Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Budget Speech, responses by DA, FF+, IFP, EFF

Watch: Mini-plenary

2022 Budget Vote Speech By The Minister Of Sport, Arts And Culture, Hon. Nathi Mthethwa,

12 May 2022 @ 14:00

House Chairperson,
Deputy Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Hon Nocawe Mafu, Ministers and other Deputy Ministers here present,
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee of Sport, Arts and Culture Hon Beauty Dlulane, Honourable Members,
Chairpersons and Chief Executives of Public Entities, Distinguished Guests
Members of the Media Ladies and Gentlemen

1.0 Introduction

This budget vote debate takes place during Africa Month as declared by Cabinet of the Republic in 2015. It is a month where we highlight and celebrate our Africaness in a true Pan-African spirit. In so doing we salute our forebears who founded the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now African Union (AU) on the 25th of May 1963.

I want to single out the late former President of Tanzania, Julius Kambarage Mwalimu Nyerere. President Nyerere would have turned 100 years of age this year had he lived. We will continue to honour their legacy by ensuring the total integration of Africa and unity amongst all Africans.

Since South Africa started celebrating Africa Month 7 years ago, 36 countries across our continent have participated in different programs and one of the key programmes is the exchange of ideas mainly led by our public intellectuals. We refer to this part of our programme as the festival of ideas. Over this period we had the honour of having literary giants as Minister’s guests of honour. We can mention Ben Okri, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Mireille Fanon Mendès, amongst others. The Africa Month program has now been elevated to a continental level. This was occasioned by the AU 5th Pan-African Cultural Congress in 2018 adopting it as its flagship program. We are grateful and feel honoured by this gesture from our continental body, the AU.

 

COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc to humanity the world over for the past 24 months or so. South Africa was not spared of such as it is part of the global community. The South African sport and creative industries have been the hardest hit by the devastating pandemic.

Government’s response through relief, grants and the Presidential Economic Stimulus Package went a long way in softening the negative impact of COVID-19 in our society. This said, we acknowledge that not all benefited from such interventions by government. This is so because of the finite/limited financial resources at the disposal of the state. We tried to stretch the rand as far as we possibly could. Over this period, the Department has supported athletes, artists, and their organisations financially to the tune of R808 million benefiting 59,224 artists and athletes with 37,556 jobs created and retained.

In our endeavour to open up the sector again, in order to guarantee livelihoods, the Department under the stewardship of the Presidency led by the Deputy President initiated a campaign “Return to Play, It is in Your Hands”. The campaign’s roadshow covered 7 provinces, with the key objective of getting the nation to vaccinate. We thank the partnership we forged with both the sporting, creative and the private sectors for their contribution in driving the campaign. We are not out of the woods yet in terms of COVID-19, hence we say all hands on deck with the vaccination drive and encourage those who have not yet vaccinated to do so, because it is the right thing to do.

In the past two years, not all was doom and gloom, South African arts practitioners and artists remained true to their skill-set and continued to beat the odds. By so doing, they lifted the spirit of the nation when everyone was going through hardships.

We therefore acknowledge the perseverance and excellence of South African practitioners and artists who continue to raise the flag of South Africa high particularly on the international front, such as:

Thuso Mbedu – 2021 Hollywood Critic’s inaugural Association Awards Winner for her performance as Cora in Underground Railroad, and the 2022 Independent Spirit Awards Winner for Best Female Performance in a Scripted Series.
Prof Pitika Ntuli – 2021 Global Fine Arts People’s Choice Award Winner.
 

DJ Black Coffee (Nkosinathi Maphumulo) – 2022 Grammy Award Winner at its 64th annual chapter  at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Mandla Dube directed a world renown “Silverton Siege”, a story on the fervent offensive by MK cadres fighting for the release of Nelson Mandela. This iconic piece premiered at Sun City and was further shown in 192 countries in April 2022.

3.0 Arts, Culture, Promotion and Development (ACPD)

The Department continues to discover, develop and promote arts and culture in line with the Freedom Charter which declares “The doors of learning and culture shall be opened!”.

