Question NW732 to the Minister of Sports Arts and Culture
16 September 2019 - NW732
Mhlongo, Mr TW to ask the Minister of Sports Arts and Culture
In light of the general feeling from the arts fraternity that the Districts Consultations and Provincial Summits were not well organized (details furnished), what total number of artists attended District Consultations in each province; 2. (a) what has he found to be the reason that his department organized the District Consultations and Provincial Summits even though the Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa (CCIFSA) has not yet been dissolved and (b) why does he intend to go to the CCIFSA National Conference without allowing the CCIFSA to have an annual general meeting first; 3. does his department have all necessary reports and audited financial statements prior to his attending the National Conference, as delegates never received any reports and the CCIFSA Interim Committee never accounted by submitting audited financial statements of about R5 million and yet his department continues to fund CCIFSA; 4. what (a) exactly is the status of the National Conference and (b) total amount has his department given to CCIFSA so far, including money given for the Usiba Conference and Awards?
Reply:
1. In my view, the Districts Consultations and Provincial Summits were well organized and went according to the CCIFSA NEC’s plan. The total number of voting participants across all nine provinces were a total of 2223.
2. (a). My department engaged on the District Consultations, which were held under the umbrella of (District General Meetings) and Provincial Summits as an emergency intervention after seeing that CCIFSA was failing to achieve the planned Conference.
(b) I had indicated in the past that CCIFSA was encouraged to continue with its programmes and related activities, however I cautioned CCIFSA that this should not delay the conference further as it was long overdue already in March 2019 and that their term of office had lapsed and other stakeholders such as CITT were adamant that the conference should be held in order to appoint a new leadership.
3. My department received all necessary reports and audited financial statements from CCIFSA prior to the National Conference. As this was a CCIFSA Conference, the CCIFSA National Executive Committee (NEC) was responsible for the content of the conference including distribution of the reports to their delegates at their own accord. The role of the department was only to provide strategic support and logistics coordination in order for CCIFSA NEC to achieve the implementation of the conference. The Interim Committee was able to account to the Department for the funds provided by submitting reports and audited financial reports.
4.(a).The National Conference took place in August 2019 and a new CCIFSA leadership was elected comprising of 6 National Executive Committee members and 9 Sector Representatives.
(b). The total amount given to the CCIFSA so far amounts to R15 million inclusive of the funds provided to the Interim Committee, the amount given for the Usiba amounts to R12 million.