South African Weather Service & SANBI on their 2015/16 Annual Reports

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment

13 October 2016
Chairperson: Mr M Mapulane (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

Documents:
SANBI Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements for 2015/16; South African Weather Service Annual Report for 2015/16 [awaited] 

Annual Reports 2015/16 

The Committee received briefings from the South African Weather Service (SAWS) and South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) on their Annual Reports and audited financial statements for 2015/16 financial year. SAWS had managed to improve in terms providing effective leadership based on a culture of honesty, ethical business practices and good governance. There were still concerns in regard to the design and implementation of formal controls over information technology systems to ensure the reliability of the systems and the availability, accuracy and protection of information. SAWS was able to achieve a total of 24 out of the total of 28 targets (86%), there were only 2 targets (27%) that were partially achieved and 2 that were not achieved and being addressed (28%). SAWS did not achieve the target that is aimed at ensuring continued provision of quality weather and related information in support of socio-economic development. This was due to poor radar data availability in the 1st and 2nd quarters of the 2015/16 financial year as a result of the long delivery lead times of spares, intermittent power supply or load shedding.

SAWS had also managed to consistently receive an unqualified audit opinion for the 2015/16 financial year.  The total assets of the organisation had decreased by 5% from R522 million to R495 million. The non-current assets had decreased by 3.62% from R443 million to R427 million and the acquisitions for 2015/16 amounted to R13 million, mainly because the current Assets -decreased by 12.90% from R78 million to R68 million and cash and cash equivalents had decreased from R57 million to R44 million. The total liabilities-decreased by 13.59% from R70 million to R61 million and the non-current liabilities had decreased by 22.49% from R15 to R12 million. The retirement benefit obligations had decreased from R11,85 million to R8,32 million. SAWS had managed to ensure that there were no material misstatements in the Annual Financial Statements submitted on the 28thMay 2016 and unqualified opinion on the Usefulness and Reliability of Performance Information.

Members commented that the presentation was very interesting and congratulated the entity for achieving an unqualified audit opinion. It would be interesting to hear how far the Board was in terms of the investigation that was instituted by the Minister on the report on “stormy weather, a reign of corruption in SAWS”. The Committee should be briefed on the progress in regard to the product that was being developed to deal with looming water shortages. The entity should also be commended for achieving a total retention rate of 93% due to the implementation of various human capital related programmes.

Some Members indicated that the Committee should be provided with an explanation as to why the entity had not achieved or partially achieved on some of the stipulated targets and measures to be put in place to achieve those targets. What are the implications of the unspent donor fund on overall service delivery? What was the main reason why the donor funds were unspent? How many Board members were currently within the entity? It would be interesting to hear what had caused a decrease in retirement benefit obligations from R11.85 million to R8.32 million. What is the coverage of severe weather warnings? It was unclear if rural areas are also particularly covered in terms of coverage of severe weather warnings. Was it possible that the entity might be biased towards the urban areas and ignoring rural areas?

SANBI reported that it received an unqualified audit opinion and achieved 98% of performance targets. There had been more visitors to the country’s Botanical Gardens and more income than any other year - in total a 6% increase in visitor numbers and a 9% increase in income. The new SANBI Board was appointed on 1 April 2015 and is highly functioning in terms of executing its mandate. The Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) procurement targets exceeded year on year.  The organisation leveraged the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) funding from the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) to obtain funding from other sources (other departments, private sector, donors). There is a new garden – Kwelera Garden in development and Limpopo garden to be finalised during 2016/17.

SANBI had a surplus of R34 million that is arising due to various accounting adjustments as required by General Recognised Accounting Practice (GRAP). The R51 million was for acquisition of fixed assets transferred to the statement of financial position; while the R21 million for depreciation and amortization of fixed assets. SANBI was in a healthy financial position as at the financial year end and was able to meet all its short-term financial obligations. Sufficient funds are held in order to meet the financial and contractual obligations arising from donor agreements. In relation to progress on material audit findings, the understatement of revenue and receivables caused R5 million adjustment to the initial allocation. The resolution was that the Annual Financial Statement (AFS) was adjusted accordingly. The matter was currently being addressed with the office of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the Director-General (DG) of the Department. AGSA had picked it up that the asset register was not updated and the cause of this was the fact that the minor assets were not being adequately updated and recorded on the asset register.

