Departments of Education, Arts & Culture and Sport & Recreation: Budget Votes, Committee report adoption

Meeting report

Committee Report on the Department of Education Budget Vote
The Chairperson tabled the Committee Report (the Report) on the Department of Education’s budget vote.

Mr TA Mashamaite (ANC, Limpopo) said that the draft Report reflected what the Committee had debated and that the recommendations contained what the Committee had discussed and agreed upon. He proposed that, unless other members had anything to add or discuss, the Report be adopted.

Mr S Plaatjie (COPE, North West) said that, in regard to the Systems Planning and Monitoring, more attention must be paid to speeding up the Learner Unit Record Information Training System (LURITS) as it was not working properly. He referred to the provincial spending mentioned under the paragraph on Education Funding in South Africa, and asked whether the budget was redirected towards compensation, thus neglecting other operational spending. He would like these points noted.

The Chairperson asked that Members should refer specifically to the recommendations section in the Report and indicate whether they wishes to add anything.

Ms B Mncube (ANC, Gauteng) noted that there was no recommendation on school sports. She asked how to ensure that the Department of Sport and Recreation (SRSA) and the Department of Education (DOE) would work together to promote sport in schools and improve sports infrastructure in schools.

Ms D Ranto (ANC, Eastern Cape) said that SRSA had raised this point and made it clear in the budget that it would be working together with the Department of Education. She said that the Committee should emphasise this and ask that that a specific budget allocation be made in this regard.

Mr Mashamaite said that the Committee should insist upon a date to be set by which the Memorandum of Understanding between SRSA and the DOE would be signed.

Mr M De Villiers (DA, Western Cape) said that if the Committee felt strongly about a particular issue it would need to write a memorandum to address this issue, so that the Department of Education could put more emphasis on school sports.

The Chairperson said that this was not the right time to be discussing school sports. The original discussion had been around physical education. The difference between physical education and school sports was not always appreciated. There was also a Memorandum of Understanding between the two departments. The issue revolved around monitoring and how to ensure that there was sport in schools. The issue now under discussion related to development, and how difficult it would be to develop something if it was not started at school level. 

Mr Plaatjie referred to recommendations in the Report, and said that those who dealt with schools’ finances were not the teachers, but the School Management Teams (SMTs) and School Governing Bodies (SGBs). He therefore proposed that the word ‘teachers’ should be replaced by ‘SMTs and SGBs’, so that the sentence read: “to ensure that SMT’s and SGBs get proper financial training”.

The Chairperson agreed with his point. She then referred to the issue of Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD) for teachers. The Department had indicated that it had already signed the OSD for teachers, but there still remained some outstanding issues. She said that these must be identified, that the Department should say how they were addressing them, and ensure that everything was addressed to avoid the sort of problems that had arisen in the Department of Health.

Mr Plaatjie, Ms Ncube and Mr De Villiers agreed.

The Chairperson then referred to the issue of Learner Transport, and said that the Department of Education should furnish the Committee with its policy around this issue, as currently there was only a framework but no policy, which meant that the situation varied from province to province.

Members adopted the Committee Report on Budget Vote 13: Education, as amended
 
Committee Report on the Department of Arts and Culture Budget Vote
Mr De Villiers said that the Committee had asked the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) for a programme where new libraries were to be built in previously disadvantaged communities, as well as providing better quality reading material. That did not seem to be reflected in the Report.

The Chairperson noted this query.

Mr De Villiers also said that the reference, in the recommendations section, to “national anthem” should be amplified by addition of the words “and all other national symbols”.

Ms Ncube said that the reference to “female official” should rather read “female officials”. Considering the high level of violence against women, she felt it important to prioritise the empowerment of women.

The Chairperson suggested that this sentence should rather make mention of Employment Equity, as this covered all sectors, not only women.

The Chairperson raised the issue of languages, and said that there should be a Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Arts and Culture and the Department of Education which would address the issue of promotion of other languages.
 
Ms Ranto said that such a Memorandum of Understanding should in fact also include the Department of Sport and Recreation, so that languages could be promoted through sport, arts and culture and education. She also asked for a strong emphasis to be placed on the empowerment of women.

The Chairperson agreed with her first point. However, in relation to women’s empowerment, she cautioned that this Committee should not show a bias towards women, as the Committee must serve all of society.

Mr De Villiers referred to the National Language Service Priorities, and said that it was important for the Department to fund people who wished to write books in their own indigenous languages. This point, he felt, should also be included under the recommendations.

Members adopted the Committee Report on the budget vote for Department of Arts and Culture, as amended.

Committee Report on the Department of Sport and Recreation Budget Vote
Mr Mashamaite noted the reference to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Sport and Recreation and the Department of Education, and reiterated that a timeframe – for instance, one month – should be given for the two Departments to finalise the Memorandum. He also felt that the SRSA should be given a timeframe for delivery of a report on the challenges experienced during the Confederations Cup and how these challenges would be addressed for the 2010 World Cup.

Ms Ncube proposed that the timeframe for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding be set at three months from the date of this meeting.

The Chairperson said that she did not think a timeframe should be specified in this Report, but that instead this issue should be included in the Committee’s programme for the next term.

The Chairperson asked for clarity on the reference to participation fees.

Mr Plaatjie said that the problem was that some schools were charging learners for their participation in the sporting codes. He suggested that the sentence should instead be amended to read: “to ensure that schools do not charge learners participation fees for participating in a particular sports code”.

Ms Ncube made the point that these charges were supposed to be included into the school’s funds.

The Chairperson said that clearly the charges should not be made. This Committee, as representatives of the public, must oversee such issues. She would request the Committee Researchers to provide further information on the point so that the Committee could investigate the issue and report back, after the recess.

Mr Plaatjie said that it was not a national issue, but rather a province-specific one, and was more prominent in some districts than in others. He indicated that the problem was rife in his own district.

The Chairperson said that there would in the future be direct interaction with Members of Executive Committees and Heads of Departments to ensure proper accountability on the issue.

Mr De Villiers also said that he had seen no mention of the building of facilities at schools in the Report.
 
Members adopted the Committee Report on the budget for Sport and Recreation, as amended.