the importance of swimming champions has been underplayed as one of the leading achievements, but DSAC should be applauded for ensuring that this target was met. How does the Department plan to ensure no deviation from this?

Ms V Malomane (ANC) requested that DSAC speak on the issue of transformation sectors because its reason for deviation said that its transformation status could not be assessed due to late or non-submission. She noted the importance of the issue of transformation.

Mr Mthethwa added that the Downtown Music Hub has never had an allocated budget since its’ inception in 2007. This information was provided by the custodian of the project. He asked why this project has not been allocated a budget and if there are plans to move forward for this. As for CCIFSA, he asked what the deliverables are in this respect.

Responses

Dr Khumalo asked if some of the answers that require information that the Department does not have on hand, be provided in writing after the meeting. She explained that the Department did advertise the position for the Director-General (DG) and through the Ministry, the process of appointment of the selection panel was done and the panel did convene to go through the process of shortlisting. Unfortunately, it was not able to table sufficient candidates to move on to the next stage of interviews. The Department has reconvened with HR to go through the process of recruitment and selection when it is unable to secure sufficient candidates. The Ministry and the Department have been trying to expedite the appointment of the Director General.

On the issue of the vacancies, she acknowledged that this had been a concern in the past. At this point, DSAC has made strides to ensure it fills all the funded vacant positions in the Department, which has led the vacancy rate to drop below 20%. Of the 32 vacant positions, some have been filled, but the Department is also in the process of appointing 15 employees to fill these positions, outside of those already filled positions. The delays were mainly due to challenges experienced with the verification of information of the recommended applicants. The issue has since been handled and the turnaround times will pick up.

Ms Zoleka Lamati, DSAC, explained that at the end of the 4th quarter, there were 712 employees in DSAC. Of those, 566 positions were permanently filled. The difference, 146, was the vacancy number which translated to 20.5% by the end of March. A number of reasons contributed to this, namely that there were 43 exits and only nine new appointments in the 4th quarter. This suggested that the vacancy rate would be larger due to the fewer new recruits and the larger number of employees exiting the Department. The Department also promotes internally within the Department, which is good for employee motivation but proves to be a challenge for HR because voids are being created elsewhere as it recruits. DSAC is currently sitting at 19.1% because it is trying to fill the vacancies timeously. HR does not advertise all the vacancies because it lacks the capacity, but instead, HR identifies critical positions that are vacant in executive meetings and requests that the acting Acting-Director General (ADG) approve the submissions to advertise these critical positions. The focus is thereafter returned to filling the other positions. HR is also mindful that posts should be filled within a period of six months, so if the Department advertised all the positions at once, it would not be able to fill these positions within the required time.

Ms Lamati explained that with regard to the tender, it was advertised when most of the ICT companies had closed for the festive season. The other reason that an assumption can be made is that the terms of reference did not provide sufficient information to enable the ICT companies to respond. What has since been done is the document has been erased and the Department has also engaged the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) to advertise the tender on behalf of the Department. However, SITA reported back to DSAC and said it would not advise the tender but would undertake the system development on the Department’s behalf. Currently, the terms of reference and user specifications have been finalised and SITA has sent a proposal which has been agreed upon. DSAC is now waiting for the approval of the proposal before it can proceed. The Department has informed SITA of the urgency of this project as it was carried over from the previous financial year and the system needs to be live and implemented by the end of this financial year.

Mr Mokgwamme acknowledged that the under expenditure on the compensation of employees is a concern. A strategy was implemented to appoint 96 contract workers in positions that the Department knew would not be filled by the end of the 4th quarter to reduce the under-expenditure. These contract workers were ungraduate students who were qualified but not have work experience. Regarding Mr Mamabolo’s question about the compensation of employees, the budget sits at 5.6% of a total of R3.6 billion, so the Department is in line with regulations stipulating that the compensation of employees may not be more than 10%.

Ms Sumayya Khan, Deputy Director-General: Recreation Development and Sport Promotion, Programme Two, started off with the indicators that were not achieved. She pointed out that indicator 2.3 depended on the sports federations that are part of the transformation process. Indicators 2.4 and 2.6 depend on the provinces to deliver on the targets because the conditional grant funds them. However, indicator 2.4 which is the number of people actively participating in sport and recreational activities, the Department has overachieved its target here. Similarly, the Department overachieved its target in indicator 2.6, which was providing equipment to sports hubs and clubs. Equipment and attire are distributed in all the provinces because the equipment is purchased through the conditional grant and forms part of the grant framework. The number and budget cannot be made available yet.

