Question NW2152 to the Minister of Tourism
18 August 2023 - NW2152
Sithole, Mr KP to ask the Minister of Tourism
Whether, considering the recommendation that the SA Tourism Board should engage an independent and capable body to test the compliance of its five-year strategic plan and Annual Performance Plans (APPs) with the SMART principle of being specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound before finalising and tabling the strategic documents to Parliament, and noting that the APPs have not been presented to Parliament in the past year, her department intends to take up the specified recommendation with the Board; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
Following the recommendations of the Portfolio Committee, I sent a letter to the Chairperson of the SA Tourism Board in response to the recommendations. The letter is attached as Annexure A.
I have, further, been informed by SA Tourism that to ensure compliance of its five-year strategic plan and Annual Performance Plans (APPs) with the SMART principle of being specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound before finalising and tabling the strategic documents to Parliament, SA Tourism has the following process when developing its Strategic Plan and APP:
- An external facilitator is appointed to drive the strategic conversation with the participants and document key insights from the discussions. SA Tourism compiles the Strategic Plan and APP with input from the different business units.
- The Strategic Planning, Evaluation, and Programme Management (SPEPM ) unit of SA Tourism ensures that the requirements of the Revised Framework for Strategic Plans and Annual Performance Plans and other relevant regulations are implemented; the interrogation of the business units’ targets to ensure the results are linked to the outcome; to review the targets and indicators to ensure they comply with the SMART criteria; as well as training and advising business unit managers on strengthening their KPIs to meet the SMART criteria.
- Furthermore, the Strategic Plan and APP is reviewed by SA Tourism’s Internal Audit unit as they are independent of the planning process.
- In prior years the Auditor-General reviewed the APP before submission to the Department, however, for the FY23/24 APP, the AGSA indicated that it would no longer undertake this proactive assurance. The Department of Tourism has a final review of the APP before submission to the Minister.
As detailed above, the indicators and targets are reviewed by the SPEPM unit, Internal Audit unit as an independent quality assurer and the Department of Tourism. The need for an independent review of the draft strategic documents will continue to be met through the use of Internal Audit as a competent, independent unit to implement relevant audit procedures to test for compliance with prescripts.