Western Cape Appropriation Bill: Cultural Affairs & Sport

Meeting report

Opening remarks by the Chairperson

The Chairperson welcomed all Members of the Committee as well as the delegation from the Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS). He then allowed the HOD of DCAS to introduce the delegation in the meeting.

Mr Guy Redman, Head of Department, DCAS, introduced the delegation from the Department.

The Chairperson said that the Committee did not receive any request for submissions, but should any member of the public or organisations join the meeting they will be allowed to make a submission. He said that the meeting was for the discussion of the Western Cape Appropriation Bill on Cultural Affairs and Sport; he added further that the deliberations should be constructive and allow for conclusion of the entire vote.

Minister’s opening remarks

Ms Anroux Marais, Provincial Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport, thanked Provincial Treasury because they did well in a difficult climate. She said that in the past weekend there was a Cape Town Cycle Tour which she believed was the start of all open events that would allow spectators to attend events. She allowed the Head of Department to brief the Committee.

Mr Redman said the 2022 MTEF budget is premised on prioritising the recovery of the sectors by aligning it with the Western Cape Recovery Plan in areas such as jobs, safety, and well-being. The priorities as seen in the Annual Performance Plan (APP) were social cohesion, creating a shared future, and a sense of belonging. The second area was youth and mental well-being which is aimed at giving youth a sense of purpose and pathways to becoming productive residents and creating opportunities for well-being. The third one is new operating models within the context of the new way of work.

The DCAS budget for the 2022/23 financial year increased by R37 million from an adjusted budget of R900 million to R937 million in 2022/23. The Department did not receive additional funding for the impact of the 2021 wage agreement and therefore had to absorb the impact of the wage agreement at a total cost of R4.2 million.

Mr Redman said that youth development continued to be at the heart of the Department’s plans. The Department received an additional R15 million to mitigate the risk of youth disillusionment in the Western Cape, mainly worsened by the impact of COVID-19. With the additional funding, DCAS, through its Year Beyond Programme, planned to address youth unemployment by providing more than 3 000 young people with first work opportunities while they are working to build their work readiness skills so that they can transition into studies or work. The DCAS also received another R2 million and has been given the responsibility to coordinate all youth programmes within the Western Cape government. The R2 million will be used to review and assess the various youth programmes within the Western Cape government to inform prioritisation in the youth strategy.

The Department also received an additional R15 million for the implementation of the holiday programmes in vulnerable communities to keep children engaged in productive activities during school closure. Three additional key allocations have been made, R1.5 million to conduct a feasibility study for the future management of the Cango Caves to increase revenue generation to ensure future sustainability. Part of that allocation will go towards a study to determine the amount of funding required for short, medium and long-term maintenance of the Cango Caves and the surrounding infrastructure.

The DCAS also received an additional R1.5 million for the cultural facilities to conduct a feasibility study for a potential PPP at the Melkbos Oppiesee and Schoemanspoort Cultural Facilities to explore the possibility of a dual usage model that would incorporate both public and private use of these facilities. The model currently includes public use only. There was also an allocation of R16 million for the Western Cape Provincial Archives to implement a virtual digital service project to improve access and preservation purposes. Lastly, in the sports, recreation, and arts and culture arena, an allocation of R5 million was made for major events and through these events, the Department will unlock economic opportunities on a local and regional level.

Discussion on Vote 13: Cultural Affairs & Sport in the Schedule to the Western Cape Appropriation Bill

The Chairperson reminded Members the Vote was circulated electronically and was in the form of a hard copy on Sunday. He said that they would commence from page 675 to 733 and asked if Members had any questions of clarity between page 675 and point 2 on page 687.

Mr R Mackenzie (DA) wanted to know how the extension of the National State of Disaster by another 30 days would affect the major events and whether more major events will take place in the coming years. He wanted to know if the additional R15 million doubles the current intake for the Year Beyond Programme or if it is just to extend it further. In terms of the R2 million for review and access, he wanted to know if that goes across the departments in the Western Cape government or if it is just for the DCAS. In terms of the additional R1.5 million for the feasibility study for potential PPP, he wanted to know when the process will be investigated and whether the process also entailed NGOs and community-based organisations that use the facilities for free or pay minimal amounts. He also asked for the timelines for the projects that the Department is looking at implementing. 

