Department of Sport, Arts and Culture 2022/23 Annual Performance Plan

Sport, Arts and Culture

04 May 2022
Chairperson: Ms B Dulane (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

Sport, Arts & Culture APP

The Portfolio Committee convened on a virtual platform to be briefed by the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture (DSAC) on its 2022/23 Annual Performance Plan. The Department presented its strategic focus following the merger of the Department of Sport and Recreation and the Department of Arts and Culture. DSAC outlined how they will measure their performance in their programmes which target women, youth and people with disabilities. They detailed their collaboration with various public entities, NGOs and the provinces in the District Development Model. The R6.295 billion budget for 2022/23 was outlined.

Members asked what the Department's plans were to work with the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Higher Education and Training to promote all languages for learning and teaching. They also asked about sports being included in the school curriculum, and if it was limited to high school.

Members were concerned about the state of libraries and their usage. They wanted to know how the Department is monitoring and evaluating the usage of libraries in the country.

Members asked how the Annual Performance Plan will leverage digital platforms for content creators to monetize their work. They asked how the Department will protect local art producers and other creatives from exploitation by trade agents in the creative sector.

Members asked how the Department will work with traditional authorities to help them promote their culture and heritage. In other instances, how are they helping them retrieve traditional cultural treasures which are in foreign countries largely due to colonial cultural extradition?

Due to the merge of the two departments, Members asked how the Department managed redundant staff.

Meeting report

Department of Sports, Arts and Culture (DSAC) 2022/23 Annual Performance Plan
Director-General, Mr Vusumusi Mkhize, provided the core outputs of the Annual Performance (APP), their national footprint as outlined by the District Development Model (DDM). Outcomes included:
Increased market share of, and job opportunities created in sport, cultural and creative industries.

Following the merger of the Departments of Sport and Recreation (SRSA) and Arts and Culture (DAC), a start-up structure merging the two was developed and approved in 2019. Challenges identified included duplication of functions, inefficiencies, and insufficient integration. Vortex Strategic Alignment was appointed to conduct an organisational review to allocate resources that are fit-for-purpose.

DSAC will be measuring their outputs for the programmes as set out in the APP with an additional Gender Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) response programme:
Programme 1 – Administration
Programme 2 – Recreation development and sports promotion
Programme 3 – Arts and Culture Promotion and development
Programme 4 – Heritage promotion and preservation
Their programmes will prioritise the mainstreaming of women, youth and persons with disabilities as envisaged in the National Development Plan (NDP) Vision 2030.

The Department indicated collaboration with its own and other public entities and NGOs such as Artscape, Blind SA, and LoveLife with implementation and distribution in the nine provinces according to the District Development Model (DDM).

Mr Israel Mokgwamme, DSAC CFO, outlined the allocation of the R6.295 billion budget for 2022/23 for the programmes, internal payments for staff compensation, goods and services and external payment to provinces and municipalities as well as grants.

Discussion
Mr M Zondi (ANC) noted that the promotion of usage and equal status of all official languages is an imperative of the democratic government. The Department should be at the centre of ensuring language policy resources in Basic and Higher Education are developed and deployed for scholarly communication purposes. He asked for its plans to work with the Departments of Basic Education and Higher Education and Training to promote all languages for learning and teaching. 

How is DSAC working with the traditional authorities to help them promote their culture and heritage? In other instances, how are they helping them retrieve their cultural treasures which are in foreign countries largely due to colonial cultural extradition?

Mr Zondi commented that sports are highly valued in South Africa where sports clubs and teams emerge from communities without the support of government or the private sector. This shows the power of sports in bringing people together. Acknowledging the limited government resources, he asked what DSAC is doing to leverage funds from the private sector to support sports as part of their corporate social responsibility to develop adequate sports facilities for women and youth in rural and poor locations to create equitable access and opportunities?

How is DSAC monitoring and evaluating the usage of libraries in the country? What is the state of usage of the libraries?

How are sports federations required to meet their transformation target, given that some are unable to generate sufficient funds to promote sports in historically disadvantaged areas? Should schools not play a role?

Ms R Adams (ANC) wanted clarification on the duplication of functions due to the merging of the Recreation and Sport Department and the Arts and Culture Department. How is DSAC ensuring that the division of labour is temporarily managed to avoid redundant staff whilst awaiting the organisational review to ensure optimal utilization of its human capacity?

The release of the digital spectrum will have a lot of positive benefits for the arts and creative sector as this will enable an increase of access to digital platforms and television platforms, which will translate to more viewers and users. How will this Annual Performance Plan (APP) leverage digital platforms for content creators to monetize their work? She asked how DSAC will protect local producers of art and other creatives from exploitation by trade agents in the creative sector? Trade agents often make large profits internationally by paying local producers small amounts.

