Question NW1261 to the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture
11 November 2019 - NW1261
Van Dyk, Ms V to ask the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture
(1)(a) On what grounds was the annual fieldwork project 385, Historical Archaeology, at the National Museum in Bloemfontein rejected after the project was included and approved in the 2019-20 annual budget and annual performance agreements, (b) how will the rejection of the project affect the applicant’s performance agreement and (c) what amount of money, resources and time (i) have been spent on the specified project to date and (ii) will be lost as a result of the rejection of the project; (2) whether the decision to reject the project was made by the Chief Executive Officer of the specified museum; if not, was the (a) decision made and/or approved by the Council of the museum and (b) applicant part of the discussions; (3) what are the details of all physical archaeological fieldwork and research that have been conducted at the museum since 1 January 2008, including the persons and/or entities that conducted the fieldwork and research in each case; (4) what (a) steps has his department taken to encourage black women to become researchers and fieldworkers and (b) number of black women are currently actively doing fieldwork in the Republic?
Reply:
(1)(a). The annual fieldwork project 385, Historical Archaeology was not rejected.
(b). the applicant’s performance agreement will not be affected as the above-mentioned project is not aligned to her job description.
(c)(i)(ii). No money, resources or time has been lost on the project 385.
(2). The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) did not make any decision to reject project 385. This was a project which expired in 2011.
(a). The Council of the Museum did not make a decision to reject project 385. This was a project which expired in 2011.
(3). The Museum does not keep consolidated fieldwork records which are more than 10 years old at its premises, the archived records will be retrieved from the National Archives in Pretoria and made available to the Honourable member at a later stage.
(4) The National Museum has set up a committee to investigate the barriers experienced by our Black Female researchers in the archaeological fieldwork.