The
Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report of the Portfolio Committee on Arts
and Culture on
the performance of the Department of Arts and Culture for the 2010/11 financial
year, dated 1 November 2011
The Portfolio Committee on
Arts and Culture, having assessed the performance of the Department of Arts and
Culture for the 2010/11 financial year, reports as follows:
1. Introduction
1.1 The
role and mandate of the Committee
The role and
mandate of the Committee is to:
·
Consider
the Budget Vote of the Department of Arts and Culture;
·
Consider
legislation referred to it;
·
Exercise
oversight over the Department of Arts and Culture and its statutory bodies; and
·
Consider
all matters referred to it in terms of legislation, the Rules of Parliament or
resolutions of the House.
In terms of the
Constitution of the
Section 5 of the Money
Bills Amendment Procedures and Related Matters Act No 9 of 2009 provides that:
·
The
National Assembly , through its Committees must annually assess the performance
of each National Department
·
Committees
must annually submit Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports for tabling in
the National Assembly.
A Committee reporting to
the National Assembly in terms of this section must submit its budgetary review
and recommendation report after the adoption of the Appropriation Bill and
prior to the adoption of the reports on the Medium Term Budget Policy
Statements (MTBPS).
For the period under
review, the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture, in exercising its
oversight role, had interacted with the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC)
and analyzed its 2010 to 2014 Strategic Plan, the 2010/2011 Annual Report of
the Department, the Auditor- General’s Report, the State of the Nation Address,
the 2010/2011 estimates of the National Expenditure and the Constitution of the
Republic of South Africa.
1.2 The
role and mandate of the Department of Arts and Culture
The Department of Arts and
Culture is tasked to create an environment conducive for the growth,
development and flowering of
1.2.1
Vision
The Vision of the
Department of Arts and Culture is to develop and preserve South African culture
to ensure social cohesion and nation building.
1.2.2
The mission of the
Department of Arts and Culture is to:
·
Develop
and promote arts and culture in
·
Develop
and promote the official languages of
·
Improve
economic and other development opportunities for South African arts and culture
nationally and globally through mutually beneficial partnerships, thereby
ensuring the sustainability of the sector;
·
Develop
and monitor the implementation of policy,
legislation and strategic direction for the identification, conservation
and promotion of cultural heritage; and
·
Guide,
sustain and develop the archival, heraldic and information resources of the
nation to empower citizens through full and open access to these resources.
1.2.3
Constitutional and legislative mandate
The primary legislative
mandate of the Department comes from Section 16(1) and Section 30 of the
Constitution of the
Section 16 (1) states that “Everyone has the
right to freedom of expression, which includes:
a)
Freedom
of press and other media;
b)
Freedom
to receive or impact information or ideas;
c)
Freedom
of artistic creativity; and
d)
Academic
freedom and freedom of scientific research”, and
Section 30 states that “Everyone
has the right to use language and to participate in the cultural life of their
choice, but no one exercising these rights may do so in manners inconsistent
with any of the provisions of the Bill of Rights”.
2.
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES AND MEASURABLE OBJECTIVES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND
CULTURE (DAC)
Through arts, culture and
heritage, the Department’s strategic plan seeks to serve South Africa’s wider
artistic and cultural needs and contribute to economic growth, job creation,
skills development, rural development, national reconciliation, nation building
and social cohesion.
The following strategic
focus areas are critical to the success of the Department:
2.1 Strategic
Priorities of the Department of Arts and Culture
·
Promoting
Arts and Culture for Social Cohesion
The Department supports the activities that form part of the broader
government priorities. The celebration and commemoration of national days will
continue to be used as platforms to promote the social, cultural and economic
advancement of vulnerable groups. The Department will continue with community
mobilization campaigns/dialogues to encourage communities to raise their
concerns and to participate in decision-making to address those concerns.
The Department continues to develop the official languages and promote
linguistic diversity through strategic programmes as required by the
Constitution and the National Language Policy Framework (NLPF). The Framework,
implemented since 2003, has provided direction for language planning,
translation and editing, terminology development and human language
technologies. The Language Practitioners' Council Draft Bill to enact the
establishment of the South African Language Practitioners’ Council is at an
advanced stage. The South African Languages Draft Bill will be revisited by
Cabinet.
Through its support for
creative industry, the Department aims to create jobs, and promote skills development
for women and the youth. The Department will continue to support the
establishment of sustainable SMMEs in the arts, culture and heritage sector
with the intention of improving the standard of living within communities.