Mr M Kama (ANC) said that there is too much that is expected from the Department but the money does not equal those expectations and this is not necessarily a provincial problem but also in the National Department. He wanted to know the programmes implemented by the Department in line with the view of creating a safe environment and the reduction of crime, specifically in the areas with a high crime rate. He referred to a disturbing article that he had read in the morning about a 15-year old boy from Hanover Park who nearly did not attend the Western Cape Provincial Department’s school’s athletic competition because he could not afford to pay for a kit. He said that the sports coordinator from the school said that he was also offered a chance to attend with all expenses paid and he refused because he did not understand why the expenses could be paid for him while the young boy who needed to play was not assisted. He wanted to know how such funding decisions are made. He also asked for clarity on the R15 million allocations for the implementation of holiday programmes and wanted to know whether these are new programmes or if it is the same programme that the Department of Safety used to run with the religious sector. He wanted to know the criteria used by the Department to identify and fund these programmes.

Ms R Windvogel (ANC) wanted to know if there is an approach to building a socially inclusive Western Cape and how the Department plans to deal with widespread social divisions in the province, as well as how the budget responds to this issue. She wanted to know if there is a clear commitment to establish a House of Traditional and Khoisan Leaders in the province and the progress that has been made in that regard, as well as the amount of the budget that is allocated for it. She also wanted to know the role of the Department in the issue as well as the reason for the Department of Local Government to be the lead Department in the implementation of the Act.

Mr G Brinkhuis (Al Jama-ah) said that he is from the Strand area and there is a library that burnt down more than a year ago and no efforts have been made to rebuild it. He asked if rebuilding the library is one of the Department’s priorities and if that is the case he asked for an update and whether there is a portion of the budget that is allocated to rebuilding it.

Responses

Mr Redman said that the R2 million to review is going to be reviewing all the youth programmes within the Western Cape government. The DCAS has been given the responsibility of coordinating youth interventions within the Western Cape government and has not taken over the responsibilities of the youth programmes in the other departments. The DCAS will be convening a Western Cape Government Forum that also has representation in different spaces of organisations that it is working with, either in the NGO sector or the federations, etcetera. The R2 million will be used to review all of their programmes to help the DCAS prioritise those programmes and test the extent to which they are contributing to the strategy, guidelines, norms, and standards that have been developed.

In terms of the Traditional and Khoisan Leadership Act, he said that the Western Cape Government has every intention of ensuring that there is a Provincial House of Traditional and Khoisan Leaders within the province. This will be determined by the outcomes of the work of the Commission on Khoisan Matters which has already begun its work and will start taking applications at the end of this month. The application forms have already been circulated and made available to the community for them to begin to apply for recognition, and depending on the outcomes, the DCAS will see whether there is a need to have a Provincial House since Gauteng has two traditional leaders who report to the National House of Traditional Leaders and there is no traditional house in the province.

The Commission was given two to five years to complete the applications and to make the determination of the need for a Provincial House, but the DCAS is hoping that this will be concluded within the next two years. The reason for it being located in the Department of Local Government is that across the board in the country, the matter rests within the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), and in the Western Cape, the Traditional Affairs part does not exist primarily because most of the issues around traditional leadership are governance issues and not cultural issues.

Dr Linden Bouah, Chief Director: Sport and Recreation, DCAS, said that the question relating to major events is a very important one, as the Department was hoping that there would also be regulations relating to the spectators that would be promulgated. It does not seem that there will be a change in the 2000 spectators and the discussion about the 50% capacity of the venues is still an ongoing discussion. Last year, the SASCOC started a draft of a policy for spectators, businesses, arts and culture and conferences, etcetera, which the Western Cape government departments contributed to, but it was tabled at the NCCC and there has been no feedback received. The lack of spectators affects the bottom line of all events as all federations depend on gate takings to subsidise any of their tournaments, so when there are no spectators, more sponsorships are required from government and the private sector for events which also had a negative impact.  

The issue of the number of spectators allowed in venues is important, as even with the Cycle Tour that took place at the weekend the traditional 30 000 cyclists were not allowed only 22 000, and they normally charge R500 for each cyclist which means they lost about 8 000 members multiplied by R500. Similarly, last year during the British & Irish Lions Tour, there was also a negative economic impact because no spectators were allowed. This year, the 7’s Rugby World Cup is supposed to take place at the Cape Town Stadium, and all tickets have already been sold out for the three days of the tournament for both the men's and women's 7s tournament. It would be a disaster if the tickets would have to be refunded to the spectators again. He said that they are still working hard in terms of the issue of spectators and they recently held a meeting with the SASCOC but they are still waiting for the NCCC to give a ruling on the matter. The DCAS will be working with all the event organisers on whether the Two Oceans will be happening during the Easter weekend or the Knysna Oyster Festival, as well as the Wales vs South Africa 7s match which will be happening in Cape Town, etcetera. There are several major events planned and the Department has received more than 100 applications for assistance that they will have to crown in with R5 million.

