DSAC Portfolio Audit Outcomes; Hockey South Africa Annual Report 2021/22

Sport, Arts and Culture

11 October 2022
Chairperson: Ms B Dlulane (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

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Dept overview presentation (outstanding)

Tabled Committee Reports

The Committee convened for a briefing by the Auditor-General of South Africa on the audit outcomes of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and its entities.

The presentation discussed improvements in the current administration term, movement from previous years, portfolio performance, performance against targets, key observations on implementing PESP, material irregularities, financial management and compliance.

The presentation by the Auditor-General of South Africa discussed improvements in the current administration term, movement from previous years, portfolio performance, performance against targets, key observations on the implementation of PESP, material irregularities, financial management and compliance.

The presentation pointed out that many entities had concerning increases in irregular expenditure and that most of these entities did not comply with supply chain management legislation; they were also slow in their consequence management responses. Instability caused by vacancies was identified as one of the contributing factors to the increase of irregular expenditure.

The Committee Members resolved that the Committee would invite the poorly performing entities to come and account.

Members lamented that the Department’s entities must have the will to do good, improve their financial management status, and strive to put collective measures when implementing the key performance areas. More specifically, they were concerned that overall irregular expenditure had increased from R23.9 million in the 2020/21 financial year to R105 million in the 2021/22 financial year, with the Department contributing just above 57%. This was very concerning.

The second briefing was from the South African Hockey Association, on their annual performance report and progress regarding the development in schools. The Association said that it introduced modified hockey as part of physical education. This is also an effort to grow the sport, particularly in townships and rural areas. The Langa Hockey Club is one of the examples of the successful introduction of hockey in disadvantaged communities and making the sport more accessible. The Association is also making some strides for transformation in the sport. Safeguarding the children and players is part of their strategy, and they have included modules for coach training and teacher training. There is a stand-alone safeguarding policy for reporting any abuse.

Members praised the national hockey team for doing very well globally, not only in the continent. They said it was one of South Africa’s national teams that was doing very well. They wanted to know the challenges that made it difficult for the sport to attract sponsors. How has the Department assisted SA Hockey to achieve its transformation objectives in terms of resources and particularly its budget? Is the final grant of R4 million enough for them to achieve their objectives?

Meeting report

The Chairperson opened the meeting, and she expressed that the Portfolio Committee and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) are proud of all the athletes representing South Africa abroad, especially the women in the Springbok’s rugby, netball, cricket and soccer as well as other sports.

She welcomed all the Members before moving to the apologies.

There were apologies received from the Minister and the Deputy Minister. The Minister had indicated they would not be able to attend the meeting, as they were going to the UNESCO summit launch of an international decade of indigenous languages as of 2022. The Deputy Minister was attending a Cabinet Committee meeting. The President of the South African Hockey Association would be joining the meeting late due to travelling.

There was an apology from Ms V van Dyk (DA), who indicated that she was experiencing power supply interruptions in her area but might be able to join if power is restored. Ms R Adams (ANC) was also experiencing power outages, which affected her participation in the meeting. Ms Malumane (ANC) was writing exams in the same week and would be away due to that.

The apologies were noted, and the agenda was adopted.

Briefing by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA)

Ms Mbali Tsotetsi, Deputy Business Executive, Auditor-General of South Africa, led the presentation. The presentation discussed improvements in the current administration term, movement from previous years, portfolio performance, performance against targets, key observations on implementing PESP, material irregularities, financial management and compliance.

Recommendations:

-Ensuring sufficient monitoring controls over compliance with supply chain management legislation, and implementing effective consequence management;

-Monitor the implementation of action plans to address findings and address the root causes;

Commitments by the accounting officer (AO):

-Monitor the implementation of audit action plans and consequence management.

-Monitor and regularly follow up with the executive authority and accounting officer/authority on:

1. Implementation of action plans and preventative controls;

2. Implementation of consequence management concerning irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure and all other allegations under investigation. The culture of consequence management should be enforced in the portfolio;

3. Obtain and actively track commitments made, specifically concerning the AO/AA implementing action plans and other corrective measures to ensure improvement in the portfolio audit outcomes;

4. The Portfolio Committee should continue to actively engage with all role players within the accountability ecosystem to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to implement consequence management;

5. The Portfolio Committee should assess the Department and public entities’ strategic and annual performance plans to ensure that auditees plan and deliver in line with their respective mandates;

6. Utilisation of the preventative control guides as developed by the AGSA to assist other oversight functions in asking relevant questions during their oversight.

 

See attached for full presentation

 

Discussion

The Chairperson thanked the Auditor-General for the briefing. She said that this detailed information would assist the Committee in its BRRR (Budget Review and Recommendations Report) process for planning in 2022/23. She remarked that entities had not been improving, and she hoped that the Members who would be asking questions would ask questions to the Department to understand what had been done about the entities. The Chairperson then opened to the floor for questions.

Mr A  Zondi (ANC) said that the office of the Auditor-General was very clear on those recommendations to the Committee. He welcomed the presentation, and he was happy that the issue of the stability of the organisation was emphasised in terms of the entities as one of the contributors to some of the challenges of irregular expenditure. Firstly, he wished to say that entities must have the will to do good, improve their financial management status, and strive to put collective measures when implementing the key performance areas. Moving forward, this will assist in internal control and consequence management.

Mr Zondi noted with concern that irregular expenditure had increased from R23.9 million in the 2020/21 financial year to R105 million in 2021/22 financial year, with the Department contributing just above 57%. This was very concerning. The Auditor-General (AG) had also noted that irregular expenditure was incomplete as Iziko Museum still needed to determine the full amount it incurred in the financial year 2021/22. For the entities that incurred irregular expenditure, as per the AG’s briefing, it was stated that the root cause was the lack of effective implementation of consequence management of officials who do not comply with SCM regulations and thus commit irregular expenditure. This means that 53% of entities do not adhere to the SCM (supply chain management) regulations. This is concerning.