Members commended SANBI for consistently maintaining the performance in terms of achieving the clean audits and unqualified reports. It would be interesting to hear detailed explanation on the error that resulted in the restatement of financial statement as reflected on page 88 of the Annual Report as the CFO office had been very efficient on all the aspects in the past financial years. It was concerning to see that the entity had an unspent conditional grant despite the fact that there was a budget cut of R5 million. What was the contributing factor to this problem? It was indicated that the entity had a surplus of R34 million but it was unclear if the surplus would be surrendered to the Treasury or reinvested in the existing programmes. Committee to be provided with detailed information on the membership registration of SANBI with the South African Facilities Management Association (SAFMA) for facilities management. It was unclear as to how did SANBI have to pay to be part and parcel of this membership registration and how often was the membership renewed.

Some Members asked about challenges that made SANBI not to adhere to these prescribed reporting framework. They also asked whether SANBI was complying with BEE or B-BBBEE in terms of procurement or any form of transformation that is taking place within the restaurants that are in the gardens. The Committee should also be updated on the Pretoria Zoo. They also congratulated SANBI on the 98% achievement in terms of the predetermined objectives as this was an excellent performance. The performance of the entity could be partially explained by the fact that the current CEO had been there for the past ten years. However, there are other matters that are still worrying the Committee. It was clear that the entity had regressed for the two consecutive years in terms of financial performance in accordance with the AGSA. The AGSA also stated that the entity could have received a qualified audit opinion if it was not for the material adjustments on the financials.

Meeting report

Briefing by the South African Weather Service (SAWS)

Dr Linda Makuleni, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), SAWS, indicated that the organisation has improved in terms of providing effective leadership based on a culture of honesty, ethical business practices and good governance. There were still concerns about the design and implementation of formal controls over information technology systems to ensure the reliability of the systems and the availability, accuracy and protection of information. The organisation was able to achieve 24 out of the total of 28 targets (86%), there were only 2 targets (27%) that were partially achieved and 2 that were not achieved and being addressed (28%). The organisation did not achieve the target that is aimed at ensuring continued provision of quality weather and related information in support of socio-economic development. This was due to poor radar data availability in the 1st and 2nd quarters of the 2015/16 financial year as a result of the long delivery lead times of spares, intermittent power supply or load shedding. The organisation was also not able to achieve the target of distributing 62 bursaries as only dispersed 57 and this was because of financial constraints.

Dr Makuleni added that the organisation has made great achievements in terms of providing relevant products and services and these included:

  • Development of National Framework for Climate Services Implementation Plan focused on resource optimisation and product development across key sectors
  • The organisation maintained its status as regional telecommunications hub and regional specialised meteorological service
  • There was a development of ground-breaking products in the agricultural and hydrological sectors, construction industry and renewable energy sector
  • The organisation successfully hosted the multi-stakeholder LIGHTS conference
  • Launched LIGHTS website
  • Successfully concluded the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) project
  • SAWS scientists published 28 peer reviewed research articles and various poster and conference presentations
  • Managed to achieve an organisational performance rating of 86% 

Dr Makuleni stated that the organisation had partially achieved the target that is aimed at promoting SAWS and its distinctive capabilities by 84% against the target of 85%. The target was primarily looking at percentage overall stakeholder satisfaction level. The target was partially achieved precisely because it was dependent on the opinion of the various stakeholders in the Stakeholder Perception Survey. The entity had also managed to consistently receive an unqualified audit opinion for the 2015/16 financial year. The total assets of the organisation had decreased by 5% from R522 million to R495 million. The non-current assets had decreased by 3.62% from R443 million to R427 million and the acquisitions for 2015/16 amounted to R13 million, mainly because the current Assets -decreased by 12.90% from R78 million to R68 million and cash and cash equivalents had decreased from R57 million to R44 million. The total liabilities-decreased by 13.59% from R70 million to R61 million and the non-current liabilities had decreased by 22.49% from R15 to R12 million. The retirement benefit obligations had decreased from R11,85 million to R8,32 million and the current liabilities had decreased by 11.19% from R55 million to R49 million due to: trade and other payables decreased from R30 million to R27 million. The unspent donor funds had decreased by R3,04 million in the current financial year.