On the issue of the transformation target, Ms Khan indicated that of the three national federations that failed to submit their reports in time, the Football Association of South Africa (FASA) submitted its report at the end of the financial year and Chess SA has been suspended because of its governance issues and challenges. Basketball SA has also not submitted. There were written follow-ups and meetings with Basketball SA, but it is experiencing some challenges. If there is non-compliance with federations, there are severe penalties and other penalties the Department can apply. If a federation fails to comply with the process, the Department can either de-recognise or forbid it from hosting any national or international events. Presently, there are only 19 codes which are part of the transformation process, and the targets are heavily dependent on the federations. The gathering of information is a manual process and with that comes its own challenges. The Department is moving into a new Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) and in terms of this new framework, the Department wants to assess all federations, not just the 19 federations. For this to happen, the Department has started a sports information management system which the IT unit is preparing for the reporting from the provinces and federations.

These indicators are assigned for five years and while new indicators are set each year, some targets are brought forward from the previous year. As per Mr Joseph’s question, the transformation targets will be made available once the Department receives that information from the provinces. Regarding Mr Mthethwa’s question about the post-COVID recovery plan, the Department has a full recovery plan across all of its sectors. With regards to sports, DSAC looks at the monetisation of the sports world industry, where equipment and attire are sold. Job creation within the Department’s infrastructure space and the major economic driver is the hosting of international sporting events because it has a procurement spend issue and it has an issue of employment of people and it also brings an element of tourism. These are the efforts to benefit the economy. The assessments from the federations, such as rugby, have assessed all of these events and will give clear, reliable statistics on the impact of sporting events in the country.

Mr Simphiwe Mncube, Chief Director: Federation Support, DSAC, noted that the academy system is not a perfect system yet, but the Department is looking at reviewing it so that the system best facilitates for upcoming athletes. All the questions in his scope centred around the academy system, so he will address them in whole. He explained that DSAC is working with provinces to implement this programme. Through the provinces and provincial academies, it will be able to identify artists and athletes at a national and federation level. Recently, there have been a few athletes that have been identified and the Department is tracking them. Mr Mncube provided the Committee with examples of some of these athletes. What is also notable, that the Department has been insisting upon, particularly when it comes to codes such as swimming which has brought back many medals over the years, is the fact that the demographic space does not change. The Department is responding to this issue and some very promising athletes are emerging from the sport academies.

About 115 athletes went to the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) competition and all of these athletes came through the academies. The Department is also working with the BanyanaBanyana coach and agreed with the provincial academies to support the athletes who attended the World Cup. This is just one of the contributions the Department has managed to pull off.

In response to Mr Zondi’s question about why DSAC does not report on the number of bursaries for the development of language practitioners, Dr Khumalo explained that it was not due for reporting under the 4th quarter, as reported in the 3rd quarter. Each target falls under particular quarters, but she said this information will be available in the Department’s APP. On the question about language practitioners, Dr Khumalo noted that the Department has been handing out bursaries to language practitioners for almost 18 years. Each year, the Department gives out 312 bursaries to younger people in various forms of higher education institutions. The target in this area was just over 200 bursaries, but the Department has overachieved here because the cost of what each scholar studies differs depending on the institution they are studying at. The bursaries are paid directly to the universities or institutions. The total budget allocated to these bursaries since 2009 is R86 million. The area of jobs and whether they have been placed in jobs has been a concern for the Department and as a result, it has been incorporated, as of the next MTSF, the issue of placements. DSAC has taken cognisance of this effect because the Department needs to assist with job placements as well, rather than just focusing solely on the bursaries.

As for the market access platforms question, Dr Khumalo stated that it is as the indicator said. The number of market access platforms that DSAC financially supports is closely tied to the number of platforms artists have secured internationally, mainly after COVID. This also incorporates local platforms where artists will be able to gain exposure and form networks, such as in the South African Literary Awards, where awards are given to authors and publishers, and other forms of awards that create platforms for exposure and network. The budget in this respect is R36 million.