Regarding the investigation, the Department must provide the Committee with an update on the matters highlighted in the AG’s documents. Of particular concern are the matters of the disciplinary case against the CEO of the National Arts Council (NAC) and the protracted investigation into the capital aspect in the matter of the Entity Performing Arts Center of the Free State (PACOFS). Those are the two issues that are part of particular concern regarding entities.

Mr T Mhlongo (DA) welcomed the presentation by the Auditor-General (AG), as it had highlighted things that they know about – for example, the fact that the NAC had questionable financial statements. The prevention of irregular, unauthorised and fruitless expenditure was there. He asked if he could get details about the R20 million that is irregular, regarding the NAC. What are the details on the procurement of contract management? What were the repeat findings in the NAC because they usually talk about repeat findings, but they do not adhere to the AG’s recommendations, and they do not implement those recommendations. He pleaded with the AG to advise them when talking about financial statements that must be monitored and their action plan.

He had written a letter last time regarding the national orchestra and the NAC about a reserve of R65 million, which was still in the reserve bank. Does it appear on the budget and the financial statement, as they had never seen it? Is the AG aware of the reserved money, where there is a shortage of the R20 million, for example? On the NAC, why is the reserve not used, and what is the purpose of the reserve funding?

He also noted that the AG spoke of the NSA’s poor administration issues. What has the AG observed on R59 million used for the orchestra? The Department talked about the MOI and sometimes MOU, which was very confusing. How can the Committee do oversight work while the Department changes its form or report? Even in the findings, the report of the APP reported something differently – when it was the report to the Committee, it was something different.

He had also observed the weak controls that the Department had. The Department spoke about implementing the White Paper, but they did this when it suited them. The outcomes showed that the implementation was inconsistent for these three entities. When talking about Iziko Museum and others, which were big culprits, why had they not implemented the white paper and only did so when it suited them? For example, there were different orchestras in different provinces but no implementation of the white paper. How can this be mitigated?

Ms D Sibiya (ANC) welcomed the presentation and said in 2020/21, the Auditor-General (AG) flagged eight auditees with material findings. In 2021/22, the number has increased to 18. What are the contributing factors to this increase? To what extent have instability and vacancies influenced these increases?

Mr D Joseph (DA) thanked the AG for the valuable information shared. He first addressed the comments made by the AG about the previous recommendation. He thought this Committee should really look at the previous recommendations from the AG and then focus on those entities that did not implement these recommendations. He also noted that two departments were joined due to restructuring, which shifted a bigger burden to this Committee, as doing oversight work for 28 entities is a big task. At the beginning of the presentation, it was mentioned that there was a slight improvement, which is good news. However, later in the presentation, it was also mentioned that there was about the R1.1 billion of irregular expenditure from the previous years. The AG must indicate if the Portfolio Committee must zoom in to prior years and where to cut the line regarding the prior years. There must be a strategy on how the Committee should deal with the prior years. Plans that are not measurable are a big concern, and he hoped that the Department would help the Committee regarding entities that have plans that are not measurable.

He noted that the achievements of the Department against the APP indicated that it was 76% achieved. He asked what the achievement percentage in the previous two years was so that the Committee could compare how the achievements have improved against the APP. What happened to the report where the Minister called for a forensic investigation? The Committee does not know what happened to that report or what was said in the report. He was unsure if the NAC could handle all the money transferred from the R680 million that the Department transferred to its entities. It is possible that all the entities could not handle all the amount of money that was transferred to them.

There was a mention of over-commitment. More jobs were created than planned. On one hand, that is good but on the other hand, it appears that there was overcommitment, and financial statements did not correspond.

Regarding the internal audits and the audit committees: the entities do not heed the call and warnings to adhere. There were concerns raised by the audit committees because that was supposed to be the first intervention of methods the entities and Department must get. Mr Joseph noted that there could be differences of opinion about the report, but they must find some solutions to respecting the internal audit committee reports. One of the major concerns is consequence management. He said that he does not have the answers concerning consequence management. In some areas there was mention of disciplinary hearings – which seems to be one of the areas that everyone is trying to do something about. But there is a legal process, and they spend a lot of money on litigation in their entities. Compliance with key legislation, particularly on procurement and fruitless and wasteful expenditure – which brings up consequence management again.

The entities must respect what the AG had said. They have issued certificates in the past, but he believes that, as the Portfolio Committee, they need to zoom in on the information presented, especially about the entities. The Committee needs to get the entities to appear before it as soon as possible to account, so that the Committee could help the AG to lay down the rules, because these entities are for our people to take South Africa forward, to build the nation and facilitate social coalition. This encompasses all the positive things this Committee and the Department represent. “Therefore, we must help them to achieve that goal”, he added.

The Chairperson said that she had a few additions to the questions asked by Members. She asked the AG what happened to the investigation she had mentioned. There were about five entities that were part of the investigation. Can the Committee invite these entities to come before it for them to account for the irregularities and what the Department has done to assist in this regard?

Regarding the fruitless and wasteful expenditure that the AG mentioned, she did not understand how it went from R600 000 to R5.1 million. The Department, along with the 11 auditees, are included. The irregular expenditure of the five entities that were mentioned amounted to about R105 million. Does this mean that there have been no corrections previously? The Department must tell the Portfolio Committee what happened. There have been some achievements that indicate that the Department is doing well in some respects. This Committee gives the AG assurance that, on their side, they will consider this report and then call the Department along with the entities that are not doing well. The situation is even worse with procurements. In payments, the Department must account.