It continues, “The government shall discover, develop and encourage national talent for the enhancement of the cultural life”. Our approach to achieve the Freedom Charter’s injunction is the implementation of Mzansi Golden Economy strategy.

Since 2011, the MGE has supported more than 30,000 creatives across the spectrum to pursue their craft. The strategy is executed through five pillars, which are: The Research (by South African Cultural Observatory), Touring Ventures, Provincial flagships (festivals), Public Arts and Art Bank.

As the saying goes “you cannot manage what you cannot measure”. You cannot attract more funds to this important sector unless rigorous research can measure the value it produces. This is what informs our overall approach to the cultural and creative industries: science, data driven and evidence based planning, monitoring and reporting.

Whilst the 2020 mapping study shows that, the direct impact of the CCI’s (Cultural and Creative Industries) in 2018 was R74.39 billion, which accounts for 1.7% of South Africa’s GDP, in 2022 this contribution is R161 billion, accounting for 2.97% almost 3% of South Africa’s GDP. The creative economy’s contribution accounts for 6% of all employment in South Africa (an estimated 1 million jobs). This is a slight increase from 2017, when the creative economy made up 5.9% of all jobs (approximately 965,000 jobs).

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) creative economy outlook report of 2018 shows that South Africa is amongst the top 10 developing countries that are aptly dubbed exporters of visual arts. The report also found that cultural and creative goods exports from South Africa increased from US$270 million in 2005, to US$599 million in 2014, almost double. Designer goods (including interior design, jewellery and fashion) were the largest export category with the net value of US$315 million in 2014. The 2022
 

SACO’s mapping study outcome shows that design and creative services contributed 32% of the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) followed by audio-visual and interactive media at 30% and the visual arts and crafts made up 15% of the CCI’s contribution to the GDP. It is noteworthy to observe that the performance and celebration domain contributed only 6% of the CCI. This can be attributed to the restrictions on gatherings, free association and movement due to COVID-19 in line with protocols in infographics of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Youth Programmes

In order to mitigate high youth unemployment rate, the department supported several youth programmes. The following are amongst notable youth programmes that were supported:
Debut Fund program
The Young Patriots Program
Artists in Schools and
Film

The latter programme on film involves highly creative activities wherein a task is given to youth to produce 10 short documentaries of unsung African heroes and heroines. This culminated in the production of an anthology titled “Not all heroes wear Capes”. These documentaries will be showcased during the Heritage Month in the current financial year.

Community Arts Centres, Theatres, and Academies

In the past 3 years, 331 Community Arts Centres were supported by the Department through grassroots level programs. We continue to undermine the apartheid spatial development by creating spaces in provinces.

In 2021, we opened the Mandela Bay Theatre Complex in Gqeberha which was immediately declared as a Cultural Institution under the Cultural Institutions Act 119 of 1998, again in Northern Cape, Kimberly, we officially opened a theatre, a space for expansion of cultural and artistic ecosystem in the province.

National Academy of Africa’s Performing Arts

This is an initiative of Mr Caiphus and Mrs Letta Semenya and is almost complete with minor touch-ups on construction. It will offer a professional arts training in music, dance and drama.

Crafts

The department launched an inaugural program themed “Beautiful Things Exhibition” at the Graskop Gorge in Mpumalanga, from the 10-16 March this year. The aim is to make this an annual feature to ensure a wider scope, enhance inclusion of more crafters and allow for wider reach of potential markets.

Incubator program

Incubator program through arts institutions and works, are done amongst others, with Sello Maake-ka-Ncube, Professor Pitika Ntuli, Igoda Fashion Design, Creative and Technology hub. This is mainly the pipeline being formed from community arts centres to performing arts institutions and the academies.

Visual arts:
Venice Biennale: the biennale takes place every 2 years in Italy, Venice known as Venice Biennale Exhibition. It started from the 23rd of April and will go on until the 27th of November 2022 titled “Into the Light“. This is the world competition dubbed the Olympics of the Arts founded in 1895.