Dr Bouah said that the White Paper for Sports and Recreation must be read together with the National Sport and Recreation Plan, and Strategic Objective 28 speaks about the use of sport as a tool. This means that sport can be used as a tool to promote tourism and can be used as a tool to fight against crime. In terms of the Safety Plan, the DCAS implemented street football tournaments happening on weekends in all the communities affected and there is an NGO that organises that on behalf of the Department. There are also anti-gang programmes targeting the high crime areas identified in the Safety Plan. He said that they also engage with all sports federations that they fund to run some of their programmes in those areas as well, and the idea is to create a safe space for athletes and members of the communities. The idea is that the federations also become a safe space and individuals can attend and participate in sport and recreation and be safe within the communities.

Regarding the newspaper article issue, he said that there are two departments involved in the issue, the Department of Education and the DCAS. The Department of Education is responsible for interschool, interclass, interhouse, etcetera, and the DCAS is responsible for provincial, district, etcetera, where trials are held.

Mr Paul Hendricks, Director: Sport Development, DCAS, added that it is important to understand that athletics takes place at an interhouse, interschool, interdistrict level and there are six different structures involved. There are Western Province Primary Schools, Western Province High Schools, Boland Primary Schools, Boland High Schools, SWD Primary Schools and SWD High Schools. This R2 000 event was a Western Province Athletic need which falls within the scope of levels 1,2, and 3, and generally one does not need athletic outfits for that level. He said that the Department is doing a full investigation on this matter and will give a full report to the Committee on what actually happened. He said that there also needs to be a conversation between the two departments regarding roles and responsibilities as well as who is benefitting and who is not through such processes.

Ms Jacqueline Boulle, Chief Director: After School Programme, DCAS, said that in terms of the Year Beyond Programme, the additional R15 million matches some funding that was received from the Jobs Fund through the Presidential Youth Initiative and triples the programmes from 10 00 to 3 201 members of the Year Beyond Programme this year. In terms of the transition to studies and work, she said that last year there were 964 youth on the programme and 76% of them have transitioned to either studies or work and a full list of exactly what they are doing can be provided, but about half of them go to study and the other half go into work. In terms of those who go and study, about 60% of them stay in the social sector because that is where the programme is and about 40% go to other areas of study. In terms of those who went to work, there were about 130 of them who went into the education system, largely to the Teacher’s Assistant Programme and the rest of them went into Community Development, financial services and the retail sector. She said that the Department has several partnerships with the private sector and a Career Fair at the end of October to November every year that also assists in getting the young people in the Year Beyond Programme into work.

In terms of the holiday programme, she said that it was a last minute addition to their budget last year and it was a very quick turnaround for the Department as they got funding for it within two weeks. The Department put the call out to all the organisations that it had worked with and people applied. The criteria that were used were focused on communities of need, looking at poverty levels in communities and the overhead costs, such as the cost per learner and the cost per youth employee for the youth jobs on the programme as well as compliance. Going forward the programme will be offered again with much more time to plan, as there will be a call for a briefing where organisations will find out about the programme through a briefing, and then there will be an application process and an adjudication panel.

Ms Jane Moleleki, Director: Arts, Culture and Language Services, DCAS, said that the Department manages seven cultural facilities in the province that NGOs and other community organisations utilise. For the usage of those facilities, the income that the Department receives is used for the maintenance of the facilities, but the Department of Public Works does the major renovations and upgrades at the facilities and DCAS is responsible for the day-to-day maintenance. Over the years, DCAS looked at the trend of the income in comparison to the expenditure and it was evident that the Department is not collecting sufficient income to be able to keep the facilities at a usable standard. All the facilities are located in areas that can attract community groupings and the business sector, etc. The feasibility study from Melkbos Oppiesee and Schoemanspoort Cultural Facilities and the one that is located at the foot of the Cango Cave in Oudtshoorn aims at looking at a possible dual usage model to have the current users and bring in new users to the facilities. The tariffs will remain low for groups and individuals from indigent communities, but the tariffs will be higher for the private sector. The current users are not going to be excluded from this new approach. 

Ms Cecilia Sani, Director: Library Services, DCAS, said that no allocation was made for the Strand library to be rebuilt in this budget. When the library burnt down, the DCAS worked with the City of Cape Town to see if there is other facilities close by or areas where some service could be provided to the community, but there were none that were identified. The City of Cape Town informed the DCAS that they first have to clean up the place because there is a lot of rubble in the foundations and they are still in the process of identifying a service provider to get that done before they can look at putting a new library into their business plan.

