Department of Tourism Q1 - 4 2022/23 Performance; with Deputy Minister

Meeting report

Deputy Minister's opening remarks

Mr Fish Mahlalela, Deputy Minister of Tourism, in his introductory remarks, said the Department of Tourism (DT) had fully complied with the circular from the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) about the return to office of all employees, and this had contributed significantly towards the achievement of targets in the second, third and fourth quarters. The two relevant departments and ministers concerned would work on the merger between Brand SA and SA Tourism (SAT).

On the matter involving the alleged deception of the Committee by Ms Kholeka Zama, Chairperson of the SAT board, he was not sure how the Minister was handling the case, but she was attending to all matters of the board. Priority had been on the finalisation of employment. The matter would have to go first to the Cabinet committee. The Minister had requested transcripts around the allegations, and he was unsure if the Minister had received them.

Concerning the recommendation of the Committee that no funds should be transferred to SA Tourism until all conditions were met, he said the Minister and the Presidency had discussed the case. It had been agreed to engage with the Committee Chairperson. The Minister and the board were handling the filling of executive positions, but he was not sure if the Minister had received a report from the board on the issue.

Referring to the target of 21 million tourists by 2030, which the Committee had recommended should be revised, he indicated the Department would present its case to the Presidency. The private sector felt the 21m target was not feasible to achieve, and had to be reduced to 15m. The matter had to be discussed between the Department and the private sector so that the recommendations on reducing the target were presented to the Presidency for concrete finalisation of the matter.

He informed Members that the Minister had accepted the recommendation from the Committee that one person from the Department should be appointed to the board. Unfortunately, the person who had been seconded for the post had resigned. He was unsure if the Minister had considered the secondment of another person. Recruitment for filling the board posts had commenced, and a panel had been appointed. Recommendations would be made to the Minister.

Briefing by Department of Tourism on Q1 & Q4 2022/23 Performance

Programme One: Administration

Ms Rhulani Ngwenya, Deputy Director-General (DDG): Corporate Management, DT, reported that the Department had achieved an unqualified audit report for the 2021/22 financial year. An implementation plan had been developed as per the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) outcomes. Internal control measures were reviewed. The Department had implemented the 2021/22 AGSA audit action plan. 100% achievement on payment of all compliant invoices within 30 days had been recorded. The Department had maintained a minimum of 40% procurement spend on women-owned businesses. The technical indicator description in the 2022/23 financial year did not exclude procurement generated from transversal and existing contracts. The senior management service (SMS) women's representation had been maintained at 49.2%. While the 50% target was achieved in the second and third quarters, the resignation and retirement of female SMS members during the end of the fourth quarter impacted the overall achievement of the target. The appointment of female SMS members would be prioritised for the 2023/24 financial year.

Programme Two: Tourism research, policy and international relations.

Ms Aneme Malan, DDG: Tourism Research, Policy and International Relations, DT, said that investment promotion platforms had been facilitated. The investment team had coordinated tourism businesses to attend the business forum, which over 100 delegates, including the Spanish Presidency and its business community, attended. The "Sharing of Best Practices" Workshop 2023, targeted at African countries with whom South Africa had signed tourism agreements, was hosted in Cape Town from 8 to 10 March 2023. Coordination and logistical arrangements were undertaken with the Department of Economic Development of the Western Cape. The submission and approval of the White Paper on the Development and Promotion of Tourism in SA has been submitted for approval. The Green Paper on the Development and Promotion of Tourism in SA has been approved for public comments. The progress report on developing the draft 2021/22 State of Tourism has been developed. Quarterly reports have been developed on advancing the tourism interests of SA at the regional, continental and global levels through participation in six multilateral forums, such as the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), the G20, the Brazil-Russia-India-China-SA (BRICS) bloc, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and the African Union (AU).

Programme Three: Destination Development

Ms Shamilla Chettiar, DDG: Destination Development, DT, said this programme had achieved 100% of its targets for the 2022/23 financial year. 100% of the targets were achieved in the first quarter, and 10 of 11 targets were achieved in the next three quarters. The target that had not been achieved was for the work opportunities. She pointed out that by the second quarter, the total annual target of 4104 work opportunities had already been exceeded. 58 work opportunities were created in the third quarter, and 1 150 in the fourth quarter. The annual target for work opportunities was therefore exceeded by 5515. Implementing 30 community-based tourism projects had been supported and monitored through project meetings and site visits. The implementation of infrastructure maintenance work was monitored and supported in 19 parks, according to project plans. The statutory planning process to implement township tourism precincts at Galeshewe and Vilakazi Street has been initiated.