,The
The Department will continue to use Heritage Month to promote
The Department of Arts and Culture has developed a National Policy on
Intangible Cultural Heritage that would provide a comprehensive framework to
safeguard and promote Intangible Cultural Heritage in
The National
Archives and Records Service continues to support and guide records and
information management procedures across government to ensure that records of
enduring value will be permanently preserved in the Archives.
Heraldic designs that reflect government imperatives, such as nation
building and social cohesion, continue to be developed and registered. The
designs are important for national identity and will be promoted through
various activities as part of the build-up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup and
beyond, including the Flag in Every School Project.
The transformation of the library sector will continue with the
implementation of the Community Library Conditional Grant in 2010. The
Department is also developing the South African Community Library and
Information Services Draft Bill to ensure the advancement of technology in
these libraries and further development so that they can be seen as
institutions of knowledge consumption, entertainment and self-development,
especially by young people. Community libraries need to be aligned with a
system of introducing new publications. There is a need to promote a network and
cooperation between community libraries and Intangible Cultural Heritage
institutions such as museums, galleries and heritage sites
2.2
Measurable objectives of the Department of Arts and Culture
2.2.1
Programme 1: Administration
2.2.1.1
Coordination Monitoring and Evaluation
The Department failed to
prepare the monitoring and evaluation report due to a delay in the finalisation
of the Department’s quarterly expenditure reports.
The Department of Arts and
Culture also had as one of its measurable objectives the coordination and
integration of the Department of Arts and Culture activities with broad
Government activities, but failed to do so and attributed this to the lack of
dedicated resources (human and financial) in the Provinces to execute the necessary
dialogue.
2.2.1.2
Human Resources Management
The nurturing of talent
through the Performance Management and Development System is given as one of
the Department’s measurable objectives. The Department had set a target for the
submission of all performance agreements to their Human Resources by 30 April
2010, the submission of mid-year reviews by 31 October 2010 and that all annual
assessment reports should be submitted by 30 April 2010. There were however
delays in the submission of performance agreements, delays in the submission of
mid-year performance reports and delays in the completion of annual assessment
exercises.
Compliance with the Human
Resources Regulatory Framework is also listed as one of the measurable
objectives of the Department. The Department set a target to have the Work
Place Skills Plan submitted to the Public Sector Education and Training (PSETA)
by 30 June 2010. The Work Place Skills Plan was approved and submitted to the
Public Sector Education and Training (PSETA) on 6 September 2010. There was a
delay in the approval of the Department of Arts and Culture Skills Plan.
The Department indicated
that legislation prescribed a minimum of 1% of the Department’s total budget to
comprise of a Skills Development Levy. The Skills Development Levies Budget of
the Department of Arts and Culture was currently standing on 1.5% of their
total budget. The Department also listed the address of health and wellness
issues in the workplace. Due to budgetary constraints the Department could not
implement any Employee Health and Wellness programmes.
2.2.1.3
Information Communication Technology
The integration of
Information Communication Technology infrastructure in the Arts, Culture and
Heritage Sector is listed as one of the measurable objectives. The Department
set a target of 80% of security systems to be implemented (proxy server,
anti-virus updates, encryption reinstallation, intrusion detection systems).
The Department could only manage to implement 70% of the Information
Communication Security systems. The reason for variance given was the
discontinuation of encryption software as a result of malfunction.
2.2.1.4
Facilities Management
The improvement of
conditions of building safety security and disability access in all buildings
utilized by the Department of Arts and Culture entities is listed as a
measurable objective. The DAC set the development of norms and standards on
security for museums as a target and managed to develop methodology for norms
and standards on security for Museums. The reason for variance given was the
prolonged approval of the service – level agreement between the Department of
Arts and Culture and the service provider.
2.2.1.5
Corporate Governance
The promotion of corporate
governance in the Public Sector is the measurable objective under this auspice
of the Department. The Department set a target of 100% of public entities to
receive unqualified annual reports. The Department could only manage 84% of
public entities to receive unqualified annual reports. The reason for variances
given here was non compliance of public entities.
2.2.2
Programme 2: Arts and Culture in Society
2.2.2.1
Arts Social Development and Youth
The promotion of gender
equality and equity in arts, culture and heritage is specified as a measurable
objective under abovementioned. The Department set as a target the
establishment of a Department of Arts and Culture Reference Group on inputs on
drafting a National Gender Policy on Arts and Culture. The Department could not
establish the DAC Reference Group and gave insufficient capacity as a reason
for deviance.