Mr Redman said that in terms of the racial division in the province, in the DCAS APP, there is a very important programme called Community Conversations which is meant to help the communities have difficult conversations, one of them being specifically about race. The programme happens throughout the province and the Department decides which communities need it and works in partnership with a group of people called Social Cohesion Advocates appointed by the National Minister of Arts and Culture. They work with the communities and try to get communities to understand each other better through these conversations in a safe environment. The bulk of the Department’s other cultural programmes serve to do this as well as the Department uses all its platforms to get people from different communities to experience the cultural programmes and have a better understanding of each other. The sports programmes, especially the ones that are targeted at the youth and the mass participation programmes are specifically targeted at building long lasting relationships at this level so that as youth grow up, they have a better appreciation of each other.

Follow-ups

Mr P Marais (FF+) said that he had been waiting to see whether a South African culture that will indicate that we are in the process of building one nation will emerge since 1994. He asked if the Department is trying to prove that South Africa has 11 cultures and not one South African culture with its policies. He wanted to know if the country is moving towards a position where we share a common culture.

Mr Kama wanted to know the number of libraries that are connected in the rural areas and whether there is a backlog. If there is a backlog, he wanted to know how the budget will assist in responding to that.

Mr Mackenzie wanted to know when the Department will start advertising the details of the Year Beyond Programme so that they can be shared with communities. He wanted to know if there is police capacity to investigate the legitimacy of some of the traditional leaders to avoid any element of association with crime. This was because of the now late well-known crime lord who bought his way into becoming a Khoisan King.

Ms Windvogel wanted to know how the Department is addressing the lack of available land for initiation schools in the province.

Responses

Mr Redman said that the Department aligns itself with the Coat of Arms which promotes unity through diversity. In culture, diversity is very important because diversity informs how we see and process things around the world and how we think. “As a nation, we want to have different ways of thinking through situations because that puts us in a better position to progress”, he said. All cultures need to be protected and given the space to grow and spaces for people to experience other cultures need to be created so that they can respect other cultures.

He said that the initiation process has been made more difficult by the pandemic, and some initiations -especially during winter time lead to the death of initiates - and one of the contributing factors to that is dehydration. The recent success in the initiation process was a result of collaboration, as there was a strong team made up of the DCAS, the Department of Health, Social Development, SAPS, as well as the communities, including traditional leaders, initiation forums and other community structures that ensured that the initiation process was successful. The Department also co-owned and co-developed the COVID-19 protocols alongside the traditional leaders and the Somagwaza Institute and they were approved by the National Department and the protocols were followed.

He said that the land issue is difficult and that is why the DCAS is participating in all Municipal Spatial Development Framework Programmes because they want municipalities to be proactive in thinking about initiation. When there is a housing development that is proposed, it must be thought of upfront that enough land must be made available for initiation, for example, the Stellenbosch municipality has set aside land for initiation and put out a call to the public to let them know that they cannot visit that site during particular periods because the sacred practice is being undertaken. He said that they are also in discussions with the City of Cape Town for the Nyanga Junction initiation site to see how the site can be managed by the DCAS.

He said that the Commission on Khoisan Matters’ work is very thorough and they have a research team that works with them. The Act also does not allow anyone who has a criminal record to occupy any position within the structures of Traditional or Khoisan leadership. The vetting will definitely form part of the process in terms of the Act.

Ms Sani said that currently 229 libraries are connected through the Rural Library Connectivity Project and there are not many libraries with a backlog in connectivity. Many of the smaller libraries in the smaller rural areas do not have space to accommodate open access PCs and the others might not have the infrastructure to accommodate the connection yet. The DCAS is working with the Department of the Premier with their broadband initiative so that as they are rolling out the infrastructure, the DCAS is connecting the libraries to it, and every new library that is built in the rural areas is connected to it. She said that there are some adverts for the Year Beyond Programme that are out and others are going out on Wednesday and some coming out at the end of the month. All the advertisements are put out on SA Youth Mobi and all other youth opportunities. She said that people who want to apply can register on SA Youth Mobi. She said that the opportunities are put out in batches so that each opportunity is put out separately according to the specific geographic area within which it is located. The ones that are going out on Wednesday are for non-metro opportunities.

The Chairperson asked if Members had any questions of clarity between pages 688 to page 708.

Ms D Baartman (DA) wanted to know what the funding for the Cradle of Human Culture relating to the archaeological and paleontological heritage tourism route would be specifically for and how this would assist with increasing domestic tourists to the tourist route. She said that she had noticed that the Department gives Artscape around R200 000 every financial year, but last year there was an anomaly with approximately R600 000 given to Artscape. She wanted to know what the R200 000 was for and what the anomaly was for, as well as how Artscape receives the funding and whether they apply for it.

Mr Kama asked if there are any plans in the budget to increase the number of schools that participate in the MOD programme. He wanted to know how much of the budget is allocated to building on the partnerships established with municipalities across the province. In terms of the MIG programme, he wanted to know if the Department ensures that when municipalities apply for a grant, it is used to revamp the facilities within the municipalities where they are needed the most. He also asked for the number of approved projects in the province and where they are located.