Lastly, the Chairperson stated that the Committee appreciated the information in the report and will plan its oversight based on this information. In the next quarter, the Committee will follow up with the departments. Additionally, the PC will join them in their oversight role to ensure the improvement of service delivery. The Chairperson then opened the floor to the AG for responses.

Responses

Ms Tsotetsi welcomed the comments around the presentation and was pleased that the information provided would assist the Committee in its oversight work. Mr Zondi pointed out the challenges around the concerning increase in irregular expenditure and most entities not complying with supply chain management legislation. He also mentioned that he requires more details about the investigation at the NAC and PACOFS. She noted these concerns and said the Department would have to comment on them. She mentioned that what they did in the briefing document was to highlight some of the key insights that they noted, as they reflected or related to the entities that have investigations, such as the NAC. There was a forensic investigation, but they did get hold of the report through the Department and took note of what happened subsequent to the report. Both the CEO and CFO have exited the entity. And the insights around the CEO were highlighted. The CEO received a settlement while the CFO was dismissed. The Department can provide more information on what transpired on their side after they received the forensic report on the NAC. Regarding PACOFS, there has been a long-standing investigation for some time. The Department will be better placed to provide more information as to why the investigation is taking much longer. The project is on hold while the investigation is ongoing.

She noted that Mr Mhlongo raised a few questions, the main one was about the NAC. He had asked for details regarding the irregular expenditure. What cause is behind it? As mentioned in the presentation, most of the R16 million was because they went over the budget, then the remaining amount of R4 million relates to non-compliance. Despite that indication, he would like to get a full breakdown of that irregular expenditure relating to supply chain management to indicate the exact findings that caused it.

The matter of the reserves at the NAC was something they asked for more time to investigate. If there are reserves and they are there for a particular purpose, the entity cannot tap into them to address the budget matter. However, they did not have the full details on the reserves that the NAC had. The money may be requested for a particular project and that is why they cannot just use it. If they have budgetary constraints, they require approval from National Treasury before they can use that money to attend to operational expenses. She said that she does not have the full breakdown of the recommendations at the NAC but, from the findings, some of them are reoccurring and can be seen against the material misstatements or financial statements, supply chain management and the issue of the budget as also highlighted in the PRM. This goes to show that the action plan was not properly implemented. The actions that were put in the plan were not monitored properly to ensure that they were fully addressed. This means that even the recommendations made previously for the action plan were not fully implemented. Hence, they reported the same findings again at the entity.

She noted that, regarding the action plan, Mr Mhlongo asked what the Committee must do in terms of monitoring that matrix, and whether the Department or the entities are implementing the plans. In response, she said that their recommendation is that, through the Department or specific entities, they must indicate the findings they are reporting and, on the same report, indicate the actions they put in place or that they have developed to address those findings. They will then give feedback to the Committee about where they are in terms of implementing those actions. The feedback will be on whether it was a matter that needs to be corrected in the financial statements, whether it was a matter of internal controls being strengthened; what have they done to strengthen the internal control; if it is consequence management; whether disciplinary actions been taken; or whether a recovery has been made just to give comfort to the Committee that they are addressing those particular issues to ensure that they do not reoccur next year.

On the question about the implementation of the White Paper: they did not look into that matter as part of the audit process. However, going forward, it can be looked into because it has been pointed out as a paper that needs to be implemented. They can investigate why it was not implemented, working with the Department to find out why it has not been implemented at other entities as ASM required.  

She noted Ms Sibiya’s question about the increasing non-compliance compared to the prior year. She had asked what contributed to that increase, highlighted the instability, and said they had a role to play in non-compliance as reported. She confirmed that there was instability as part of the root cause behind the funds they are reporting, because there may be acting people once there are vacancies. However, things do not move the same way as they would when permanent people are in those positions. As a result, there may be gaps in the internal controls during that period. When there is instability within the Department or the entity such that certain processes are not properly followed, this results in irregularities being committed – which is non-compliance with legislation. So, there is a direct link between the two and it is part of the key root cause of the outcomes.

She also noted that Ms Adams highlighted the issue of irregular expenditure and asked how the Portfolio Committee must deal with irregular expenditure from the previous financial years. The reason why the irregular expenditure from the previous year was highlighted is because, according to the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), there are certain steps that the accounting official or authority must take once irregular expenditure has been identified. In the end, they are supposed to deal with the backlog of irregular expenditure; it is not supposed to remain in the financial statement year after year. They are supposed to investigate and take consequence management steps. They will ask for condonement once they have taken those steps to recover the monies from officials. Those processes are either taking longer or, in some instances, not taking place at all for them to deal with their irregularities from the previous years. It then begs the question of whether the accounting officer or authority implemented the right steps, according to PFMA, in dealing with discovering what the irregular expenditure was for. So, as one interacts with the Department and the entities again, it goes back to implementation of consequence management. The Portfolio Committee also highlighted this as part of the areas to focus on in terms of how entities are dealing with the irregularities from previous years, because it must be dealt with since it has been identified with irregularities. That is why a huge balance is not dealt with – these steps are not taking place as required.

On the plans that are not measurable, the Department must comment on that. On the performance of the Department in the last two years, the Department will comment on that too. The Department will also answer the question about the report of the NAC.

The R680 million for the presidential employment stimulus package was not only handled by the NAC; it was allocated to different entities. So, the presentation just highlighted the two because they received a bigger chunk of the R680 million, with the NAC receiving R300 million and the NFVF receiving R140 million. Social monies were also transferred to the national library and other entities receiving the other balance. To answer that question, he indicated that they did not get the full R680 million for the past initiative. They worked on a R300 million budget, but their commitment was beyond that amount.