Three artists from South Africa named Lebogang Kganye, a visual artist, Dr Roger Ballen, world acclaimed photographer and writer, and multidisciplinary artist Phumlani Ntuli participated with notable success. With a maximum of 3 to 4 artists allowed per country, South Africa supported 39 established and upcoming artists to showcase at the Venice Biennale since 2011. Many have grown in stature, such as Mary Sibande, Dineo Bopape, Athi-Patra Ruga, Nandipha Mntambo, Sue Williamson, Candice Breitz, David Koloane, and Zanele Muholi, who are now prolific artists with solo shows in major galleries across the world.

Various schools across provinces totalling 300 in number are participating in the Mzansi Art School competition based on the theme “Into the Light” aligned to South Africa’s 2022 La Biennale Arte theme. The top three learners who will win will be given prizes and will also win a trip to Venice during the period of the Biennale.
 

Languages

The department financially support language practitioners especially those who study indigenous languages. On an annual basis we support on average 400 students to study across the country in different universities. These are University of Zululand, Northwest University, University of Venda, University of Western Cape, University of Witwatersrand, University of Fort-Hare, University of Free State, Nelson Mandela University.

Part of the colonial project was to ensure that African languages have no currency as they were excluded from use in corporate environment as well as in academia. It is encouraging that we are beginning to see students completing Masters and PhDs dissertations across a variety of academic fields using African languages. This is a remarkable fulfilment of the transformative constitutionalism obligation imposed on government by section 6 of the founding provisions of our Constitution.

Policy development

The South African Creative Industry Master Plan project is ready and will be tabled to Cabinet before the end of the current financial year. The Department has also been overseeing the process of drafting the theatre and dance policy which is now nearing completion. We will be embarking on the development of strategies and policies in literature, visual arts, design and crafts, and the standardisation of funding policy.

Wellness and GBVF programs
The department has combined the fight against GBVF with a wellness intervention program in a three-pronged strategy.

Baqhawafazi
At one level, an outfit called Baqhawafazi is running a GBVF survivors guild. This is a program that promotes a victim centred approach. It also provides a safe and secure platform for all victims and survivors of GBVF to share their stories.

Golekane
The emphasis of this particular program is about the socialisation of a boy child. These dialogues are characterised by fireside conversations between fathers and sons aiming at grooming boys to be better men in life.

Silapha
The Silapha wellness intervention is about the wellbeing of athletes and artists, be it on mental health, legal matters, financial management, amongst others. Since its launch in February 2021, 953 artists and athletes have been assisted.

Recognition of excellence in Arts and Culture
South Africa Music Awards.
South African Film and Television Awards.
South African Fashion Industry Awards
South African Literally Awards
Van Toeka Af Living Legends Recognition Series
These are some of the remarkable awards through which our country celebrates excellence in Arts and Culture.

4.0 Heritage Promotion and Preservation (HPP)

In the past period the program of transformation of the heritage landscape has seen a historic name-change redress programme. This became evident in that 71 towns, 3 cities, 6 Airports, over hundred villages and 40 Post Offices amongst others achieved new democratic South Africa identities.

The department has completed the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela house and exhibition in a town now known as Winnie Mandela.

The OR Tambo Garden of Remembrance is almost complete and will be opened during this financial year. It is ready to be launched fully equipped with Information Communication Technology (ICT) that will serve as a service-center to the local communities. The beneficiaries in the main will be learners.

South African National Monumental Flag

Processes are well underway to erect a monumental flag in Tshwane. The Department is mandated to promote nation building and social cohesion. The DSAC implements this mandate through, amongst others, the design, registration, and promotion of national symbols. National symbols, especially the flag, are pivotal in building a common identity and advancing unity. The National flag is one of the primary symbols that are markers of the country’s national sovereignty and are collectively used as a rallying point for national unity, social cohesion and national pride. The South African flag in particular, is the symbol of democracy. It forms part of the brand image of the country, and is displayed with pride in
 

celebrations, commemorations, sporting and artistic activities as well as during times of distress. Feasibility study was done and completed. The project will be funded from the DSAC budget within the MTEF period. The capital cost for this construction of the South African Monumental Flag is estimated at R22.5 million. The flagpole height would be 120 metres. The flag dimensions would be at least 10m x 15m. We are now moving towards the implementation of the construction phase. It is estimated that there will be 53 permanent direct job opportunities created during the operational phase of the project and further indirect jobs created throughout.