Mr Brinkhuis said that next to the burnt library in the Strand area there is a sports ground that has caused great frustration and wanted to know if there is any portion of the budget that is allocated to fixing that sports ground. He said that he also heard through a grapevine that the City of Cape Town wants to close that sports ground and wanted to know from the Department if these plans are true.

Ms Windvogel wanted to know why the Department only continues to support museums with grants and aid and no interventions are made for struggling artists and athletes. She also wanted to know how the Department deals with the risk of the heritage sites like the Black River Park being taken over by greedy property developers. She wanted to know the other sites that are at risk and how the Department is protecting them.

Mr Redman said that in terms of the Cradle of Human Culture, the DCAS submitted documentation to UNESCO for completeness checking as part of a process to have these sites in the Western Cape and one in KZN declared world heritage sites. The process is at an advanced stage and was approved by the National Cabinet on 9 February for submission to UNESCO, and it will be submitted to UNESCO in February 2023. If all goes well in July 2023, those sites will be approved as world heritage sites. The other three sites that are part of the submission will be approved in the next round, as the focus currently is on the first three. He said that the funding that is normally provided to Artscape is for maintenance. The Artscape facility belongs to the Western Cape government, but the entity is a national entity. There is an official agreement between the DPW, the DCAS, and Artscape on the management and support of programmes in Artscape.

In terms of the support for museums and arts organisations, he said that the DCAS has a separate fund for arts organisations and in June 2021, the Department approved a new policy having learnt from the COVID-19 experience, as they only supported NGOs. The new policy allows them to also support individual artists where the artists can apply for assistance as individuals from the Department for work that they want to do. There is also another element where certain organisations that are in the arts events space can also apply. The museums have their own funding, which in terms of the ordinance they are able to support museums that affiliate to the Western Cape government.   

Ms Moleleki asked for an opportunity to return to the Committee with the information of the anomaly amount that was given to Artscape in the last year.

Mr Michael van Rensburg, Director: Museums, Heritage and Geographical Names Service, DCAS, said that the R815 000 on the Cradle of Human Culture that is mentioned in the report is for the development of infrastructure at the various sites and conservation and development of the Interpretation Centre. There are three sites in the Western Cape, located in Diepkloof, Blombos, and Pinnacle Point. The DCAS is currently looking at developing the infrastructure and conservation management at the one in Diepkloof which is close to Elands Bay. The site is a cave that is semi-exposed and it is on land that requires infrastructure to make it accessible to tourists and other people that would like to visit the site, so there needs to be an installation of walkways. The site also needs some conservation measures before it can be opened more widely to the public and the DCAS wants to fit out the Interpretation Centre that is planned in Elands Bay that will give the narrative and the story behind the caves as part of the tourism route.

Regarding the protection of heritage sites, he said that the Department manages and funds the entity called Heritage Western Cape - which he is also the COO of - and they ensure that they implement the National Heritage Resources Act. In terms of the Act, there are two types of protection, general protection and formal protection. Any site of potential provincial significance can be nominated to Heritage Western Cape and the entity will investigate and then potentially go through the process of having it declared as a Provincial Heritage Site, which adds an additional form of protection to the site. If the site, after being declared as a provincial heritage site is vandalised or not maintained properly, the site receives further protection from the SAPS.

In terms of the additional funding for Heritage Western Cape (HWC), he said that the funding is increased in the next financial year to ensure that HWC has enough or sufficient funds for its contingent liability. HWC sometimes has to go to court on heritage-related matters and potentially if a case is lost, the Department could be held liable for the legal fees.

Dr Bouah said that the Department has about R2 million in equitable shares in its budget; this is because, in terms of Schedule 5 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996, local facilities fall under municipalities. The Department has funding that it contributes towards the upgrading or construction of facilities, but R2 million does not buy enough material for the building. The smaller municipalities sometimes need a contribution from Provincial Government. In this financial year, Witzenberg was allocated R1 million for the upgrade of the Prince Albert Hamlet Netball and Tennis Facilities in preparation for the Netball World Cup 2023. There were also floodlight reparations in four facilities in Stellenbosch and R219 000 was spent, and in George, there was maintenance in spectator pavilions in Thembalethu. These are some of the aspects that the Department contributes to when municipalities apply for funding and all municipalities have an opportunity to do so between 1 July and 30 September each year.

He said that the MIG funding is administered by the Department of Local Government and the role of the DCAS is to assist in the appraisal and ensure each facility built met the requisite norms and standards that are requested for the particular code of sport. He said that they will request the Department of Local Government to send the list of MIG funding because the DCAS does not administer that list. There is a third level of funding that is called direct allocation in which the municipalities can apply directly to the National Department of Sports, Arts and Culture and that is colloquially called COGTA funding. There is R300 000 that is set aside for all municipalities in the country to apply for. He then read a list of municipalities that have received the fund.