She recounted that there was a question concerning the internal audit and audit committees – if the entities have a recurring finding, it means that they are not heeding the call from the audit committees or internal audits because they are the first to note the finding. She responded that this is difficult to answer because it differs from entity to entity. The AG’s office does its own assessment of each entity to see whether the audit committees have done their work, as required by legislation, in all the key areas that they must investigate. It was the same case with the internal audit unit – the AG assesses whether the unit will also perform its work in line with the mandate (looking at the plans), and if they had to look at certain areas where they able to fully implement their plans. This impacts their role. The Department’s advice to the Portfolio Committee on this matter is for the Committee to summon the audit committee to reflect and explain if it feels that it had done its part and whether the Department or entities have heeded the call to addressing prior findings or any non-compliance through the AG report. The Department side does not have the full report on all the audits to indicate to the Portfolio Committee.

Before the AG comes, the internal auditors must have provided accounting officers with all the gaps that need to be closed to ensure that financial information or performance information that will be reported will in fact be credible. They have a key role to play in the accountability ecosystem. At times, they may be impacted by capacity constraints and not have the full capacity to implement their plan for the year. That also impacts the reports that they are going to give to the accounting officers. So, they have time to close the gaps before the AG comes through. The audit committee will also have their own report in the annual report, and that is where they will also undertake to indicate what they have done during the year. If there are still gaps they are not happy with regarding the internal control environment, they will be detailed in their report, which is contained in the annual report.

On the instances that relate to the Department: they had highlighted their concern and warnings through the status of request review that AGSA did earlier this year, wherein they highlighted that the progress was slow regarding the Department investigating the allegations against officials. In the end, when they reported it became a material non-compliance that was highlighted to the Department. The office of the AG had tried to raise this before they came through for the audit that the progress was not at all at the desired levels in terms of ensuring that all the matters were being investigated. Those were the ones that relate specifically to the Department. But on the entities’ side, the Department may intervene and investigate. Those entities also have their own councils which are their accounting authorities, and the PFMA then gives that responsibility to the accounting authority to investigate irregular expenditure and effecting consequence management by the Department. Because they play an oversight role, they can follow up on those matters to ensure that indeed matters are being investigated and that the entities are implementing consequences.

On the irregular expenditure: there was R52 million that relates to non-compliance with the Division of Revenue Act. It was not because provinces were not reporting (as required) on whether monies were used for internal purposes. What happened was that the Department withheld the monies for certain reasons – which they can do. It is allowed, but the last step that is required is that, once they have done that and they have changed the payment schedule, it must be submitted to National Treasury. Treasury must then give approval before the payments are made. So, the Department did not complete that full process. Because they had withheld the money and changed the payment schedule, they had to submit and wait for approval from National Treasury before they undertook to make the payment. That is how this later became an irregular expenditure. The DG of the Department informed them that the Department was already implementing consequence management around this matter of the payments made before approvals were obtained from National Treasury. The Department can then provide more information to the Portfolio Committee on those steps being taken. The other two were comments noting the regression of irregular expenditure because it has indeed increased significantly to R105 million.

On the matter of vacancies and the instability in some entities: as the Committee may be aware, several entities were being led by acting officials in key positions such as the CEO. Looking at PACOFS, there had been a lot of acting roles in positions such as the CEO. These are critical positions. The State Theatre and the NAC are some of the entities affected by this instability at key positions – which then impacts the delivery and makes preventing irregularities a little more challenging.

Ms Omphemetse Setebe, Manager, AGSA, said she had two points to add. The first one is around compliance, where Members had highlighted that there have been some concerns around the increase in compliance issues. To break it down, she said that the issues mainly related to a few areas. The first one related to non-compliance with the quality of financial statements. She noted that 15 of 28 entities had material adjustments that would lead to non-compliance.

On the legislation, they also have areas of consequence management where the concern is that consequence management is not timeously dealt with and that they have about nine entities that have not dealt with consequence management timeously. They also have issues around supply chain management (SCM), where the SCM prescripts would not have been followed before procurement processes are then concluded by the entities. There are about seven entities that they investigated in that regard. The other one talks to irregular expenditure and it not having been prevented. This was related to about seven entities. So, those are the key issues that basically increased their compliance. Looking at the NAC issue around the orchestra, the auditors have investigated that matter. However, NAC was not able to provide detailed audit evidence to indicate how the Mzansi Orchestra was then appointed or selected for funding. About R41 million was raised as irregular expenditure under investigation, which will then be followed through the non-compliance to the NAC Act, where they were supposed to have been following the minimum criteria and looking into whether they qualify. The council approval that it should have been followed. The current challenge was to say NAC highlighted that the Department would have indicated that this was the entity to be supported. As part of their follow-up, they will investigate that matter into the upcoming financial year. For the time being, it was irregular expenditure that was under investigation.

The Chairperson thanked the AG and said that they would structure their programme according to the report, and now they are well-informed and will take their advisers’ words and do a follow-up. The Chairperson then asked the Department to present their overview.

Overview by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture: Hockey SA Annual Report

Mr Vusithemba Ndima, Deputy Director-General: Heritage Promotion and Preservation, DSAC, requested that Ms Sumayya Khan present the Department’s overview.

Ms Khan, Deputy Director-General: Recreation Development and Sport Promotion, DSAC, presented the briefing from the Department.

The briefing of the Department’s overview of the South African Hockey Association included the summary of the entity’s annual report, financial report, infrastructure, school sports & development programmes, governance and related matters.

During an AGM in November 2021, three vacant positions were filled through elections namely: vice president, high performance and technical. On 14 April 2021, the CEO was appointed. The financial support to the South African Hockey Association for the 2021/2022 financial year was R4 million. School hockey was part of the winter National School Sports Championship which facilitates development and talent identification.