2.2.3
Programme 3: National Language Services
The Department of Arts and
Culture lists the provision of skills development in the language profession.
The target for the awarding of bursaries was to distribute 100 postgraduate
bursaries. A total of 119 bursaries were awarded.
2.2.4.
Programme 4: Cultural Development and Cooperation
2.2.4.1
To transform the sector
The strategic thrust of
this programme was to improve economic and other development opportunities for
South African arts and culture, nationally and globally, through mutually
beneficial partnerships, thereby ensuring the sustainability of the sector.
One of the strategic
objectives under cultural development and cooperation is to transform the
sector. The Department set as a target the approval of cultural policies in
cultural industry sectors. The actual performance that they had achieved was
the conclusion of the Research report and recommendations to inform the policy on
visual arts and the development of a draft policy discussion framework for
technical service and events document. The task team report on the development
of a Books Sector was being perused internally and consultations with the
Department of Trade and Industry on the development of a National strategy for
the music sector were initiated. The reason for variances on the aforementioned
was budgetary constraints, capacity constraints and a moratorium on the
Cultural Development Programme of the Department.
2.2.4.2
To develop and transfer skills
The Department had a target
of having the Skills Development Plans approved, but the reason for variance on
this target was given as a change of focus and the reprioritizing of the
allocated budgets for skills programmes for
projects.
2.2.4.3
To develop institutions
The Department set a target
of presentation of draft proposals and reports and the establishment of music,
crafts design, fashion and visual arts bodies. Their actual was the appointment
of National Film and Video Foundation council members. The terms of reference
for the analysis of the craft sector value chain was developed, advertised and
an evaluation committee was established. The reason for variances was the delay
in the consultation process and a moratorium on Cultural Development.
2.2.4.4
To consolidate the African Agenda on Culture
The Department had the
development of an African continental strategy on the regeneration of the
Reconstruction Development Programme as a target. The Department achieved the
target.
2.2.4.5
To promote South African arts, culture and heritage internationally
The Department of Arts set
a target to consolidate information from the Cultural Diplomacy Conference and
to also develop the first draft of the National Policy on Cultural Diplomacy.
The concept papers were developed, the reference group appointed, steering
group was established and a call for papers were issued.
The reason for variance was
that the Cultural Diplomacy Conference was planned for November 2011.The
Department explained that they decided to reschedule the conference to a later
date due to the congestion on the calendar of International Conferences being
conducted in
2.2.4.6 To strengthen Bilateral Relations
The auditing of all existing
bilateral agreements was set as a target. The Department’s actual performance
on this included the signing of a film treaty with Australia, a signed letter
of intent on language with Belgium and the Netherlands, the painting of a
Ndebele Mural at the Nelson Mandela Forum in Italy, the donation of a rock art
replica donation by the President of the Republic of South Africa to the
President of Mexico to celebrate the bicentenary of Mexico’s independence and
the centenary of the revolution and the Ministerial participation at Long Bien
Festival of Arts 1000 years anniversary of the founding of Thang Long in Hanoi,
Vietnam.
The Department of Arts and
Culture cited capacity constraints for their inability to achieve the target
that they had set.
2.2.5
Programme 5: Heritage Promotion
The Strategic thrust of
this programme involved the development, monitoring, implementation of policy,
legislation and strategic programmes for the identification, conservation and
promotion of cultural heritage for Socio- Economic Development.
2.2.5.1
Heritage Promotion
One of the measurable
objectives is the strengthening, collection, preservation and the promotion of
national heritage through the development and implementation of cultural
heritage policies for the sector. The output was to have a legacy project
policy developed. The legacy project policy could however not be developed due
to capacity and budgetary constraints.
Another measurable
objective entailed the development of inclusive audiences. The development of a
conceptual and strategic framework was set as a target. The Department could
however not achieve this target due to budgetary and capacity constraints.
2.2.6
Programme 6: National Archives, Records, Library and Heraldic Services
The strategic thrust of this
programme is to guide , sustain and develop the archival, heraldic and
information resources of South Africa so that good governance is supported,
socio-economic development is sustained and citizens are empowered through full
and open access to these resources.