He said that the DCAS has not really funded the City of Cape Town in the past ten years because it is eligible for other funding. He said that he will engage with a colleague of his to ask about the sports ground in Strand and what the intention of the City of Cape Town is about the facility. He said that he will send the response to the Chairperson of the Standing Committee as soon as he receives it. He said that three years ago the DCAS contributed funding towards the Steven Regan Netball Facility where they upgraded the locker rooms and the toilets as part of the legacy for the Netball World Cup.

Regarding the MOD programme, he said that the Department has 181 MOD centres and 134 neighbouring schools and that they can only have more schools if the budget allows, which is the reason they have not expanded too heavily because they need to have an incremental approach.

Mr Hendricks added that the concept of the neighbouring schools is using the MOD centre as a nucleus and the neighbouring schools would be the schools that are closest to the MOD centre. This creates a cluster where because the schools are close to one another, the learners can walk from one school to another to play games against each other.

The Chairperson allowed a 15-minute short break and after the short break, the Committee raised points of clarity from pages 709 until 716. The Chairperson tabled the entire vote including the annexures from pages 717 to 733.

Mr Kama said that there is a decrease in the budget for the library and archive’s services and that there is also a major service delivery risk that has been noted of an inability to implement the legal mandate regarding the provision of public library services. He wanted to know what the impact of the decrease would be on library services. In terms of the youth programmes, he wanted to know what the budget will be spent on as well as a breakdown of the expenditure in terms of the province and municipalities. He also wanted to know if there are any plans to increase the budget of sports in general and school sports.

Ms Baartman said that in terms of the Netball World Cup, it is noted that in this financial year, the Department is allocating R5 million, R5.2 million in the next financial year, and R5.4 million in 2024/25. She wanted to know what these amounts are for specifically and whether schools and organisations will be participating in some way during the Netball World Cup and if so, how. She was unclear on why R5.4 million is the projected allocation for the financial year 2024/25 given that the Netball World Cup is in 2023. She also wanted to know how far the preparations are for the Netball World Cup next year and added that it is very seldom that a world cup of this nature comes around and that the Department needs to take advantage of the opportunities that came with it.

She said that in the Beaufort West municipality R6.7 million is allocated for Libraries and Archives and R1.6 million is allocated to Laingsburg, but the Beaufort West municipality is currently being investigated under s106 and s139 as a dysfunctional municipality and their financial recovery plan has been approved by both Provincial and National Treasury. She wanted to understand why the funds are going to be allocated to a municipality that has been receiving qualified audits year after year and is under investigation because of maladministration and wasteful expenditure. She asked if it is not possible for the Department to just provide the service to the municipality instead of transferring the funds. She said that the Laingsburg municipality also gets qualified audits year after year and added that she has great concern about the transfer of such huge amounts to municipalities who have proven that they are unable to spend the money in the manner that it has been allocated and are unable to account when the money arrives.

Mr Mackenzie wanted to know the input that the Department is going to make and whether there is a public participation process that is going to happen regarding the Sports and Recreation Plan that is coming up for review. He wanted to know what happened to the Older Persons Games since the start of the pandemic and what has been keeping the senior citizens busy throughout the years. He said that the consultant’s fees have increased to R33 million, contracts increased by 42%, venues and facilities increased by 99% and asked for clarity on those increases. He also wanted to know what the Department is anticipating as it budgeted R600 000 for legal costs. He said that the training of Department officials has been fairly constant and wanted to know if the training has moved online and the kind of training being offered.

The Chairperson said that last year, a reply came back regarding Laingsburg Municipality that a transfer of R717 350 and the purpose of these funds was to refurbish and upgrade the sports field which includes rugby and soccer fields, netball courts, and athletic tracks, as well as a new irrigation system at the JJ Alice Sports Ground. The municipality confirmed that the full amount has been spent and the Chairperson wanted to know if it was double-checked that the amount was spent on these upgrades.

Mr Redman said that the budget on the youth programmes was a budget that was already sitting under management and because of the responsibility that the Department has been given to lead the Youth programmes, the Department decided to use that budget to create a sub-programme for it. He said that the funds for Beaufort West and Laingsburg municipalities are primarily for Library Staff. There are funded posts as in Beaufort West there are 27 posts, in Laingsburg, there are seven, and in Prince Albert, there are seven posts which are people whose salaries are supported through conditional grants. The engagement between the Western Cape Government and those municipalities and the challenges they are experiencing are being handled through the Head of Treasury and the Head of Local Government. All departments through their interventions decide whether or not to provide the relevant funding to those municipalities for the various programmes. Given that the Department’s support to these municipalities is primarily for warm bodies, the Department cannot risk not paying those people’s salaries. 