In conclusion, Dr Makuleni mentioned that the following result for the 2015/16 Regularity Audit has been achieved:

  • No material misstatements in the Annual Financial Statements submitted on the 28thMay 2016
  • Unqualified Opinion on the Usefulness and Reliability of Performance Information
  • All Performance Objectives were audited with no findings
  • Dashboard on the Drivers of Internal Control –All green this year except for 1 (one) ICT that remained yellow
  • Assessment of Assurance Drivers: Senior Management to Audit Committee –All Green
  • No deficiencies reported in Internal Control

Discussion

The Chairperson appreciated the presentation that had been made and wanted to make it clear that SAWS had performed very well in terms of achieving most of the targets.

Mr T Hadebe (DA) commented that the presentation was very interesting and congratulated the entity for achieving an unqualified audit opinion from the AGSA. It would be interesting to hear how far the Board was in terms of the investigation that was instituted by the Minister on the report on “stormy weather, a reign of corruption in SAWS”. It was stated that there was a product that the entity wanted to develop to deal with looming water shortages but this seemed to have disappeared under the radar. What had happened to the product that was to be developed to assist in dealing with the problem of drought and water shortages?                         

Ms J Edwards (DA) asked about areas that the entity would be working on in order to improve the overall stakeholder satisfaction level. It was unclear if the entity had ever attempted to use solar as an alternative source of energy that would ultimately deal with the problem of poor radar data availability.

Mr S Mabilo (ANC) also welcomed the presentation that had been made by SAWS and added that it was deeply encouraging to see the amount of work that was being done by the entity in consistently achieving an unqualified audit opinion. The entity should also be commended for achieving a total retention rate of 93% due to the implementation of various human capital related programmes. The Committee should be provided with an explanation as to why it had not achieved or partially achieved on some of the stipulated targets and measures to be put in place to achieve those targets. What are the implications of the unspent donor fund on overall service delivery? What was the main reason why the donor funds were unspent? It would be interesting to hear if the unspent funds are located within a separate account or the main current account of the entity as there should be accountability for those funds. It was also unclear as to how long those donor funds would remain unspent.

Mr Mabilo said that the citation of “financial constrains” in the failure to achieve the target of dispersing about 62 bursaries pointed to the problem of poor planning in targets. There should be plans in place to make sure that the project that is focused on the training of farmers and extension workers on the use of agrometeorological information, is spread to other provinces than Free State and KwaZulu-Natal.    

Ms H Nyambi (ANC) also welcomed the presentation and appreciated the fact that women representation was prioritised at the entity and this was proven by the delegates that were present in the meeting. It would be important to hear about the process that was followed by the entity in assisting tertiary institutions with dispersing of bursaries. The country was currently facing a #FeesMustFall movement and it would be interesting to hear the how the entity would impact on the distribution of the bursaries.

The Chairperson responded that if the country is to implement free higher education then there would not be a need for the bursaries to be distributed to students.

Ms H Kekana (ANC) commented that there are serious looming water shortages in the country and this was particularly the case in Gauteng. What was SAWS doing in this regard?

Mr Z Makhubela (ANC) congratulated SAWS on the wonderful achievement. The entity should be careful not to allow complacency. He sought clarity about the number of perople who served on the board. It would be interesting to hear what had caused a decrease in retirement benefit obligations from R11.85 million to R8.32 million. What is the coverage of severe weather warnings? It was unclear if rural areas are also particularly covered in terms of coverage of severe weather warnings. Was it possible that the entity might be biased towards the urban areas and ignoring rural areas? It was mentioned that the entity had been called upon to do the meteorological work for other countries. Are those countries in a position to pay SAWS for this work that was being rendered?

