Question NW2283 to the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture
18 November 2021 - NW2283
Van Dyk, Ms V to ask the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture
(1 What are the relevant details of the process that was followed to establish the USIBA Creative and Cultural Industries Awards; (2) whether any tenders were put out by his department; if not, why not; if so, where were the tenders advertised; (3) (a) what are the names of the service providers that were appointed for the co-ordination and management of the USIBA Awards event and (b) through what process were they appointed; (4) whether he will provide (a) an itemised budget for the USIBA Awards, in line with the prescribed and/or accepted standards of the Public Finance Management Act, Act 1 of 1999, and (b) the audited financial report of the USIBA Awards; if not, why not, in each specified case; if so, what (i) are the relevant details in each specified case and (ii) total amount was spent on the USIBA Awards; (5) whether he has been informed of any Special Investigating Unit investigations into the Cultural & Creative Industries Federation of South Africa in the past five years; if not, why not; if so, what (a) is the status and (b) are the recommendations of such investigations?
Reply:
1. USIBA Awards was a project that was initiated and conceptualised by the Creative Industries Federation of South Africa (CCIFSA), and was then presented to the Department for partnership funding. The objective of the project was to provide accolades to individuals of excellence especially those who have done exceedingly well in the arts and culture field, this as a way of recognising them for the role they have played in re-energising the souls and spirit of the nation through the arts and culture. It was for this reason that the Department took a decision to invest or support the project, considering its significance in the sector.
2. A tender process is only required when procurement of services are being done. In this instance, the USIBA awards was not a project of the Department but an unsolicited project that was initiated by CCIFSA and was therefore supported through a grant, like any other projects that are being funded by the Department.
3. (a). Likewise, all services providers for the USIBA awards were procured by the beneficiary – which is CCIFSA in this case. (b) The Department does not have any role whatsoever in the procuring of service providers for all the projects that are receiving grant support. Ours is to ensure that the beneficiaries deliver on the said objectives and properly account for the resources that we have provided.
4. (a). A grant of R12 000 000 was allocated for the overall project and it was made up of three main pillars or items. The first pillar included Logo Design, Development of Trophies, and Project Launch & Media and Publicity and the total budget allocated was R1 635 000, the second pillar was a two days CCIFSA Policy Conference and a budget of R3 002 000 was allocated, the last pillar was the actual USIBA Awards and a budget of R6 273 000 was allocated and thus bringing the total to R10 910 000. The difference from the total grant was budget for administrative costs and constituted just about 10% of the grant. However, the actual costs to the project, including administrative costs came to the total of R11 500 000, which is the total amount that was transferred to CCIFSA.
(b). Based on the agreement there was no requirement that the specific project should be audited; however, CCIFSA did furnish its end of the year audited financial statement as part of the reporting to the Department.
5. The Department have not been informed of any investigation initiated by the SIU on CCIFSA. If anything, the Department remains committed to cooperate on all matters.