Question NW2433 to the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture
25 November 2021 - NW2433
Mhlongo, Mr TW to ask the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture
1(a). On what date did his department start funding the Liliesleaf Farm Museum in Rivonia, Johannesburg, (b) how was the funding given to the museum by his Department from 2017 to 2021 and (c) what was the funding for; 2 Whether the Liliesleaf Farm Museum accounted for the money it was given by his department; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, 3. Whether he will furnish Mr T W Mhlongo with an audited financial statement for the (a) 2019-20 and (b) 2020-21 financial years; if not, why not; if so; what are the further relevant details, 4. Whether he and/or his department will save Liliesleaf farm from closing down; if not, why not; if so, how?
Reply:
1. (a) The Department started funding the Liliesleaf Farm Museum in Rivonia, Johannesburg from the 2002/2003 financial year. (b) No funding was provided for the Liliesleaf Farm Museum during the 2017 to 2021 period. (c) No funding was provided by the Department during the above-mentioned period.
2.The Liliesleaf Farm Museum has accounted for the previous funding received from the Department in the years. It was only in 2015 after receiving funding for exhibition infrastructure development that the Museum failed to account to the Department as per the agreement signed which stated that the funds were for exhibition infrastructure development and not for the Museum’s operations. The Department communicated to the Board of Trustees of the Lilies Leaf Trust of the Museum management’s inability to account for the money received from the Department. The Board of Trustees informed the Department that an investigation will be instituted and the Department will be updated of the outcome of the investigation. A meeting was held with the Board where the Board informed the Department that it is handling the matter in accordance with the outcomes of the investigation.
(3) The Liliesleaf Farm Museum is not a Declared Cultural institution that is obliged to submit their annual financial statements to the Department.
(4) The Department Sport Arts and Culture (DSAC) has for the past years supported the Liliesleaf Trust on several projects ranging from capital funding to construct the facility, infrastructure refurbishments and exhibitions. DSAC is unable to provide annual operational funding to the Liliesleaf Trust as the museum has not been declared by the Minister in terms of the Cultural Institutions Act, No 119 of 1998 as a Declared Cultural Institution and a Schedule 3 A Public Entity in terms of the PFMA.
Should the site be so declared, and depending on the availability of funds, I will in consultation with and with the assistance of the Minister of Finance set aside an annual subsidy that would be transferred to the institution for operational purposes. The Department has also not received a request for assistance from Liliesleaf for any of the Presidential COVID-19 relief funding opportunities the Department has made available for struggling institutions in the sector.