Programme Four: Tourism sector support services

Ms Mmaditonki Setwaba, Acting Director-General and DDG: Tourism Sector Support Services, DT, said the project on "Women in Tourism" business development and support programme, to support 225 women-owned small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) had been implemented nationally through coaching and mentorship. Four domestic tourism awareness campaigns had been implemented in Free State, the North West and Gauteng provinces. 500 SMMEs and 2 500 unemployed and retrenched youth were trained on norms and standards for safe tourism operations in all nine provinces, in line with the project plan. An additional 98 SMMEs and 17 unemployed and retrenched youth were trained. The Department has been offering tourism and hospitality skills development programmes through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) funding. An incubation programme has been implemented to support tourism SMMEs through incubators dealing with technology, tour operators and food services. There was also one community-based enterprises incubation programme. The tourism monitors programme has been implemented in all the provinces.

(Graphs and tables were shown to illustrate budget and expenditure review, and expenditure per economic classification)

Discussion

Ms M Gomba (ANC) proposed that the Committee should get a copy of the update presented to the Committee by the Deputy Minister. She wanted clarity on the details of the 21m tourism target. It was a concern that the Minister had looked at reducing the target from 21m to 15m, because she had realised the objectives behind the target were not achievable. It was not acceptable for the Department to just divert from its targets -- it should rather confine itself to what it planned to achieve. It was therefore a good idea to get a copy of the update the Deputy Minister had presented so that the Members could go through it and see what the response of the Minister was, including her recommendations.

Ms S Maneli (ANC) added it was proper to get a detailed update, because most of the matters of Vote 38 had been about the SAT board. The Committee had learnt there were advertisements for executive positions, even though it was agreed that those had to be attended to once a board was appointed. She wanted to know if the Department did not advise the President of the tourism targets, because their feasibility could have been detected at an early stage.

Deputy Minister Mahlalela responded that it had been felt the achievement of the 21m target was not going to be achievable, especially after COVID-19. The President should make the pronouncement. He promised Members that a fully updated progress report would be presented when the Department engaged with the Committee in the next meeting, and it would detail what had been done in response to Vote 38.

The Chairperson sought clarity on who the custodians of the national youth programme were, and how recruitment for the programme had been done.

Ms Setwaba said the Department had appointed accredited skills consultants. The Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Sector Education and Training Authority (Cathseta) determined the training providers for a specific area chosen for a programme. Advertisements had been published for youth to participate in these skills development programmes. Interviews and inductions were done, and stipends were paid. These youth development programmes were accredited.

Deputy Minister Mahlalela added that advertisements about recruitment for training and development had always been circulated in specific targeted provinces. That was why tourism monitors were there to ensure funding was evenly spread. Unemployed graduates were receiving experiential training.

Ms Gomba asked why the Department had been failing to implement the EPWP according to plan, because it was there to minimise poverty and unemployment, and she was not impressed by seeing no improvements in the programme. She also wanted to know if there was no official responsible for learning and development in the Department to encourage people to improve their skills, because there was little money spent on the households programme, and whether there good reasons for that. She asked if the Department could not have its own software, because there had always been an audit query around the Tourism Marketing South Africa (TOMSA) software.

Ms Ngwenya responded that a huge investment to the tune of R5.6m on training and development had been made. The Department offered internal and external bursaries. 25 individuals had received external bursaries, while 126 bursaries were awarded internally. A sum of R1.2m had been set aside for internships.

Deputy Minister Mahlalela said expenditure on the household programme had been 100%. Students were paid according to their needs per quarter. He also indicated the software was not used in the first quarter, but was put to use in all of the other three quarters.

Ms Maneli wanted to know what the outcomes of the promotion platforms had been. She asked what the impact of the Women's Tourism Programme had been, enquired about the number of businesses that had benefited from the Green Tourism Economy, and wanted to find out if the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) had delivered on all its projects.

Ms Setwaba said no impact assessment had been done on the Women's Tourism Programme, especially among those assisted with offerings. Most women participants had been part of the Women' Tourism Programme the Department had engaged with. She said the DT had appointed the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) as the implementer of the incentive programme. The process was started a long time ago and reviews were done on it. The number of assisted businesses has been increasing, and the IDC has been involving other campaigns and practitioners to reach the objectives and increase participation. There were committees that looked into the eligibility of the applicants.

