It therefore remains a great concern that the National Language Service continuously receives the lowest amount of our budget.
On declared cultural institutions, such as museums, the budget is set to be R323 million. The problem is that some get R58 million, others get R30 million, and others still get as little as R4,9 million. What is wrong? There must be some system to be able to allocate these funds in a better way, as it is currently being done by thumbsuck.
Museums with rich histories, such as the Magersfontein Memorial Museum and the McGregor museum in the Northern Cape, don't get a cent from this department. I can see that in the budget.
PanSALB's projects in the past financial year have been hampered by the fact that the chief executive officer, CEO, has been on suspension with full salary benefits, and that has been going on for the past two years. This is shocking, as they now want even more than the R56 million which was budgeted for 2011-12.
The Department of Arts and Culture's spending in provinces is also a cause of concern to us. Gauteng is getting 40%; provinces like Mpumalanga are getting a fraction of that, only 3%; North West is getting 4%, and the Northern Cape, 7%. To me the point that most activities are run from Gauteng does not hold water. I only have to look at the allocated budget for this department and some of the above facts and I smell a rat!
It is a great concern to the DA that this department was found by the Auditor-General to have had irregular expenditure of over R60 million. There were also a number of forensic audits which led to the dismissal of several employees. These forensic audits have cost the taxpayer millions of rands over the past few years.
How much money was really lost through this corrupt behaviour which led to the dismissal of the nine provincial co-ordinators of the Investing in Culture Projects? How does the department intend to recover such money from these dismissed officials? Will the department lay criminal charges against these employees? There are still stacks and stacks of questions that remain to be answered, Minister.
In conclusion, Nelson Mandela's dream of a rainbow nation with one future needs to be nurtured by all of us. We have to send a clear message to our nation, of unity and citizens living together harmoniously with a sense of belonging. Thank you. [Applause.]