The Chairperson highlighted that the entity would need to focus on the Information Technology (IT) control systems as the AGSA had expressed concern in this regard.

Ms Ntsoaki Mngomezulu, Board Chairperson, SAWS, responded that there was an investigation by the Minister and this investigation has been completed and needed to be tabled at the next Board meeting that would take place on 2 November 2016.  The report could be made available to Members after it had been tabled at the Board meeting.

Ms Marilize Hogendoorn, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), SAWS, responded that there are different deliverables over a period of time during the financial year and therefore the unspent donor funds were for the deliverables that are set to be completed within a period of time. The unspent donor funds are managed separately in terms of the Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with some of the foreign countries. There are also some annual reports that need to be produced and the entity was complying with all those conditions as per the contractual agreements. The compliance with these regulations is also monitored by external parties and some of the funders sometimes send their own independent auditors to also come and do the verification. The entity had an obligation towards retired people to provide them with certain medical services. However, there had been an involuntary decrease in the number of people covered by retirement benefits. This was good in terms of the financials of the entity but this was not a good thing from the human side perspective.

The Chairperson asked about the exact amount that had been allocated for retirement benefit obligations.

Ms Hogendoorn replied that it was at the actual value of a medical aid for the member that is supposed to benefit from the retirement benefits.     

Dr Makaleni clarified that the AGSA had notified the entity that the non-current liabilities like the retirement benefit obligations was decreasing and the entity needed to look into that in trying to manage it very closely. The Board allocated funds to all the people that had the post-retirement medical aid and this was aimed at reducing the liability. SAWS had decided to put funds based on the number of those individuals within the organisation that are still having the post-retirement needs.

The Chairperson asked if SAWS was paying for people’s medical aid besides not being in the organisation. Was this not going to affect the going concern of the entity?

Dr Makaleni responded that this was indeed correct and this was based on the obligation in terms of government. The AGSA had requested the Board to looking into the matter upon realisation that it could impact on the going concern of the organisation.

Mr Minikeli Ndabambi, General Manager: Operation, SAWS, explained that there are other weather stations that are using an alternative energy like solar energy to improve on radar data availability. The entity has also performed a study on the use of the alternative energy for improving on radar data availability. This included the used of wind turbines and this had already been presented to the Board. The Board had requested that the entity needed to do further work in this regard and there is a hope that this would assist the country moving forward. The inclusion of farmers and extension workers on the use of agrometeorological in partnership with NEPAD was piloted in KZN and Free State and there is an intention for this to be spread to other provinces. Bloemfontein did indicate that they would like to sustain this kind of initiative. SANBI had already presented to the Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation that the country would continue to experience water shortages as there would be less rainfall. The reality is that the problem of drought would continue to be persistent and would ultimately impact on water availability. The rainfall is going to be less while the temperatures are going to be above normal and this is not a good combination as it means there would be more evaporation. The country would need to plan accordingly in order to subvert this problem. 

Mr Ndabambi responded that SAWS was covering the whole country in terms of coverage of severe weather warnings although there is no radar over the north western parts, which is south of Namibia and SAWS was using satellite technology for that particular area.  The challenge is not on whether there is coverage, but on the effectiveness in terms of the usage of the radar data availability. SAWS is working together with other partners like the Disaster Management Authority in order to have systems that are integrated in the local disaster management plan with communities. The new vision of SAWS says “weather smart nation” and this is primarily aimed at enhancing collaboration so that the information is received on time and appropriate action is taken.  The responsibility of helping other countries on meteorological work was designated by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and this was because of the country’s capabilities. WMO was the one approving funds related to this kind of work but there is a minimal contribution that the country was supposed to be paying.