One of the measurable
objectives is to transform the archival services in terms of legislation. The
Department set the drafting of a Bill and consultation as its target, but could
however not draft and consult on the Bill. The reason for variance was a change
of focus to concentrate on funded priorities.
3. ANALYSIS OF STRATEGIC
AND OPERATIONAL PLANS
The activities of the Department are organized under the following
programmes:
Programme 1: Administration (Corporate Services)
The main aim of this
Programme is to oversee the overall management and centralized support services
to the departmental core programmes in order to create an enabling environment
for the achievement of departmental objectives.
Programme 2: Arts and Culture in Society
The aim of the programme is the:
·
Promotion
of arts and culture in
·
Promotion
of social enrichment, social cohesion and nation building through arts, culture
and heritage;
·
Promotion
of social inclusion of previously marginalised groups in arts, culture and
heritage; and
·
Socio-
economic empowerment of women, youth and special groups through skills
participation and opportunities in the arts, culture and heritage sector.
This programme was developed
to promote social cohesion in
Programme
3: National Language Services
The Strategic Objective of the programme is to
develop, promote and protect all official languages through policy formulation
and implementation.
The programme aims to
provide a translation and editing service to government departments, to promote
recognition of the language profession, to provide skills development in the
language profession, to develop literature in compliance with the National
Language Policy Framework, to develop specialized terminologies in official
languages, to establish a National Centre for Human Language Technologies and
to facilitate and coordinate Human Language Technology projects and activities.
Programme 4:
Cultural Development and International Cooperation
The main aim of the
programme is to improve access to sustainable markets by driving and supporting
initiatives aimed at moving 660 creative industries practitioners from the
fringes of economic activity into the mainstream in 2011/12. This programme’s
objective is to increase access and participation by arts and culture
practitioners in international markets by adding 10 more signed international
agreements, programmes of cooperation and cultural exchange by March 2012. This
programme is going to implement a new Investing in Culture structure and
funding model by August 2011 to accelerate job creation and poverty alleviation.
Programme 5: Heritage Promotion
The Heritage Promotion
Programme aims to promote the appreciation of heritage by developing new commemorative
structures and national legacy projects in 2011/12 that reflect South African
history, such as the Sarah Baartmann Centre of Remembrance in Hankey; the Women’s
Museum in East London; the Khoisan Heritage Route in all none provinces, the
Bhambatha Rebellion Against Poll Tax Legacy Project and the commemoration of the
Matola Raid in Maputo.
Programme 6: National Archives and Library Services
The Programme aims to
improve good governance by promoting efficient records management in organs of
state, approving submitted filling plans and systems and disposal authorities
and issuing at least seven guidelines or circulars per year. The objective of
the programme is to ensure more equitable access to library resources over the
2011/12 financial year by developing and implementing a policy framework for
norms and standards for community libraries by March 2012.
4. THE ANALYSIS OF
DEPARTMENTAL ALLOCATIONS AND EXPENDITURE REPORTS 2010/11 (SECTION 32 OF THE
PUBLIC FINANCE MANAGEMENT ACT)
The Department of Arts and
Culture was allocated an amount of R2.4 billion for the 2010/11 financial year.
Over the medium term, expenditure is expected to grow from R2.4 billion in
2010/11 to R2.8 billion in 2013/14, at an average annual rate of 4.5 per cent.
By the end of quarter 4 of
2010/11, total expenditure by the Department as a percentage of total available
funds amounted to 92.1 per cent or R2.2 billion of the available adjusted
appropriation of R2.4 billion, with total under expenditure of R192.4 million.
In 2009/10, the Department spent 84.5 per cent or R2.2 billion of the
available adjusted appropriation of R2.6 billion. Spending has improved
marginally when comparing 2010/2011 to 2009/10, especially in respect of
capital works.
EXPENDITURE 2010/11 PER PROGRAMME
Programme 4: This programme spent 82.2 per cent or R187.7 million of the available budgets of R228.4 million in 2010/11 compared to R158.6 million of the available R199.6 million in 2009/10. The slow spending can mainly be attributed to poor spending by the Investing in Culture Projects. In 2009/10, the Department transferred a total of R11.8 million of the available Investing in Culture Project budget of R52.5 million compared to 69.6 per cent or R81.7 million in 2010/11, with an under spending of R35.8 million. The project was suspended pending a forensic audit by the Special Investigating Unit. Since the lifting of the moratorium, payment of transfers had improved significantly.