Ms Adams commented that the targets for the District Development Model project implementation in Programme 2: Recreation Development and Sports Promotion were low across the provinces. Why was this the case?

Mr D Joseph (DA) asked how the fourth industrial revolution and the 2030 NDP have informed DSAC policies? He noted its employment rate for people with disabilities is 2.1%. The 2% target set by government is probably 10 years old and it should be shifted to at least 5%.

The situational analysis of Return To Play has included the agreement to include school sports in the curriculum. This was to be part of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Education Department. Mr Joseph was concerned this is limited to high schools and primary schools are not included.

Another concern was for DSAC to tackle the informal netball numbers, to have players registered and pushed towards the Netball World Cup 2023 taking place in South Africa.

Mr Joseph acknowledged the importance of social cohesion and national identity as the country is a young democracy. It is important to promote initiatives such as the 'I am the flag' campaign and the moral regeneration movement.

The Winning Nation target was for 350 000 people to participate in sport. Does DSAC work directly with the entities such as the federations, sports bodies, municipalities and provinces? Where is the focus to achieve that target? Is it different to the previous way of doing things? 

What percentage does Department get from the R6.2 billion budget from National Treasury after distribution of budget and grants to its entities and other spheres of government?

The Chairperson acknowledged that DSAC works with other departments that oversee the sport facilities. The Department works with provinces, municipalities, Basic Education department, and sometimes Love Life. What is the experience of DSAC about the safety of equipment and their usage by the communities? How can DSAC expand and massify the programme to ensure that exercising becomes a norm for communities to improve health outcomes?

How is DSAC working with the Department of Human Settlements and municipalities to ensure that all residential areas have adequate sports facilities and libraries?

Responses
The DSAC CFO explained that the conditional grants are part of the R6.2 billion budget. It is part of the allocation that needs to be distributed to provinces including the public entities. The allocation for the national department itself is 23% of the R6.2 billion budget.

Mr Vusithemba Ndima, Deputy Director-General: Heritage Promotion and Preservation, explained how they work with traditional authorities to promote and retain heritage. There are currently programmes with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) to work on a number of areas such as traditional practices, indigenous knowledge systems, liberation heritage and living human treasures. He gave the examples of the project locating the grave of King Hintsa on the banks of the Nqabarha River and the statue of Nkosi Bhambatha which is soon to be unveiled with the family. 

An MOU with the Department of Traditional Affairs is being finalised to specify projects that DSAC will be collaborating with that department. The policy of repatriation and restitution of human remains and heritage objects will address what the kings, queens and chiefs lost due to colonialism. He suggested that a separate session be allocated to this particular area as there is a lot to share. 

On the state of libraries and monitoring their usage, DSAC works with a Conditional Grant for Public and Community Libraries where provinces come to DSAC with their business plans and their identified needs. From those business plans, a library conditional grant is allocated and there are monitoring and evaluation meetings where reports are submitted by the provinces to show how they are implementing the projects. They are working with the National Library of South Africa which hosts three officials responsible for three provinces each, where they visit the provinces to look at how the conditional grant is being rolled out.

The state of the libraries is relatively good. The conditional grant is still available which takes care of a number of objectives such as infrastructure development, library staff, purchasing of library equipment, library resources for visually impaired citizens and the installation of ICT. 

Dr Cynthia Khumalo, Deputy Director-General: Arts, Culture Promotion and Development, explained the promotion of language usage driven through the Departments of Basic Education and Higher Education. There is a lot of work being done within DSAC driven through the different projects and initiatives such as the human language technologies and terminology development programmes. Other projects include making sure there is sustainability in providing bursaries to university students. Work was being done by the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) which have a focus group for each of the 11 official languages. They bring on board stakeholders which include various departments. 

She referred to the revival of the National Language Stakeholder Engagement Forum that DSAC instituted in 2021/22, which continues into this financial year and is built into the operational plan. This forum brings together language stakeholders from national government departments, provincial legislatures, municipalities, higher education institutions, and others. The main objective is to ensure there is a general understanding of the language policies. The revival of this stakeholder engagement forum is a milestone to ensure addressing language development, especially in the education departments.

DSAC has begun to ensure the implementation of the South African Language Practitioners Council which was promulgated in 2014. It influences and monitors the implementation of language policies and works with PanSALB which is tasked with that responsibility by DSAC.

