PRESENTATION TO THE AD HOC COMMITTEE ON ARTS AND CULTURE REGARDING THE 2004/2005 ARTS AND CULTURE BUDGET
14 JUNE 2004
Background
The Northern Flagship Institution is a national museums institution that falls under the auspices of the Department of Arts and Culture. The institution was established in terms of the Cultural Institutions Act, Act 119 of 1998. It is governed by a Council of Trustees that is appointed by the Minister of Arts and Culture. The NFI consists of three national museums that were amalgamated on I April 1999 under the aforementioned Act. They are Transvaal Museum, the South African National Museum of Military History and the National Cultural History Museum and its five thematic satellite museums- Kruger House, Sammy Marks, Tswaing Crater, Willem Prinsloo Agricultural
Museum and Pioneer Museum. The Vision, Mission and the Strategic Objectives of the NFI are: Vision of the NFI
The vision of the NFI is:
To be a world-class institution that instills pride in and enthusiasm for South Africa's cultural and natural heritage institutions
Mission of the NFI
The mission of the NFI is:
To ensure sustainable management and development of South Africa's heritage resources for the benefit of present and future generations through conservation, research and public programmes.
Keyperformanceareas
The NFI administers three national museums and five sight museums as well as the head office that renders services in terms of administration, finance, human resource management, logistics,
education, marketing, displays, publications and information technology. Its core business areas
(key performance areas) may be summarized as follows:
• Conservation and research
• Public programmes
• Internal support services
Strategic objectives
The key performance areas are clustered into the following strategic objectives:
Conservation and research
• Collections management and documentation (this includes movable natural and cultural history collections (specimens, live animals and objects), immovable natural and cultural history collections (vegetation, sites, structures, buildings) and associated information
• Preservation and restoration • Acquisition
• Collections-based research
• Research on indigenous knowledge (places, people, wildlife, botany, geology etc)
• Heritage impact assessment and management
Public programmes
• Exhibitions, displays, site interpretation
• Educational programmes • Publications
• Stakeholder involvement programmes
• Community involvement programmes
• Outreach programmes
• Heritage tourism programmes Support services
• Human resources management
• Financial management
• Logistic services and security
• Information communication technology
• Corporate communications: Marketing, public relations, fundraising
• Business development: Shops/trading, facilities rental
• Policy development and planning
MANAGEMENT ISSUES The leadership history of the NFI has since its establishment in 1999, not been stable as the Institution lacked a permanent Chief Executive Officer until October 2003. The current Council was appointed in May 2003 .The institution has had no stability and direction until the appointment of the new CEO and council.
Theproblemareas Lack of human capital • The absence thereof crippled the very purpose and existence of the Institution since there is neither a marketing and communicating strategy nor a person to drive the process.
• No permanent Human Resources Manager or Chief Operations Officer and Purchasing Manager to ensure the development and effective implementation of policies.
Skills Development challenges
• Human Resource Development has not been effectively addressed to provide the museums in order to attract more visitors.
• The training and development of staff to meet challenges posed by globalization and technology in the international museum market.
Staff retention / remuneration • The salary scales are not commensurate with the other spheres of government or public entities. This poses serious challenges to the NFI in terms of attracting and retaining the necessary skills and expertise to carry out the legislative mandate.
Capital projects
The NFI is unable to address most of these issues due to budget constraints as shown
below:
2003/04 2002/03 BUDGET R’000 R’000
Government grant 29,201 R26, 762
Other Income 5,1095 ,577 TOTAL INCOME 34,310 32 ,339 ACTUAL 37,98132 ,130
VARIANCE (3 ,671)209