Ms Ziyanda Majolweni, General Manager: Corporate Affairs, SAWS, clarified that reference to the product that had been launched by the entity in order to deal with the problem of drought was contained in page 49 of the Annual Report. SAWS had been able to make huge inroads and there are already negotiations with the Board of Rand Water in terms of how to assist them in the utilisation of water resources, particularly in the region of Gauteng. SAWS has already started the process of providing Rand Water with access to the HydroNET that is aimed at monitoring the amount of rainfall. The Department of Water and Sanitation had already bought about nine HydroNETs for regions that are negatively impacted by drought and water shortages and this is for them to be able to monitor water levels in their dams and improve the information on the rain forecasts. The country had provided water to Swaziland last year and the country had also bought the HydroNETs.

Dr Makaleni stated that SAWS had increased the level of engagement with the media and this was planned to be done on a quarterly basis so as to keep the media updated in as far as weather conditions is concerned. There are also engagements with the institutions of higher learning and the purpose of this engagement is primarily on information sharing for research and other projects that would be undertaken. The entity was aiming to conclude MoUs with the institutions of higher learning that would be mutually beneficial. SAWS had already signed an MoU with the University of Wits. The clienteles of SAWS have become savvier and more demanding in terms of the types of programmes and services that they require from the organisation.

Dr Makaleni added that SAWS would be doing a study that would be looking to determine the needs that are required by various stakeholders. SAWS had dispersed a total of 57 bursaries out of the total target of 62 bursaries and this was affected by the fact that these bursaries were for the specialised areas and therefore fees tended to get quite high or expensive. SAWS was providing bursaries both internally and externally and internally it is mostly for masters and PhDs while it is undergraduate for externally. SAWS was trying to take advantage of the #FeesMustFall movement in trying to see if there could be more money provided for the purposes of providing bursaries even from some of the organisations that are collaborating with SAWS.         

Briefing by South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI)

Dr Tanya Abrahamse, CEO, SANBI, stated that the organisation received an unqualified audit opinion and achieved 98% of performance targets. There had been more visitors to the country’s Botanical Gardens and more income than any other year - in total a 6% increase in visitor numbers and a 9% increase in income. The new SANBI Board was appointed on 1 April 2015 and is highly functioning in terms of executing its mandate. The Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) procurement targets exceeded year on year.  The organisation leveraged the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) funding from the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) to obtain funding from other sources (other departments, private sector, donors). There is a new garden – Kwelera Garden in development and Limpopo garden to be finalised during 2016/17.

SANBI continued to mobilise new and alternative sources of funding for its role in biodiversity science and policy advice. The funding by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has supported the entity’s success in biodiversity information provision as well as its successful engagement globally and on the continent in this regard. The work of SANBI in the climate change debate at local levels had received support from the Global Adaptation Fund through the running of the NIE. The organisation has also engaged with a range of global funders to improve the country’s biodiversity policy advice and access to information. SANBI is clearly seen by both national and international funders as very reliable and a partner that can deliver results. The organization had received an unqualified audit opinion with material adjustments and the emphasis of matter was on restated prior year figures. The material adjustments was on government grant of R5 million that was adjusted.

Dr Abrahamse indicated that the R34 million surplus arises due to various accounting adjustments as required by GRAP. The R51 million was for acquisition of fixed assets transferred to the statement of financial position; while the R21 million for depreciation and amortization of fixed assets. SANBI was in a healthy financial position as at the financial year end and was able to meet all its short-term financial obligations .Sufficient funds are held in order to meet the financial and contractual obligations arising from donor agreements. Cash outflow of R60 million was paid from existing funds and R217 million cash balance is committed for the following: 

  • Short term liabilities as at 31 March 2016
  • Project expenditures in terms of obligations arising from agreements with donors
  • Liabilities arising from long term contractual obligations

In relation to progress on material audit findings, the understatement of revenue and receivables caused R5 million adjustment to the initial allocation. The resolution was that the Annual Financial Statement (AFS) was adjusted accordingly. The matter was currently being addressed with the office of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the Director-General (DG) of the Department. The AGSA had picked it up that the asset register was not updated and the cause of this was the fact that the minor assets were not being adequately updated and recorded on the asset register. The appointment of a permanent resource to capacitate the asset management processes is being finalized. The asset verification and asset register maintaining processes have been conducted and are 50% complete. Processes are in place to ensure that the asset register is updated continuously and asset counts are done more frequently. The Auditor-General will be performing an interim audit on the outcome of the above processes.