Programme 6: This programme spent R91.3 percent or R579.7 million of the available budget of R634.8 million. The major under spending by this programme can be attributed to transfers to the Community Library Services Conditional Grant that were withheld. The National Department of Arts and Culture withheld an amount of R50.2 million, due to slow spending by provincial departments.
Economic classification spending trends
Goods and Services: The DAC spent R208.4 million or 92.1 per cent of the adjusted appropriation of R226.3 million. The total adjustments appropriation of R64.3 million takes into account a R54.3 million virement from transfers to households because of funds that were incorrectly classified in the 2010 ENE. The under expenditure on goods and services totalled R17.8 million.
Transfers and subsidies: At the end of the fourth quarter, the Department transferred a total of R1.9 billion or 91.7 per cent of the available R2.1 billion. Slow spending on the Investing in Culture Programme and the withholding of funds due to poor spending by provinces on the Community Library Services Conditional Grant resulted in under spending of R170 million.
Capital Assets: The Department spent 33.6 per cent or R2.2 million of an allocated budget of R6.6 million by the end of March 2011. The slow spending was due to delays in purchasing computers and office furniture for senior management staff across all programmes.
5. ANALYSIS OF THE ANNUAL REPORTS AND AUDITED FINANCIAL
STATEMENTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND CULTURE
5.1 Statement of Financial
Performance
5.2 Analysis of the Auditor
General’s Opinion: 2010/2011 Financial Year
For the financial year
under review, the Department received an unqualified audit report. The reasons
for such unqualified audit report were that the financial statements of the Department
present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position of the Department
of Arts and Culture as at 31 March 2011, and its financial performance and cash
flows for the year then ended in accordance with the Departmental Financial
Reporting Framework prescribed by the National Treasury and the requirements of
the Public Finance Management Act of South Africa, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999)
(PFMA).
However, the audit report
also pointed to some irregular expenditure of an amount of R 64, 5 million as
expenditure incurred related to previous years. The report also pointed to an
unauthorized expenditure of R41, 5 million related to the 2008/09 financial
year for shifting of funds earmarked for the 2010 FIFA World Cup budget.
Further, the report pointed that the department incurred fruitless and wasteful
expenditure of R 743 000 relating to the 2008/09 financial year. An investigation
was being conducted regarding the above misspending of public funds.
6.
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS OF THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
The Committee on Public
Accounts had not yet considered the Department of Arts and Culture 2010/2011
Annual Report
7. ANALYSIS OF QUARTERLY
EXPENDITURE REPORTS
7.1
[To date, the portfolio
committee’s method of work does not include the quarterly evaluation of the Department’s
spending and performance. This part of the report is therefore based on
expenditure information supplied by National Treasury]
7.2 Notwithstanding
the above, both the Committee and the Department recognized the urgent need for
regular interactions and quarterly reporting in order to ensure accountability
and improve service delivery.
8. OBSERVATIONS
The Committee has observed
that the Department of Arts and Culture has a very small budget, but yet they
are responsible for the promotion of social cohesion. The Department also seems
not to be adequately monitoring the entities that they are responsible for.
The Department also has a
27% vacancy rate of which 4.9 % is funded. In addition to the Department’s
failure to monitor its entities, the Department of Arts and Culture also lacked
its own monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. The Department’s moratorium on key
programmes furthermore hampered job creation.
The Committee observed that
the Department of Arts and Culture should be moved to the Economic Cluster. The
Committee also felt that the Department had no timeframes attached to its
programmes.
9.
RECOMMENDATIONS
·
The Department should address their capacity and
financial constraints as a matter of urgency to fast track service delivery.
·
The Department should put in place monitoring and
evaluation mechanisms to ensure that the entities that they were responsible
for complied with the Public Finance Management Act, Treasury Regulations and
other relevant legislation.
·
The Department of Arts and Culture should relook
its organizational structure and make a thorough analysis of its staffing
needs.
·
The Department should revisit its funding of the
different programmes and make a thorough analysis and measure it against its
measurable objectives.
·
The Department should lower its targets to make it
more realistic to its low budget that it receives from National Treasury.
·
The Department of Arts and Culture and the
Committee should have closer interactions on the Supply Chain Management of the
Department.
·
The Department should give more detail on their
reason for variance for future annual reports.
·
The Department should attach realistic timeframes
for its programmes.
Report to be considered