Ms Chettiar assured the Committee that the DBSA had delivered on all projects captured. There had been challenges around responses to tenders, problems on site, bad weather, unhappiness by workers, and floods washing away roads and bridges. The DBSA had tried to stick to project timelines and do catch-ups if there had been challenges beyond its control.

The Chairperson wanted to know the tourism gains from the BRICS summit and how that had contributed to the country's gross domestic product (GDP). She sought clarity on the Spanish investment that had excluded the BRICS countries, and asked for clarity on the SAT sponsorship given to the SA rugby team and rugby ambassadorship.

Ms Malan said tourism had been recognised as an important driver in the BRICS community. It was a fairly new workstream within the BRICS. After successfully hosting the BRICS summit, the Minister indicated the country would be hosting tourism ministers within the BRICS on 25 and 26 October. The theme would be around sustainability for tourism. The delegation to SA would be viewed as tourists, and they would be asked to stay a bit to learn more about the country. South Africa had been seen as a business destination point. On the Spanish investment, she said the main idea was to assist the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) and further highlight the importance of working together with the DTIC due to the visit from Spain.

Deputy Minister Mahlalela said the sponsorship given to the SA rugby team and ambassadorship of Siya Kolisi could be explained only by SAT, because it had never consulted the Department on the matter. It could be that it had received an executive authority on certain matters.

The Chairperson said it looked like the Department was not consulted on the new rugby ambassadorship and sponsorship, because she saw no difference between soccer and rugby. She indicated the Department appeared to have no system of knowing who came in or out of the country, and was relying on Stats SA for information. It important that the amount of contribution made from the events the country was hosting was known.

Ms Malan said the Department had systems in place, and was being guided by international standards. The mandate for capturing movements at ports of entry was being handled by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), and the DT took the numbers released by Stats SA because it was mandated to do so. The Department tried to use its resources to fill in the gaps, but not to duplicate matters.

Ms Gomba remarked that the Auditor-General (AG) had been unable to audit the Department on the money allocated for software and intangible assets because the TOMSA levy was the one that had to account, as it was providing a service to the Department. She added that the EPWP was not normally taken seriously by the DT, even though it had indicated it spends the allocated money. However, the AG had always found less expenditure on the programme. The government, through the EPWP, wanted to see people employed. She wanted to know the bottlenecks in the EPWP to address the objectives of the three pillars of government.

Ms Chettiar said the EPWP had given the Department opportunities to improve and implement its programmes better. On the skills programme, the DT had improved its recruitment process by recruiting more candidates in case there were drop-outs. Some challenges had been around procurement, where the Department had had to re-advertise tenders and finalise terms of reference (TORs) of previous years, and start to implement them in the current year. The exceeded targets on the creation of work opportunities programme resulted from lessons learnt.

The Chairperson commented that the Tourism Act was referring to the establishment of a National Tourism Information Centre for recording, collecting, and disseminating tourism information, but the Department had been telling the Committee it was comfortable working with the DHA and Stats SA.

Ms Malan said the Department had lots of information on demand, but less on supply. One needed reliable information regarding demand, and the Department was covered on that space. At the same time, one needed reliable information on supply and products. That was why the Minister could call for reliable information on supply and products.

Deputy Minister Mahlalela said the DOH had to rely on what the DHA collects and Stats SA releases when it comes to numbers. The Minister was still considering the establishment of a National Tourism Information Centre. Even if one had the numbers, they still had to be verified by Stats SA. He highlighted that the main challenge was around internal capacity, because if one wanted figures or other information, one had to advertise a tender to get a contractor to supply one with it.

On the BRICS matter, he said the intention and focus was to attract big numbers of arrivals from India and China, because those countries had big populations. He asked the Members to visit the tourism projects in their respective provinces, because there were a lot of delays due to in-fighting, and they should try to intervene.

The Chairperson said public participation was crucial before starting any community project, because once one failed to do stakeholder engagement, the project would collapse. Challenges emanating from this would have to be managed by the officials of the Department, working in collaboration with the local government. The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) was always there for interventions when they were needed. The Committee visited some of the projects. The issue of traditional leaders and chiefs taking over community projects had been brought to the attention of the Committee.  

She thanked the Department for its improvement in producing easy-to-read documents.

The meeting was adjourned.