Dr Bouah said that in terms of schools' sports, the National Grant Framework (NGF) sets aside 40% of the framework for school sports. As the Department receives R88 million from the NGF, 40% of that goes to school sports, so currently what the Department is receiving is still not sufficient for the province and in most instances, the Department has to top-up some of the school sports with the equitable share. The reason the funds for the school sports are insufficient is that in the last ten years the province has not hosted a single summer or winter tournament. The province has been spending around R14 million on travelling because there are 16 priority codes and all of them have to be serviced by going to the winter or summer games. The Department is looking forward to the census because the formula for the Conditional Grant is the number of people staying in the province and at this stage, the Western Cape has moved to 6.8 million people, which should place the province in third place in terms of the Conditional Grants Framework. The province only gets the fifth biggest share of the Conditional Grant Framework. He said that he hopes that with the assistance of the CFO in the next two months, they will send a proposal to the National Department to increase the allocation.

Regarding the Netball World Cup, he said that the Department could not do as much as it needed to do to prepare in the past two years because of the COVID 19 pandemic. On 15 February, the CFO started a Netball World Cup Board that is based in Long Street Cape Town and is the hub of activity for the World Cup. It is envisaged that there will be people seconded to that hub in the next three months that will work on the Netball World Cup, as currently both the City of Cape Town and the province have people working in their offices in preparation for the World Cup. He said that on 23 March, he and other board members will be interviewing candidates for the Tournament Director position which is the head of the LOC position. Immediately after the interviews, the candidates will go for competency assessments and the new Tournament Director will start working on 1 April or May.

This year in terms of the bid book, it is envisaged that schools will be mobilised, so as soon as the 16 countries that will be participating in the World Cup are known, each school will adopt a country. In terms of mobilising the community, he said that on 4 February, Minister Marais accompanied him to Johannesburg where they launched Netball Fridays, so it is envisaged that every Friday from 4 February, South Africans should wear something that symbolises national pride. Funding has been made for the facilities and in the next two to three months many of the facilities will be opened by the Minister. He said that he will be meeting with the municipalities in the next few months to find out which municipalities want to host fan parks and viewing centres as the Department is trying to recreate a 2010 feel for the Netball World Cup. In terms of the bid book, the Western Cape Province is obligated to have at least one viewing centre per district and that equates to six viewing centres. The national department has requested that the same look and feel be done across the county, but at the moment the DCAS is still developing what the look and feel is because the context may differ sometimes.

In terms of the inputs of the National Sports and Recreation Plan, he said that there was a public participation process in January last year where the DCAS convened a public talk with the Western Cape Provincial Sport Confederation that was hosted by the confederation. All sports confederations in the Western Cape were invited to participate and one of the lawyers from the National Department was also there to share some inputs. In August last year, the process was continued and in November, the DCAS sent a document to the National Department that contained all the inputs from the Department and the sports federations. It is envisaged that there will be some indabas this year if the National Sport and Recreation Plan has got the indabas planned, but the DCAS is waiting for confirmation from the National Department about that.

Regarding the Better Together Games and the Old Person Games, it is envisaged that they will happen again. Last year, there was a watered down version of the games where there were indoor games like darts, etcetera, but the Department is hoping to be able to host bigger games this year. He said that they are also holding discussions with the City of Cape Town for the Older People Games because they believe that the games should take place, but they are also conscious and working with the Department of Health to determine when they can allow a large number of people that are over the age of 50 - which is a vulnerable group - to be together.

Regarding the Laingsburg Sports Facility, he said that he visited it on 24 November last year and they gave him a report and showed him some of the improvements that they made. The Department examined the report and asked them some questions for clarity and they are still engaging with the municipality and hope to finalise those engagements by the end of this month so that the HOD, the CFO and Dr Bouah can have a final report. He said that from his point of view, the upgrades were done but it is now just a matter of reporting and accounting.

Mr Redman said that the decrease in the budget for the libraries and archives is the result of the impact of an earmarked allocation of R38 million that was given to libraries last year when the conditional grant was cut because of COVID 19. The amount is back to its original allocation in the current financial year which is why it reflects as a reduction.

Ms Brenda Rutgers, Chief Financial Officer, DCAS, said that the reason for the significant increase of 236% in consultants is mainly related to the additional funding that the Department received. That covers the R1.5 million for the Cango Caves, the R1.5 million for the feasibility studies for the cultural facilities, the additional amount of R815 000 for the Cradle of Human Culture, and the R2 million for the review of the youth programmes within the province. She said that this is for the current year in terms of the additional funding, but comparatively, for the current financial year during the adjusted estimates, the Department reprioritised the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) budget by R9.4 million which will be reallocated to the Department in the adjusted estimates. The reason for this was the impact of COVID 19 on the ECM project.