See attached for full presentation

South African Hockey Association Annual Report 2021/22

Ms Shaune Baaitjies, SA Hockey CEO, delivered the presentation. The highlights were as follows:

-Governance: the annual audit for 2021 was successfully completed, and the 2022 audit is underway. There is a scheduled election of president and treasurer. There will be related events starting from 04 December 2022.

-Winning nation: the men’s team is ranked number one in Africa – Africa men’s indoor and men’s junior. The women’s team is ranked number one in Africa – number two in women’s indoor and number one in women's junior.

-Active nation: the modified hockey programme ‘Fun in Action’ is aligned to the physical education curriculum, giving access to all schools and exposing more children to being physically active.

-Legacy programme: FIH Master World Cup (01-10 October 2022). Activation: over 80 kids.

See attached for full presentation

Discussion

Mr Zondi said that the national hockey team had been doing very well globally, not only in the continent. It is one of South Africa’s national teams that was doing very well. He wanted to know the challenges that made it difficult for the sport to attract sponsors. How has the Department assisted SA hockey in achieving its transformation objectives regarding resources and particularly its budget? Is the final grant of R4 million enough for them to achieve their objectives? Can SA Hockey take the Committee through their safeguarding policies? Have there been any reported cases of any form of abuse of players over the past five years in the sport of hockey? What is the relationship with the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport?

Mr Joseph asked Ms Khan if she was tracking the progress of the status of the CEO, because he had heard that someone had been acting in the role since April 2022. Are the compliance issues experienced at the hockey association a first-time thing or a reoccurrence? He understood the idea of the AGMs, which must fall in line with the financial years of the Department, but pointed out that the Department had three financial years dealing with these two. Do other entities also have AGMs? Why did the Hockey Association choose to align its financial year with that of the Department? Is this the standard for all other entities? There was mention of the word ‘modified’ a few times in the presentation and that it is critical, especially in schools in provinces. What does the term ‘modified’ mean in the sport of hockey? How big is hockey? How many players are there in the different affiliations, regionally, provincially, nationally and internationally? What is the difference in the ranking of indoor hockey and other forms? Transformation was very important for the country and sports. The picture was not fully clarified, but the report stipulated that they are making strides to transform. What is the balance of interest in the sport, and how do you measure that balance between model C private schools and strength and interest in public schools? He wanted to know the funds of all the teams that went overseas. There was mention of R4 million that Ms Khan spoke about, saying that she was unsure if it was enough. Does SA Hockey receive funding from the private sector? Do disabled people also participate in hockey? He did not hear any mention of tertiary level; there was only mention of clubs and regions, but he was not sure if universities are participating in hockey. The tourist involvement of the community was very good for the projects.

Ms Sibiya said that her questions were covered by the other Members and were based on the issues of challenges faced by the SA Hockey Association as well as whether disabled persons take part in the sport.

Mr B Mamabolo (ANC) said his question concerns grassroots development. He watched the hockey games in Birmingham during the Commonwealth Games and could see they were doing well. For the Department to meet its quota and transform, it needs to start developing players in rural and township areas. In Polokwane, for example, they can only watch hockey in Suburbs or in private schools and former Model C schools, but one would never see them in the townships. How is the Department of Sports going to make sure that they build hockey courts in townships? They can talk to the likes of the lottery to assist in this regard because it cannot be that hockey is only be watched in big cities. He would like to start seeing hockey in townships because this sport is not only meant for a particular group. How is the Department going to ensure that hockey becomes more prominent in townships?

Ms R Adams (ANC) welcomed the presentation and said that the Committee is aware that the funds received may not be enough. What innovative measures has the federation taken to attract sponsorship? Is the federation aware of some of the previous hockey coaches and volunteers from disadvantaged areas who are at home and doing nothing? What is a federation doing to develop them?

The Chairperson said she had been informed that the president of SA Hockey had joined the meeting. On what Mr Mamabolo was asking about (hockey in rural areas and townships) she indicated that, being a member of this Committee who also has a constituency in Langa, she can declare that there is a hockey club in Langa that has been found to be one of the most successful development of projects in introducing hockey within the townships. What needs to be done to replicate this across other townships and rural areas and use this strategy in Langa Hockey Club? The men's national hockey team had to raise funds to go to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Why did the team have to raise its own funds? SASCOC could have paid for the team to go to the games. “But we know how SASCOC is working; maybe we can reflect on that. We appreciate that you are doing irrespective of the little resources that you have”, she added.

Mr Mhlongo welcomed the presentation and asked if it is feasible for the Department to support hockey as a sporting code with only R4 million. He was asking because, to be able to promote transformation, the Department needed more than R4 million in funding. What are the challenges that prevent hockey from getting sponsors? If any, kindly give the names of the companies that support hockey. How will the Department assist hockey in achieving transformation objectives with a R4 million budget? This amount is not enough. He asked the Department to give the Committee exactly what modulation they use in allocating funds, because no federation gets more than R5 million. How are we going to promote the transformation agenda in different sporting codes? What are some of the partnerships that the Department must ensure that they support the sporting code? What plans does the Department have to ensure that SA Hockey participates in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris? This federation previously engaged the Portfolio Committee in 2016; what were the actual challenges and the issues at the time? Have they moved from those challenges to new challenges, if any?

The Chairperson asked the Committee Secretary to read the questions from Ms V Van Wyk (DA).