Mr Joseph’s question about SACO, Dr Khumalo said that SACO reports incorporate sport in terms of research and impact studies done within SACO. The Department was able to advertise a new tender in the 4th quarter, which will mean that any research that is done in both the field of cultural and creative industry and the heritage and sports spaces. She explained that the difference between what sport is able to do and what the cultural and creative industries are able to do is enabled by the legislated environment. Sport is already far advanced in terms of creating its own enabling environment through policies. However, strides have been made to create a similar environment for arts and culture. For instance, the revised white paper for arts, culture and heritage has been used as a fallback for what the Department is doing. Already, there is the Theatre and Dance Policy that DSAC hopes Cabinet will announce its approval. There is also a process to develop a Music Policy and Publishing Policy. However, in August last year, the Master Plan was also approved, creating the environment that will allow for forward movement for a better structure for the Department’s programmes. The main challenge that the Department is faced with now is that sport is not structured around sporting codes. There is no unit around athletics or a unit around soccer, which is how the Arts and Culture branch is structured. The Department is now structuring around interventions that need to happen to support the sector, for instance, capacity building.

She confirmed that the budget for CCIFSA is R5 million, which includes structural support. Around the issue of youth programmes, she commented that quite a number of programmes are highlighted here. For instance, in Youth Month, the Department focused on ensuring that young people were not only made aware of opportunities within the Department, but also within government, entity and corporate space. The Free State hosted the first Youth Careers Expo, where young people from schools, higher education institutions and out-of-school youth were able to interact with all those mentioned to increase exposure. There are also other programmes, but Dr Khumalo acknowledged that the Department needs to raise the extent to which they market these campaigns. The Young Patriots Programme, which has now been converted to the Young Creators Programme, has placed 270 young people in community centres and they are being remunerated, enhancing their opportunities for employment.

As for the theatre in Limpopo, it is one of the three provinces (Limpopo, North West, and Mpumalanga) that the Department is working with to ensure they have theatre facilities. Amongst the three, Limpopo’s process is the most advanced because the province received funding last year and the Department is in the process of providing them with funding again this financial year. They have completed the 1st phase of construction, which includes the title deed, and the last report indicated that the province is in the process of advertising for the appointment of a construction company. Dr Khumalo asked if the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme questions could be addressed in the Department’s presentation with the National Arts Council (NAC).

The Department has indicated in the past that it has an Economic Reconstruction Recovery Plan and is phased according to the results of the Department’s research on the survival rate of each of the eight cultural domains during COVID.

Lastly, in response to the Downtown Music Hub, there is an allocated budget of R6 million every year, including this year. There are other problems around the building itself and asset ownership that DSAC, the NAC and the Downtown Music Hub are currently handling.

Mr Charles Mabaso, Chief Director; Cultural Development, DSAC, would address Mr Mthethwa’s question about CCIFSA deliverables and where the entity is located. It rents an office in Newtown, Johannesburg, next to the Market Theatre. CCIFSA presents a business plan to DSAC annually, including its operations and programmes that it intends to engage in. For instance, it is currently having provincial conferences with the provision of setting up of councils, which will finally cover domains such as Music Councils, Theatre and Dance Councils. Another deliverable is, as Dr Khumalo mentioned, the policies that are in the process of being developed and approved. DSAC works on and monitors the business plan that CCIFSA provides.

Dr Khumalo said that the Department will come back to the Committee on 12 September, to answer the difficult question about the Department’s suitable budget, she said it is not as simple as just providing the Committee with a figure. It needs to consider how it will cost the applications that the Department receives for funding versus what the Department receives. The funding applications that the Department receives can sometimes equate to figures in the billions, but it is the structure that the focus should remain on. If one were to look at sport, the Department does not fund each and every athlete the same way it funds the people in the arts and culture creative industries. If DSAC can finalise the process that it is on, it can use the economic scale to address these particular issues.

Mr Nhlanhla Nkobi, DSAC, said that the Department placed the cart before the horse regarding social compact planning, which has resulted in the challenge that DSAC is facing. The monitoring of the social compact depends on the social compact for social cohesion and nation building process that is currently being finalised, so the entire process of monitoring would be futile if the process is not finalised. He reminded the Committee that the social compact is meant to be a contract that galvanises all the key stakeholders of our society to play a meaningful role in promoting social cohesion using their own resources. This includes sectors such as business, media, and labour to come on board and play a part. While DSAC is still engaging with them, the Department has hit some snags in some areas. For example, a concern has been raised about the lack of streamlining in terms of the compacting process by government. Last year, the Department of Social Development (DSD) went through the compacting process for the social sector. This took place outside of the process that DSAC had started around 2020. This process needs to be streamlined because it becomes difficult when an entity is involved in multiple compacting processes from different departments. Nevertheless, DSAC has drafted the social compact, monitoring framework and implementation plan. The Department will engage with various sectors (such as business labour) to come together to go over the draft and consider the dynamics that are involved. It will also discuss the idea of placing the social compact in the Presidency because it is beyond the mandate of DSAC, and it touches on various sectors of business, labour, and media.