Riding the wave of the 4th Industrial Revolution - the Department finalised the national policy on digitisation during 2020/2021 financial year to accelerate the digitization programme.

Current projects

E-book Augmentation System (development of an electronic device which display books in digital form, readable on the flat panel display of computers, cell phones and other electronic devices).
Digital Dictionaries Resources for the N/uu language
Since 2019, 529 audio-visual records digitised (Treason Trial Dictabelts & TRC Audio tapes). This follows on the foot steps of the Rivonia Trial Dictabelts having been digitised few years earlier. As part of the Presidential Employment Stimulus Package, 45,099 pages and 26,397 photographs were digitised.
The Department has in the past three years financially supported the construction of 103 libraries equipped with ICT.
A project to digitise archival material was embarked upon in partnership with the Constitution Hill Trust. Records taken on board include the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) Multi-Party Negotiations Process (MPNP) and others.

5.0 Conclusion

As the country emerges slowly from the COVID-19 pandemic, so is government moving from grants and relief mode to sustainable economic recovery trajectory. Responding to the guide from research, we will in the main deploy resources accordingly. This will be done primarily through the implementation of the MGE strategy in order to recalibrate the sport and creative economy for the benefit of our athletes and artists.
 

Future milestones include working towards the urgent need for strengthened Cultural Diplomacy Framework; strengthened touring circuits programme in collaboration with the Department of Tourism and International Relations in the Africa region; practical AU collaboration in sports and culture reporting entities; the amalgamation of the reporting entities from 30 to 5 boards and councils in our country for nation building and social cohesion.

There is a dire need to have a world-wide African based digital platform that houses all online creative arts and sporting platforms for control and sustainability of intellectual property and patents of South Africa and the AU member States’ intangible heritage.

Thank you kindly, for your attention. ENDS/

 

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Speech by the Hon. Nocawe Mafu, Deputy Minister of Sport, Arts & Culture, on the occasion of the Budget Vote, Parliament of RSA, Cape Town, 12 May 2022


Chairperson
Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, the Honourable Nathi Mthethwa Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Ms B Dlulane
Honourable Members
DG and Officials of the Department
Chairpersons and Chief Executive Officers of our Public Entities Distinguished Guests
Members of the Media Ladies and Gentlemen

A year ago, when we presented our Department’s budget vote, our country was battling COVID-19 pandemic with no end in sight.

This year we meet following the devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal and the incalculable loss of lives and livelihoods. We are well aware that our sporting and recreation facilities were not spared when looking at the overall damage to infrastructure.

As a resilient people however, we are fully committed to mobilizing all our available resources in the quest to rebuilding lives. Our thoughts and prayers are also extended to those parts of the Eastern Cape and the North West that faced similar fate, as well victims of the fires in Langa, Cape Town.


During the 2022 State of the Nation Address, the President spoke of the need to forge a social compact that would not only set this country on a growth and development path; but would also ensure that South Africa over a period is socially integrated and inclusive; and that all have a fairer chance at life.
As the President counselled, this would require a compact among and between key sectors in society so that the goal of uniting South Africa becomes the responsibility of all.

Social cohesion and nation building remains one of the apex priorities of the 6th administration and in line with the Cabinet’s mandate given to this Department as a champion of the government’s Program of Action (PoA) on social cohesion.

Part of the exercise in the first Quarter of this current financial year will be to complete the mid-term review, as per standard guidelines from DPME in terms of management of government’s priorities and outcomes.


We are happy to report that we are on course to finalizing the social compact for social cohesion and nation building, whose building blocks were provided at the 2020 social compact national convention, with subsequent engagements with other stakeholders on the same following that convention.