Ms Z Kula, Committee Secretary, read Ms Van Wyk’s questions as follows: What is SA Hockey’s child safeguarding policy? How does SA Hockey employ its coaches? How did the West Rand Club, using school grounds, employ a coach who was a convicted sex offender from the United Kingdom, while he was still banned from working with children in the United Kingdom after serving jail time? Who will be held accountable for this? What are hockey protocols for managing abuse of children by children? Is there a current case in school hockey that happened at the national tournament? Who does provincial hockey report to, and who do Committee members report to if they are not satisfied with how SA Hockey dealt with a victim and the case? Does provincial hockey entity report to national, SASCOC or the Department of Basic Education?

The Chairperson welcomed the president, who had sent apologies that he would be late for the meeting due to travelling. Ms Baaitjies did a very good job with the presentation. The president may not have heard some of the questions, but with the questions she managed to get, the president will assist Ms Baaitjies in answering.

Mr Deon Morgan, President: South African Hockey Association, apologised for being late due to his flight. He thanked the Portfolio Committee for the opportunity to appear before it. He said that he did not get all the questions but would be available to jump in and assist where he could with the feedback.

Ms Baaitjies said that many questions were raised, and she would hand over to the project manager, Mr Gary Dolley, to paint a picture of what modified hockey is. A fair amount of the questions will be answered across the board, and she will pick on the other questions.

Mr Gary Dolley, Project Manager of SA Hockey, said that modified hockey is their growth strategy, a simplified version of hockey that can be played on any surface. It is linked to physical education and fundamental movement skills. Any smooth surface can be converted into a facility. They use plastic sticks, and the ball is a bit bigger. This makes it easier to convert any tennis court, street or indoor classroom into a playing field. They used that strategy to negate the lack of facilities, and for some of their communities. The reason why they have gone the modified route is because it is cost-effective to implement. One would notice they have tried to activate this throughout the country within the 52 districts. Currently, they have a footprint and over 37 of the districts, and their target is to have a footprint in all 52 districts throughout the country – irrespective of whether it is a rural, urban or township area. By introducing modified hockey or modified sport, as part of physical education, it also gives them an opportunity to go directly into the schools and use hockey as a station within physical education during school time, because there is an allocation for modified sport as part of physical education. That is the reason for taking this particular route. Another important aspect is that, in terms of growing the game, it is to educate the educators. And one of the Members alluded to this. What the entity is trying to establish within the modified structure has five components: firstly, it is the promotion of fundamental movement skills as part of physical education; secondly, promoting interclass modified games within a class; third is the integration, for example, grade 3A playing against grade 3B; fourthly, within a particular community around the school, within a facility or a whole tennis court. Here we talk about a neighborhood comprising five schools minimum and a maximum of eight schools around that particular facility. It is ultimately about junior sport within communities. Another reason they have gone this route is that it decreases the transport costs for the schools to travel and compete outside the area.

On the about getting the coaches and about the reporting structures that are in place: he said that they are doing a presentation to the council for acceptance, and then they will roll out to all the districts and provinces in 2023. In terms of safeguarding, he said that they have successfully incorporated their safeguarding as part of coach education or teacher training within their coach education module from a growth strategy.

The question of rural sports is very important. That is the reason why they have linked the strategy with UNESCO in terms of the rights of a child in physical education, and they are also trying hard to form partnerships with the Department of Basic Education, because the material they develop talks about teacher training. This is an area that they are trying hard to advocate for and promote their programmes as part of a holistic development of the child within sport and education as well. They have 37 districts that they have activated, and the last count was about 400 schools that have been activated with this programme. In 2023, they want to consolidate the neighbourhood leagues within different communities. The Chairperson was correct that the Langa Hockey Club is one of the successful flagships and has been duplicated in some of the areas in Tembisa with the Let’s Play programme at two primary schools, also two programmes in Bushbuckridge at the Sedibeng Primary School. The programme has also been initiated in the Port Elizabeth area, where they are playing on hockey on tennis courts and promoting street hockey as part of their engagements.

Ms Baaitjies thanked Mr Zondi for recognising the strides that SA Hockey is making in the global arena. They are very proud of them and the recent achievements of the men’s team at the Commonwealth Games. The current challenges will be addressed at the end, as it is a question that has come up a few times. She believes that, as with any sporting code, any amount is not enough, but they are very happy to have received the R4 million because it has gone a long way in assisting the Association to achieve its objectives. They have submitted a new application for a different amount and, as was pointed out earlier, there are some items that are outstanding. The main outstanding form of documentation is the annual financial statement, but all other documents have been submitted.

On the safeguarding policy: as mentioned in the presentation, there is a draft policy, and it has not yet been rolled out to the provinces. The Committee is finalising the policy. And, as the project manager stated, it will be adopted in the next council meeting to be held in December 2022, for rollout in the year 2023. In the past five years, there have been no reported incidences of abuse by players or staff.

Mr Morgan said that they have achieved what they did with the R4 million, and it has been critical for the sporting code to get these funds. The total income was about R14 million, and it could be seen that more than half of it was spent on the athletes for preparations and camps for the various events. The biggest challenge is getting sufficient funds to help the teams prepare for big events, because if they can adequately prepare, they can perform better at world events so that the entity could approach sponsors with a product that is competing on the highest level. In this way, the sponsors are keen to come on board because they get at home on TV, etc.

About the R4 million: the entity requires more because the money goes to the athletes. The entity needs to ensure that its athlete who competes at the highest level can prepare without having to take money out of their own pocket to self-fund to get to these events. Secondly, from a modified hockey perspective, a lot of work is being done to reach more schools and communities, and that is where a lot of the funding is required to make sure they expose the game – from street level to competing on the world stage.  

Ms Baaitjies said they have a very good relationship with the Rugby SA. They (entity) have been to all of the events. On a regular basis, they advise them on their whereabouts such as camps and international games. They have an arrangement to send their athletes to be tested, and they have been successful in the sense that they have not had any recent feedback on an athlete who has been found to have tested positive for any banned substances.