In terms of venues and facilities, she said that there are two areas where the Department provides for venues and facilities above what they would normally provide for. One is cultural awards whereas in the current year there were no cultural awards so comparatively it will show an increase. And then in the Year Beyond programme, the Department provided sufficient funding for the conferences. The reason for the decrease in legal costs is that the Department had to absorb the impact of the wage increases which meant that they had to reprioritise from goods and services, which was one of the areas the Department felt that it could use some of the funding to cover the cost of the compensation of employees (COE).

Ms Boulle said that the youth programme has now been established and it moved some funding that was from certain programmes and it has been consolidated. It includes the R15 million for the holiday programme, R15 million additional funding for the Year Beyond programme and the existing Year Beyond funding which is R14 million, as well as other funding on Year Beyond and the Lights On Campaign for after school programmes and advocacy work. All of that funding was already on the budget; it has just been consolidated into a single programme.

Regarding the expansion of the programme, she said that the programme is expanding across the Western Cape on the basis of geographic expansion and a programmatic expansion. In addition to Year Beyond in schools, last year the At Home learning was introduced which was working in communities as a COVID 19 intervention and picking up learners who were not attending school. Other programmes have been added.

Ms Baartman asked the Department to forward the close-out report for the JJ Alice Sports Ground to the Committee. She also wanted to know what the back and forth with the municipality is about and whether the Department took pictures of the facility on 24 November when they visited.

Dr Bouah said that the Department received a report from Laingsburg and has sent questions back to the municipality so the Department will finalise the close-out report before they can send anything to the Committee because they need to have clarity on every aspect. He said that he did not take pictures during his visit as he did a walkabout.

HOD's concluding remarks

Mr Redman thanked the Standing Committee for fulfilling its role and all the questions raised during the meeting. He said that the focus of the Department going forward beyond the focus areas identified by the Western Cape government of jobs, safety, and well-being is the emphasis on social cohesion, youth, and mental well-being. Also, given that the budget has not grown as much as the Department would have liked given the increase in the pressures from the community, the Department is looking at changing its operating models and to work differently to ensure that the funds go as far as possible in helping the communities.

Minister’s concluding remarks

Minister Marais thanked the Standing Committee for the respectful engagement. She said that she hopes that the Committee noticed that all of the Department’s officials were in the meeting. She said that a budget is not just a collection of numbers, but an expression of our values and aspirations.

Mr Kama recited the official thank you to the Department on behalf of the Committee.

Resolutions/Actions

Ms Baartman said that one official said that they could provide information to the Committee regarding the extra R400 000 allocation to Artscape and asked that information be provided.

She also wanted to know if the Department has any paraphernalia for the Netball World Cup. She said that she feels strongly that the Committee also needs to promote the Netball World Cup as the year continues and as they do their oversight. She encouraged the Committee that if there is any paraphernalia available they should wear it during their in-person cultural affairs, sports meetings and oversight. She asked that Netball Dads should be encouraged in the same way that Soccer Moms are encouraged around the world because South Africa is one of the countries with a high rate of children who have absent fathers.

She also wanted to know if it would be possible for the Committee to prioritise doing an oversite over the funding spent in municipalities in the Central Karoo and to see what has been achieved in those municipalities.

Lastly, she proposed that the Committee supports Vote: 13.

Mr Mackenzie said that he fully supported the Vote.

The Committee Procedural Officer read out the Committee proposed actions and resolutions.

Mr Kama said that Dr Bouah had said that he will return to the Committee with information about the other R5.4 million. He requested that the Department also provide a list of the projects that are funded in the MIG programme in the province. Lastly, he also asked for a report on the investigation at Hanover Park. He said that in accordance with Rule 90, the African National Congress expresses its minority view to not support the Vote.

The Chairperson said that the requests for information will be noted in the minutes and that he will sign the report to be submitted to the Budget Committee.

The Chairperson read the report of the Standing Committee on Community Safety, Cultural Affairs and Sport on Vote 13 in the Schedule to the Western Cape Appropriation Bill [B2- 2022] dated 15 March as follows:

The Standing Committee on Community Safety, Cultural Affairs and Sport, having deliberated on the subject of Vote 13 in the Schedule to the Western Cape Appropriation Bill referred to the Committee in accordance with the Standing Rule 188, reports that it supports the Vote. In accordance with Rule 90, the African National Congress expresses its minority view not to support the Vote.

Ms Baartman moved for the adoption of the report and was seconded by Mr Kama. The report was adopted.

The meeting was adjourned.