In making social cohesion a societal undertaking, it is important that there is One message, Many Voices and multiple platforms. In that regard, we will continue giving support, whether technical or financial, to advocacy platforms for social cohesion as created by Social Cohesion Advocates.

Social Cohesion Advocates are an independent brigade appointed by the Minister to foster cohesion at the basic level of the community. These are volunteers who utilize their passion, experience and expertise to “evangelise” about social cohesion on behalf of government. For this financial year, we are committing R15 million in support of no less than 20 advocacy platforms by our Social Cohesion Advocates.
 

Part of the intention however, in this new financial year is to strengthen the capacity development component in our dialogues so that communities are left with the assistive tools to sustain the dialogues beyond the initial intervention by the Department. In this financial year, we will commit R7.8 million towards the dialogue programme

Chairperson and Honourable Members, we would like you to note that as part of the Social Cohesion programme, our Department continues to be committed, to the National Strategic Plan (NSP) against GBV and Femicide. And we will continue to make a contribution to the NSP, through two of the six pillars identified in the NSP; namely:

Prevention and Rebuilding Social Cohesion Pillar
Response, Care, Support and Healing Pillar


Part of the strategy is not to have stand-alone interventions on GBV and femicide, but rather to also endeavour to integrate this thematic thrust across all programmes, so as to leverage on available resources for maximum impact.

We will continue focusing on hotspot areas identified by the DDM mechanism as was the case with our recent activation in Lusikisiki, in the Eastern Cape, which is cited to be one of the major hotspots in the country when it comes to GBVF.

Chairperson,we have been encouraged by the level of scrutiny given to the moral regeneration programme – looking at the number of parliamentary questions in this first half of the year alone

In terms of our obligations to the MRM, we have committed R4.5 million this current financial year – and this is a commitment in line with the 3-year Memorandum of Agreement between our Department and MRM.
The special plea is that other sectors such as the religious fraternity, organized business and civil society to also join hands with us in supporting this noble project. There are provincial chapters that need support, and this need not be financial alone.
 

Sport can be used as a vehicle to foster cohesion, peaceful co-existence and mutual solidarity in our communities; and thus we will spare no effort in employing sport in support of this broader national imperatives, i.e. ensuring that South Africa progressively becomes a socially integrated and inclusive society. For this to realise, transformation of this sector has to continue to top the agenda of our Department.


According the latest EPG report, the country is making some strides in transformation of the sector, although there are still some areas of concern, e.g. ongoing gender inequality in all areas and at all levels of sport. Softball can be singled out as the number 1 transformed code.


Rugby is one of the borderline cases, showing some progress but not stable. As far as cricket is concerned, the Department has intervened to stabilize governance and we are happy. There is still more work to be done though. The other codes are work in progress.


As the Department, we have noted with concern, the resistence from some quarters but we will continue to engage.

Our intention this year, is to deploy the recently launched programme of the Sport Ambassadors, to provide the necessary support to the School Sport programme. By so doing, we can accelerate the footprint of participation to reach as many schools and learners as possible.
We are also committed to working closely with the recently established, SASCOC’s Gender Commission, on gender issues and transformation as part of strengthening our transformation efforts.
Chairperson and Honourable Members, One of the country’s most significant accolades was the decision by World Netball,to grant South Africa host status for the 2023 event.This decision was taken against strong opposition,from developed countries,some of which have hosted the event before.This honour by World
 

Netball to entrust the hosting of their most precious event to the African continent for the first time in 63 years,is one more opportunity for us to unite the country through the medium of sport.

On our side,we have committed some R30million per annum for each of the three years leading to 2023. A Board to organise the event is already in place,management staff is being appointed,broadcasters and sponsors secured,a Netball Fridays campaign is in motion - all things that point to a positive state of readiness. An Inter-Ministerial Committee(IMC) has also been formed to ensure full and comprehensive government support.