On the financial creation: there are two components of fees that they receive from members – one is from their provinces, provincial membership and player membership. This money primarily goes to the support of their administration and assisting with the support staff. In hockey, there are three modes of sports: field hockey which consists of 11 players, and they normally played on an AstroTurf; there is indoor hockey which is played on a smooth surface in a complex, with six players; and then recently, there is hockey5s played on the AstroTurf, with a variation of the rules.

Mr Morgan said he wants to start with the CEO’s last comment about the memberships. Ms Baaitjies is an interim CEO, as Marissa Langeni (previous CEO) moved on to university sports. It was a real big loss for hockey because of over 12 years of knowledge and built relationships, etc. SA Hockey has lost in Marissa having to move on. However, regarding finances, the money SA Hockey generated was not enough to make a counteroffer that was sizable enough to keep Marissa and all her knowledge of hockey. That is a cause for a lot of concern, moving forward, because, even through Ms Baaitjies, as an interim CEO, as SA Hockey is in the process of finding a CEO, there is a big disconnect if they look at the budget and what they require. That is the process they are about to follow, but at the end of the month there will be an advertisement for the CEO post. As a summary from a hockey perspective, they are reviewing various policies and making sure that they evolve the sport. At the moment, they are engaging with different stakeholders to ensure they are at the forefront of managing from a governance perspective. “As a winning nation, we are all striving to compete on the world stage, though funding is a concern”, he added. Getting sponsors has been challenging. The Association has tried to host events in South Africa for a few reasons: first, to expose hockey to different provinces globally, to bring different countries into South Africa. At the same time, it would drive the economy.

Most recently, the entity hosted the Master’s World Cup in Cape Town. This event has helped the underprivileged communities in projects such as planting or farming to enable these communities to become self-sufficient. Donations were also made in terms of kitchen and clinic equipment’s. Overall, the Association is trying to look at hockey, sports and the country at a 360 view. This is to see what role hockey plays in the efforts to transform and bring more players into the sport. From a hockey perspective, having more children involved and boosting the economy is the overall focus. 

The Chairperson asked Ms Baaitjies if she was going to give her team the opportunity to answer the questions from Ms Van Wyk and Mr Mhlongo.

Ms Baaitjies said that she had some of the answers. So, if she can, she will give some of those answers and the rest of the team will answer the questions she does not have. On persons with disabilities playing hockey, there had been some initiatives from the development and transformation portfolio as part of the modified hockey. The project manager has gone into details, where he dealt with a school in which there were disabled players. So, it is not a mode of hockey they are currently focusing on, but they will look at opportunities to see how they can be incorporated. Tertiary-level players are part of SA Hockey in tournaments and participate at varsity level. They also support the South African National Leagues in the provinces. Majority of players from the varsity setup are very prevalent in the national teams.

On the grassroots level development and support in the townships: they recognised the Chairpersons’ comments about the Langa Hockey Club, and the project manager spoke about that. Mr Mhlongo asked about the feasibility of the support received from the Department, which she believes the president has answered. The Association has a close partnership with the Department, and they look forward to continued support with their recent submission for funding for the Olympic Games, in Paris 2024. The challenges faced by the Association since 2016 have been a combination of new and old challenges. The old challenges relate to the funding issue. The men's team playing for medals at the Commonwealth Games assist the Association when applying for sponsorships. Child safety guideline policies form part of the national safeguarding policy.

Ms Baaitjies asked the President of School Sports to assist with the questions about what they do with the employment of coaches at school level and elaborate on the reporting line within a school sector.

Mr Wendell Domingo, Chairperson, South African Schools Hockey Exco, said that they have engaged with all the concerns they have not only with hockey but all sports within schools. For everything that has been reported at school level, a policy has been drawn up at national level. Hopefully, they can roll out to the provinces at the AGM by the end of October, where they will be insisting that all officials or team management working with learners and players at schools must have a police clearance to attend to any team that attends any of their fixtures, festivals and tournaments. There was a case or rumours where officials of teams were reported, and there have been some ongoing investigations. They have asked for full reports where these have surfaced at schools. Sometimes, individuals are attached to hockey but have been abusing or molesting players within another code. So, the schools are aware. At school level, educators are involved with two or three codes during different seasons. A concern is that, in most cases or some cases, the register of offences is not updated so they are not briefed with the individual that has been reported before. Secondly, it could be that the officials are attached to a team and these abuses are reported for the first time. There was no way they could have foreseen that the individual was not suited for the position because nothing had been reported thus far. Hockey is a fast-growing sport and one of the fastest-growing codes in sports. What has assisted them, especially this year, is the involvement of Supersports schools within the school structures. That has added a huge interest in the code. What has also helped is what the project manager alluded to earlier. Modified hockey is growing in most areas. As the South African School Sports, every day, they get requests to launch modified programmes within the schools and in areas where hockey has never been played before. That initiative will grow not only these schools but will also resurrect school sports where they have since died after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms Baaitjies said that she has covered all the questions unless there was anything she had missed.

The Chairperson thanked SA Hockey for an informative presentation, adding that it will help the Portfolio Committee in its oversight role.