SANBI has enjoyed pleasing results in the 2015/16 financial year due largely to the dedication of all those with a passion for biodiversity and a desire to realize the growth of this vital sector in the economy of South Africa.

Discussion

Mr Mabilo commended SANBI for consistently maintaining the performance in terms of achieving the clean audits and unqualified reports. It would be interesting to hear detailed explanation on the error that resulted in the restatement of financial statement as reflected on page 88 of the Annual Report as the CFO office had been very efficient on all the aspects in the past financial years. It was concerning to see that the entity had an unspent conditional grant despite the fact that there was a budget cut of R5 million. What was the contributing factor to this problem? It was indicated that the entity had a surplus of R34 million but it was unclear if the surplus would be surrendered to the Treasury or reinvested in the existing programmes. It was impressive to see that the entity had a very resilient and sophisticated fraud detection system as it was even able to trace a limited amount of, for example, R25 000 that had been fraudulently on another account. The entity had not met all its targets especially in regard to the building of parks and gardens, particularly in Thohoyandou.

Ms Nyambi congratulated the CEO for the wonderful work she had done in the past ten years in the entity as this was showing the strength of women within this organization. It would be important for the Committee to be provided with information around the capacity that had been provided to various municipalities in the year under review so as to fully understand what the municipalities were doing.

Ms Kekana asked the Committee to be provided with detailed information on the membership registration of SANBI with the South African Facilities Management Association (SAFMA) for facilities management. It was unclear as to how did SANBI have to pay to be part and parcel of this membership registration and how often was the membership renewed.  What is the overall benefit of this membership for SANBI? 

Mr Makhubela said that the Committee had already interacted with the office of the AGSA and Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) and they did flag some of the issues that had already been highlighted in the presentation. There is a claim from the AGSA that SANBI had submitted its own financial statement which was of poor quality for the auditing process.  The FFC also did indicate that there had been a slight regression in the performance of SANBI particularly on the matters of emphasis and this was caused by non-compliance with prescribed financial reporting framework as required by section 55(1) (a) of the Public Finance Management (PFMA).  What could be the problem that made SANBI not to adhere to these prescribed reporting framework. He also asked whether SANBI was complying with BEE or B-BBBEE in terms of procurement or any form of transformation that is taking place within the restaurants that are in the gardens. The Committee should also be updated on the Pretoria Zoo.                                                           

The Chairperson firstly congratulated SANBI on the 98% achievement in terms of the predetermined objectives as this was an excellent performance. The performance of the entity could be partially explained by the fact that the current CEO had been there for the past ten years. However, there are other matters that are still worrying the Committee. It was clear that the entity had regressed for the two consecutive years in terms of financial performance in accordance with the AGSA. The AGSA also stated that the entity could have received a qualified audit opinion if it was not for the material adjustments on the financials. The Department was supposed to be held accountable for this matter and the Committee should perhaps express disappointment to the Department. SANBI could be forgiven on the basis that there was lack of awareness on the adjustments that had been done.

The Chairperson mentioned that on the issue of property planting and equipment in particular, the justification that had been provided on the adjustment that had been provided in this regard was not adequate enough especially if this was a recurring problem in the financials. It would be important to hear if there was adequate within the organisation as the AGSA had raised concerns around the submitted financial statement that was below the required standard. There were also concerns around proper record keeping and compliance with key legislations within the organisation and these were linked to the preparation of the financial statement. It was good to see that the entity was doing well in terms of the predetermined objectives.

Ms Nana Magomola, Chairperson: SANBI; firstly appreciated all the complements and encouraging words that had been directed to Board members. The organisation was obviously worried about areas where there was a general regression in terms of performance-particularly on the finances and this was an issue that was linked to the challenge of capacity. 