ACTIVE NATION

This programme has at its core,our commitment to support mass participation in sport and recreation,through the creation of access opportunities,in the form of requisite tools of trade and enabling environment to sport and club hubs,particularly in the disadvantaged communities.
Secondly,the programme deals with the important role played by school sport.

Mass Participation

The delivery of mass participation programmes presently rests with the Provincial Departments,through an annual grant from the national Department.
The Department was thankful to be able to implement the following 5 Active Recreation programmes,albeit under the strict covid-19 risk-adjusted strategy of limiting participation numbers to curb the spread of infections:-
Move for Health

Nelson Mandela Sport

Arts and Culture Day

National Recreation Day

Big Walk and National Youth Camps
 

A National Youth Camp was held at each of the 9 Provinces,with attendances of no less than 200 youth,at each site.


We are also glad to have successfully held to this year’s
National Indigenous Games Festival,at the Province of KwaZulu Natal - the same host province for the South African Sports Awards.

The national Department,in conjunction with the Provincial Departments,were able to utilise the Conditional Grant to see more than 300,000 people participating in sport and recreation events.

School sport

With regard to school sport,despite the limited success in driving the cooperation envisaged in the Memorandum of Understanding(MOU),between my Department and the Department of Basic Education,we still managed to increase the access to sport on the part of learners,through initiatives like the National School Sport Championships.


Achievements

athletes participating in District Championships;

accommodating the participation of learners in the National School Sport Championships,with a total of 2,714 learners participating at the Bloemfontein (football, chess and tennis); Germiston (athletics) and Pretoria (swimming) and legs of competition; and
Allocating financial support of approximately R114m to 61 Non-profit institutions.
Additionally, the Department supported the Boxing South Africa Strategy Workshop,whose aims included the repositioning of the organisation to be attractive to new boxers, broadcasters and sponsor, creating opportunities for
 

women boxers, preventing the exploitation of boxers and the formalising of an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), with the SA National Amateur Boxing Organisation (SANABO).


WINNING NATION

Following the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games,Team South Africa participated in the Games,when they eventually took place in July/August 2021.


Due to several limitations including the pandemic,team preparation was not as intense as it should have been for participation at the highest level.


For the record,Team South Africa ended up winning

3 medals at the Olympics in Swimming(1 X Gold and 1 X Silver) and Surfing(1 X Silver) and
7 (3 X Gold;1 X Silver;2 X Bronze in Para-Athletics and 1 X Gold for Cycling),at the Paralympics.
These results placed Team SA at position 52 at the Olympics and 34 at the Paralympics.


In subsequent discussions with the SASCOC President,Mr Barry Hendricks,we all agreed that the results were not a true reflection of available local talent and to that end we committed ourselves to do all we can to evaluate the performances,identify blind spots to be better prepared for future Games.


The Olympic and Paralympic Games were followed by successes in other sports codes,including SA Rugby’s sweet victory against the British and Irish
Lions,Blitzbokke winning streaks,Cricket SA’s victory against India and Football exploits through Banyana Banyana and Mamelodi Sundowns,who became the first Club in the continent to have won the Caf Champions League for both Males and Females.
 

INFRASTRUCTURE

The following achievements,nevertheless,capture our achievements in the provision of infrastructure:-
providing no less than 2,513 schools, hubs and clubs, with the required sports facilities and gear.
supported 29 municipalities through the ring-fenced MIG, at a total cost of R252 million. Furthermore, the Department’s contribution through provision of the management and technical support required to ensure compliance of the facilities with the required norms and standards, cannot be overstated.
delivered six outdoor gyms and children play parks, in settlements, across the country, in terms of the National Development Plan(NDP).
handed over outdoor gyms/children play-parks to some municipalities.

Launched a multi-purpose sports Court at Luthayi High School at Hammarsdale, KwaZulu Natal, as a legacy in honour of Protea Netball Team Captain, Ms Bongi Msomi, leaving a Netball World Cup legacy in the form of Netball playing facilities.

Honourable Chairperson, I therefore humbly commend this House to pass the budget as tabled!

I thank members for their attention!


ENDS/