Ms Khan said that she was not going to go through each Member’s question because they were cross-cutting. She thought that she should focus on four areas: the first is the issue of funding. The Department has R114 million in transfer payments, which go to the sports federations. They have to find approximately 60 sports federations per year. By simple arithmetic dividing the money, it will be about R1.4 million or R1.6 million per federation. But the Department has a system of different federations and how they are allocated funding. There is a criterion for that. Thus, being one of the priority codes of sports, hockey gets R4 million. It must be put into perspective that there is only R140 million for 60 sports codes. So, it is correct that the Department would like to give them more money, but it is also constrained by what it gets from the national fiscus. Be that as it may, for the funding they also gave to the hockey federation, they would look at the funding framework that is aligned to the transformation charter, and they would also look at the findings of the EPG report. Based on that, looking at what they fund the federation, it is mainly as a developmental level. She believes that hockey has indicated a lot of the work they have done around the modified sport. The modified sport is one of the areas of getting mass participation going because they have now looked at how they can make it easy for them to spread hockey across the country. “If we have to start looking at everywhere they are going to do hockey in its form, where they would have an AstroTurf, there would be an increased need for very specific equipment attire. Due to this, they may not be able to reach every little area in South Africa. With modified hockey, it cannot be seen that the statistics presented show that it is growing and that there is a greater footprint of hockey than before. She believes that this approach is going to help them with their transformation agenda and also spread the sport and grow it.

On compliance, there was a question about what hockey has not been complying with. Ms Khan does not think they have not been compliant and now they would have to withhold money. The compliance is the fact that they need to give them the report after an AGM. Hockey is not the only code in this position. The Department told all their codes to try and align their constitution. When they have their AGM with the financial year of government, it makes it easier for them that, as they close the financial year, they will also close their books and have their financial statements in order and presented to the AGM. It would also make it easier for them – at least by the latest second quarter – without them allocating the funding. It is not necessarily non-compliant that they are not giving them anything or in case of something wrong that has happened; it is just a matter of timing. It is not only hockey that is in this position, and that was how they have tried to advise all federations to do the same.

On the infrastructure matter: the Portfolio Committee is aware that the Department does not have funds for infrastructure. It is reliant on local government and the municipal infrastructure grant (MIG) funding, and it went through a process of going to most municipalities. Thus far, the Department has gone to about 20 municipalities where the MIG is concerned.

They have started a process to now look at major infrastructure. For example, they are looking to build a softball diamond field in Polokwane that will become an international infrastructure where international events can occur. The Department has done similar training in Mafikeng for tennis, where they have a beautiful tennis precinct with 16 courts and completed a benchmarking exercise in Australia to see what the courts looked like. With hockey, there were some initiatives to start a tour in South Africa, where the Premier Hockey League was started in 2016. One of the initiatives that they were doing, especially around hockey AstroTurf in Randburg, was to work with the City of Johannesburg to see how that can become the home of hockey –where they can have training facilities, offices and also improve their facility so that they can start hosting this major international hockey events. Similar initiatives have been done with softball, tennis and swimming. Hockey initiatives do not only focus on major ones but also low-level hockey so that there can be infrastructure in townships through the MIG funding.

On transformation: hockey is one of the 19 codes of sports that are part of the EPG process. They have complied in terms of completing all the data that is required. In terms of finalising the EPG report, they have appeared before the Minister and EPG where they presented themselves to look at what the outcomes of the report were and what improvements they would make to that and have committed. She believes that, with all the initiatives they are talking about in terms of growing the footprint of hockey and getting players mostly from disadvantaged areas and players of colour, this was part of all those processes. Looking at the Premier Hockey League, the Department supported hockey in rolling out that league. There was dedicated funding and the criteria for all the teams that came from different provinces was very clear: they must be people of colour, particularly black African players, in every team. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has disturbed this process. However, between 2016 and 2018, a premier hockey league was run, and they could see some of the players coming through the ranks and some then participating in other programmes in the different age groups.

In terms transformation: looking at the issue of pipeline school sports, they have indicated in the report that hockey is part of the National School Sports Championships, but it does not end there. In each province, through conditional grant funding, hockey is a priority code. It is also funded through the school's sports programme and the conditional grant, with the training of educators, coaches and officials. There is hockey at school level and district provincial level as well. Through those, they hope it will have an effect in transforming the hockey landscape. The Department provides equipment and attire for hockey to no-fee paying schools in quantiles one and two, and educators from these schools also get priority in capacity development.

The Chairperson said they have come to the end of the presentation by SA Hockey. The entity has answered all the questions and may be released from the meeting.

Consideration and Adoption of the Committee’s Draft Programme for the Fourth Term

The next item on the agenda was considering the Committee’s draft programme for the fourth term. The Chairperson believed that the secretariat had sent a copy to all Members. If Members have anything they would like to add, they are more than welcome to do so.

The Committee Secretary, Ms Kula, indicated that Mr Mhlongo has expressed that he would like to make an addition but he was not on the platform, probably due to connectivity issues.

The Chairperson asked the secretary to communicate with Mr Mhlongo so that his submissions may be noted.

Mr Mamabolo said that looking at the programme, it seemed as though the Committee would not be doing oversight visits this year, as it has not happened. Also, the Committee did not meet the South African Football Association. What was the issue that led to this not taking place?

The Chairperson said that she was unsure if Mr Mamabolo was present at the meeting where the South African Football Association had expressed an apology that they would not be able to attend the meeting that had been scheduled with them. Additionally, many other entities still need to appear before the Committee. They have just prioritised those who were having problems. She took note of Mr Mamabolo’s comments.

The Committee’s draft programme was adopted.

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture on a petition received from Mr TW Mhlongo, MP, on behalf of some 31 000 signatories, calling on the Assembly to investigate the commissioning by the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture of a flag at an estimated cost of R22 million

 The Members moved to adopt the report, as it was a true reflection of what happened in the meeting.

The Chairperson moved for the adoption of minutes from previous meetings. The meetings were on 16 and 20 September 2022. Both minutes were adopted.

The Chairperson then thanked the Members for their attendance and participation.

The meeting was adjourned.

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