DSAC has also finalised the review of its 2012 Social Cohesion Strategy, which will also serve as a form of compact through which various sectors can play a role in promoting social cohesion. Mr Nkobi noted that many sectors, for example, the media space, specifically SABC, are already playing a significant role in promoting social cohesion in terms of languages. The social compact then comes in as a tool that allows DSAC to coordinate this work. The reviewed social strategy is currently undergoing the Cabinet approval process. He believes that even if the social compact strategy has not been finalised, the reviewed social cohesion strategy will also serve as some form of compact which will allow other sectors to play a role in promoting social cohesion.

Mr Vusithemba Ndima, Deputy Director-General: Heritage Promotion and Preservation, said he would be responding to questions related to programme four raised by Mr Joseph. The first matter dealt with expenditure in Mpumalanga and Limpopo on the conditional grant. The second item was about the “I Am the Flag” campaign.

In response to the provinces, Mr Ndima explained that Limpopo overspent on infrastructure because of the appointment of alternative contractors, which could not be done on time. This is a challenge throughout the provinces because sometimes contractors are appointed and run out of resources in the middle of their tasks. Even though they accept the tenders, they are ultimately unable to do the work in the end. Regarding Mpumalanga, there is slow progress because of the new town construction and under-expenditure in terms of their capital assets. These challenges are not isolated to these two provinces; they are also experienced in the Northern Cape, where there was a challenge with the main contractor building on the depot. In Gauteng, there was also an issue of the procurement of library material, which is why one can see there is under expenditure there. The Northwest also underspent due to delayed procurement of library materials. There are infrastructure development issues and disruptions that impact the pace of library project implementation.

On the “I Am the Flag”, the entire Bureau of Heraldry has a budget of R7.2 million but out of this budget, R4.5 million is spent on buying standard flags, handheld flags, and workshops that are done in schools with educators. This campaign tries to demonstrate the centrality of the flag for every South African beyond just citizens, but also the players that leave the shores to represent us overseas outside the country, DSAC makes a point of having ceremonies where the flag is handed over so that people can proudly represent the country. The significance of this flag, being a post-Apartheid flag, represents the past and shows the movement from divergence to convergence. This is a symbol of freedom.

There is another programme that forms part of the APP which involves workshops that are conducted with educators and schools where DSAC teaches the students and educators about the whole range of national symbols and awards, not just the flag, so that students can understand the significance of these symbols. The Department has no plans to monumentise the flag; the Department has shifted its focus to education to ensure a clear understanding of the symbols and how they came about. A new democratic civilisation heralds these symbols.

Mr Songezo Patela, DSAC, provided the Committee with an update on the progress of the budget on the project, stating that DSAC is doing planning which includes reviewing the previous design and putting documentation together in preparation for the new contractor to complete that project.

The Chairperson asked if Dr Khumalo could ask Mr Patela to write down the rest of his answers because of his unstable connection.

Dr Khumalo confirmed that the Department will submit a written response on infrastructure-related issues and apologised for this.

Closing Remarks

The Chairperson thanked everyone on the platform for providing informative information and structured questions. She emphasised that the presentation and the responses from the Department were good, but she suspected that the transformation that relied heavily on the federations would be a slow process. She also suspected social cohesion would be a long road because the country is still divided.

Dr Khumalo thanked the Chairperson and the Committee for their feedback and recommendations, emphasising that these suggestions aid the Department in improving and guiding them in the future. She assured the Committee that the APP will showcase progress in the areas that the Committee identified in this 4th quarter report. She hoped that the area of social compact would receive a better report in the future. She agreed with Members that for DSAC not to have met the targets, it impacts service delivery and the budget. The questions raised indicate that despite the Department providing explanations as to why the targets were not met, it is important to spend the money taxpayers have allocated to the Department. Without being defensive, she assured the Committee that notes had been taken and the Department would attend to the areas pointed out in the meeting regarding targets not met. The questions that it could not respond to, but were not in the 4th quarter report, will be addressed in writing. Those responses will be with the Chairperson within the next week. She thanked the Committee and the Chairperson for asking pertinent questions that will enable DSAC to improve its functioning.

The Chairperson appreciated that the Deputy Minister could attend the meeting. She released the Department and its officials. She then moved on to the adoption of minutes from 29 August.

Afterwards, she noted that the Department took a hands-on approach in the meeting and that the Committee’s contributions towards the end of the quarter have been very effective. She thanked the Members for attending the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.