She explained the DSAC role in working with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) on culture development. There are efforts to work with the National House of Traditional Leaders through CoGTA in putting together an MOU which allows us to work closely with traditional leaders in the country. This has already commenced and hopefully, it will culminate in the integration of work being done by the traditional leaders, CoGTA and DSAC specifically in the area of culture development and heritage

On the utilisation of the digital spectrum and creating platforms for local content producers to be protected, DSAC considers the finalisation of the Copyright Amendment Bill and the Performance Protection Amendment Bill to be very important. There are engagements with the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies informed by the DSAC Cultural and Creative Industry Master Plan which has gone through two technical cabinet clusters and has gone to the Minister for input and it should be ready within a few weeks to go to Cabinet. The plan identifies key action areas – one being enhancing participation of the industry in the digital spectrum. There is communication with the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) on the concern about content creation. 

Ms Mandisa Tshikwatamba, DDG: Corporate Governance, replied about the optimal utilization of staff and if there are redundant staff members after the merge. Currently, DSAC does not have any supernumerary or excess staff. With the formation of a transitional structure, DSAC engaged with the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) and approval was given. People have been shuffled, a few have left and some have been placed in other departments. Personnel have been deployed in DSAC according to the approved structure; each branch has its approved year plan with a performance agreement for each individual. Most of the personnel have signed these. Continuous performance assessment will be done through monthly meetings, quarterly meetings and midterm assessments. 

DSAC had faced the challenge of a high vacancy rate during the transition that resulted in personnel covering vacant positions which combatted the possibility of staff performing at a non-optimal level. The Covid pandemic disturbed the start of the transitional structure plan where people might not have been optimally productive when working from home as they would have been in the office. However, department personnel are moving back to the office so that should be resolved. 

Government had not been pushing for higher percentage of employment of people with disabilities and it has stuck to 2%. Very few departments recommend 3%. It is not the first time she is hearing this as it is a trend across government. There is caution to increase the rate as departments are still struggling to achieve the current rate. 

Director-General Mkhize explained how DSAC works with other departments. An example is the Department of Small Business Development has provided support as there are plans to establish cooperatives in the fields of sports, art, culture and heritage to properly equip entrepreneurs in these fields. Another collaboration is with the Department of Tourism to encourage heritage tourism. 

Commenting on the importance of the Copyright Amendment Bill and Performance Protection Amendment Bill, the Director-General said the two Portfolio Committees should really assist in passing the two Bills as the sector is struggling without them. DSAC will be collaborating with other departments to strengthen the film sector with the increased digital spectrum.

The Department is working with CoGTA to provide sports facilities to support local communities to have access to infrastructure which is a key target of the DSAC APP. This is through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG), which has resulted in the creation of more than 2400 jobs which were contract work but many have been converted to permanent jobs. The Department is currently liaising with Treasury to make this a permanent budget and it is communicating with a few provinces to make the conversion to permanent jobs by the following normal recruitment process. 

Working with schools, there is a four-tier system where there is responsibility between DSAC, the provinces and the Department of Public Enterprises. 

For the Winning Nation programme, DSAC works with NGOs and various organisations to get the participation of citizens. It is more about an 'active nation' where they are promoting mass participation and not necessarily the 'winning nation' which focuses more on elite athletes.

Mr Lebogang Mogoera, Acting Deputy Director-General: Sport Promotion, explained that the MOU signed with the Department of Basic Education includes all schools - both primary and high schools. In the implementation of the programme, the School Sport National Championships have only high schools at a national level; however, both high school and primary school are included in the championships at a provincial level. 

The Department of Human Settlements is one of the departments it will be collaborating with. The Department's relationship with CoGTA has already been explained. The Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) is only applicable to Category B and C municipalities which are district and local municipalities. Metros are not included in the MIG. However, the process is underway as the Urban Settlements and Development Grant (USDG) is under CoGTA with the custodian being the Department of Human Settlements. Engagements have started between Human Settlements and DSAC. 

Director-General Mkhize added that almost 79% of the DSAC budget goes out in the form of grants supporting sport federations. They advocate that the budget to support sports, art and culture is highly inadequate in terms of the responsibility to address social cohesion and nation building. Most of the budget goes out in the form of transfers and does not stay within the Department to achieve its targets in sports development. The remaining budget goes to the compensation of employees therefore the budget becomes very limited to provide the necessary support for its core business. 

The Chairperson asked that the Acts included in the presentation that inform the department plan should be analysed in a separate written report to the Committee. She requested the Women's Sport Policy and the decisions of the court rulings noted in the presentation. The Committee had received queries about the case and they would like to get the verdict to respond to the queries. 

Mr Mkhize said that all the requested information will be provided and he thanked the Committee for their guidance and oversight in creating the annual performance plan. 

The meeting was adjourned.

Present

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