Dr Abrahamse responded that the organisation was on-track on the building of a garden in Thohoyandou in accordance to the project plans. It must be mentioned that it is always complicated to do the transfer of the provincial public works assets to a national public works. SANBI was expecting to “cut the ribbon” on the Thohoyandou garden in this current financial year as it was supposed to be an achievement for this financial year. There were a number of projects that the organisation was engaging with various municipalities and these included infrastructure projects. There is a need to ensure that the criterion that is used for the allocation of funds would bring about benefits in terms of anything in the green climate fund space and this is a bigger space that includes the adaptation to climate change. There are a number of quite unique scientists that are in the zoological garden and they have unique attributes that SANBI does not have especially in the genetics space. The National Zoological gardens have live animals that go from snake, lion to even gorillas, which SANBI does not have but keep. There is a legislative logic in practicing this exercise as SANBI should be looking after animals in enclosure.

Dr Abrahamse stated that the focus was no longer on whether or not the Pretoria zoo would come but the question is on when and how. There are a number of areas that the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and DEA, National Research Foundation (NRF) and SANBI and the National Zoological Gardens (NZGs) are doing in focus on legal matters, clarifying the mandate issues and how the zoos are established. There is also a need to look at the issues of finances in terms of the shortfall and ensure that the baseline is correct relative to the operations of the zoo. The finance task team has dealt with the number of issues to clarify how much is a shortfall and how it is quantified. The DST is “committing” to fund SANBI for the period of time, although it was still unclear as to how long that period would be. 

The Chairperson requested that SANBI should respond to all the outstanding issues taking into consideration that some of the comments are issues to be contemplated more than to be responded to.

Mr Moeketsi Khoahli, Chief Corporate Officer: SANBI; responded that SANBI had been looking at the business model of some restaurants within some gardens, especially those that are currently being build. The restaurants are part of attracting people to the gardens and SANBI does not have internal resources that are managing these restaurants and this compels the organisation to outsource this service. SANBI was advertising for all the restaurants that are interested to operate in the gardens for the period of five years and this could be renewed. It was already indicated in the presentation that the revenue for rentals of restaurants had increased. Some of the restaurants have full-time staff that are running the restaurants. There is a BEE component that is being taken into consideration when SANBI is doing advertisement for restaurants. There was one new operator in Pretoria that is now is run 100% by BEE operators. There are also operators in Bloemfontein that are fully BEE and this is some of the ways in which SANBI was able to achieve the BEE targets.

Mr Khoahli said that in relation to the question on the membership registration for SAFMA, SANBI had enrolled with the organisation since last year and this is an organisation that was assisting SANBI for setting up standards for the management of facilities. It was already indicated that the estate of SANBI was increasing so there are a lot of buildings that would need to be managed in a particular way in terms of maintenance and complying with health and safety standards. SANBI was paying about R36 000 per month with unlimited membership to SAFMA and SANBI could add more estate as entity continued to gradually grow.

Ms Vivian Malema, Director: SANBI; explained that the municipal programme of SANBI is quite diverse and covers cities and rural areas and municipalities across the country. There are a number of municipalities that are involved in the Groen Sebenza programme. SANBI was also assisting municipalities on planning on the use of spatial data and increasing their biodiversity and planning. There was also a support that was offered to municipalities on adaptation with climate change and biodiversity land reform programme with a focus on how to manage biodiversity as a natural resource. The story of human capital development is a story about people and using the talent that is in young people and actually giving them an opportunity to thrive and success on Groen Sebenza programme. There are about 625 young people in Groen Sebenza programme who are in this sector and 54% of them being females and 88% of them being Black Africans.

Ms Lerato Sithole, Chief Financial Officer: SANBI; the adjustment to the financial statement was talking to the issue around assets and the material findings that had been flagged earlier. The whole matter around assets has to be split in about two financial years.  It was already indicated that the issue of assets was immaterial for the 2015/16 financial year but it became cumulatively an issue in the prior financial years. SANBI would need to go back and work on the figures that had been reported in the previous financial years.

The meeting was adjourned.                   

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