Department of Arts and Culture Strategic & Annual Performance Plans 2013, with the Minister in attendance

Arts and Culture

24 April 2013
Chairperson: Ms T Sunduza (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Department of Ars and Culture outlined its Annual Performance Plan and budget for the year.
The Department had the following strategic goals:
●Job Creation:
Create 150,000 decent jobs in arts, culture and heritage March 2016. 
●Human Capital Development:
Implement targeted programs that are geared towards human capital development in the arts, culture and heritage sector by 2014
●Access to information:
Enhance access by citizens and public institutions to accurate, reliable and timely information in their language of choice though the provision of archives, libraries, and language services  
●Linguistic diversity:
Entrench linguistic diversity in a manner that facilitates equitable cultural expression by citizens and communities
●Development, protection, preservation and promotion of arts, culture and heritage:
Enhance capacity of the sector through equitable and sustainable development, protection and preservation of arts, culture and heritage (through policy development, legislative promulgation and implementation) 
●Governance and accountability:
Align of public sector art, culture and heritage institutions around a shared vision, common mandate and strong governance and accountability 

The Department linked the goals and objectives to each budget programme. The strategic goals for Programme 1: Administration was to enhance governance and accountability and access to information. Enhanced development, protection, preservation and promotion of arts, culture and heritage as well as job creation were the strategic goals for Programme 2: Performing Arts. Entrenched linguistic diversity was the main strategic goal for Programme 3: National Language Services. The strategic goals for Programme 4: Cultural Development included job creation and a strategy to develop, protect, preserve and promote arts culture and heritage.  The development, protection, preservation and promotion of arts, culture and heritage was the strategic goal in Programme 5: Heritage Promotion. Access to information and enhanced development, protection and preservation of arts, culture and heritage were the strategic goals for Programme 6: National Archives and Library Services.

The Annual Performance Plan had 157 indicators. These indicators were published in the Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE) document that was produced by National Treasury. They had been selected because of their high impact nature in tracking progress made by DAC to national Outcomes. National Treasury required that the Department reported on these ENE Indicators every quarter. It was recommended that these ENE indicators form the basis for the Department’s quarterly reporting to the Portfolio Committee. This would assist in streamlining reporting and allows for consistency. The Portfolio Committee could still add a few more indicators that they would like to specifically track every quarter.
The key targets included:

-Number of Arts Practitioners placed in schools: 2013/14 target - 150
-Number of public projects supported per year: 2013/14 target -9
-Number of jobs created through leveraging of partnerships of public art and touring ventures: 2013/14 target - 1150
-Number of organisations trained in cultural events management: 2013/14 target - 5

Members discussed the Pan South African Language Board and the application process for candidates, the little money given to smaller entities, the lack of money given to the Robben Island Museum, the cuts to historically black theatres, flag ship projects in Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Free State, rumours of fiscal dumping,  funding to the District Six Museum,  budget allocations, Capital Works, consultants, maintenance of museums, the monitoring and evaluation of entities, deceased artists, annual targets, the Academy for Scarce Skills, language practitioners, the rolling out of  flags, vacancies within the Department, national symbols,  job creation and the Extended Public Works Programme, library grants, the work done by the Department of Public Works, Memorandums of Understanding, pending legislation and South African Languages Bill, the bad coordination of national events, the national anthem, emerging artists, if the Annual Performance Plan complied with Treasury regulations, the bursary scheme, the policy on human remains and the possible audit to gauge what skills were needed.

Meeting report

Briefing by Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) on its 2013 Strategic and Annual Performance Plans (APP)
Mr Sibusiso Xaba, Director-General,  DAC, thanked the Committee for the opportunity to present.  He said that the presentation would cover objective and contextual statements, the strategic overview, strategic goals, objectives and programmes, the way in which they linked to other plans and the 2013/14 budget estimates. What was being planned for the year was more coherent planning with the institutions and provinces as the programmes were inter dependent. Within that there was to be a strong role for the Committee which allowed for engagement with the Department before the APP was submitted to Treasury.

Mr Xaba gave the context of the presentation saying that it had been prepared within the context of the government wide, planning monitoring and evaluation system and had been informed by the Medium Strategic Framework (MTSF) of the government.  It also drew from the strategic objectives of government as captured in the 12 outcomes and from the Minister’s Delivery Agreement.

The strategic posture of the Department was given in terms of its vision, mission and values. The strategic goals were job creation, human capital development, access to information, linguistic diversity, development protection, preservation and promotion of arts, culture and heritage and governance and accountability.
The Department had the following strategic goals:
●Job Creation:
Create 150,000 decent jobs in arts, culture and heritage March 2016. 
●Human Capital Development:
Implement targeted programs that are geared towards human capital development in the arts, culture and heritage sector by 2014
●Access to information:
Enhance access by citizens and public institutions to accurate, reliable and timely information in their language of choice though the provision of archives, libraries, and language services  
●Linguistic diversity:
Entrench linguistic diversity in a manner that facilitates equitable cultural expression by citizens and communities
●Development, protection, preservation and promotion of arts, culture and heritage:
Enhance capacity of the sector through equitable and sustainable development, protection and preservation of arts, culture and heritage (through policy development, legislative promulgation and implementation) 
●Governance and accountability:
Align of public sector art, culture and heritage institutions around a shared vision, common mandate and strong governance and accountability 

Some of the strategic objectives included the following:
●Build capacity in language practice
●Enhance access to information through translation and editing
●Enhance access to information through development of HLT tools
●Support the implementation of projects aimed at job creation
●Develop coherent integrated five year sector-specific strategies and implementation plans aligned to development & macro-policy interventions
●Review Cultural Industries Growth Strategy (CIGS
●Support programmes in the cultural industries
●Improve the infrastructure as distribution channels for the Creative Industries products
●Develop and implement a dedicated Academy to support scarce and critical skills in the creative sector
●Develop a coherent and integrated research agenda and knowledge management system
●Build key strategic relations aimed at exposing South African arts, culture and heritage to the international community
Mr Xaba linked the goals and objectives to each budget programme. The strategic goals for Programme 1: Administration was to enhance governance and accountability and access to information. Enhanced development, protection, preservation and promotion of arts, culture and heritage as well as job creation were the strategic goals for Programme 2: Performing Arts. Entrenched linguistic diversity was the main strategic goal for Programme 3: National Language Services. The strategic goals for Programme 4: Cultural Development included job creation and a strategy to develop, protect, preserve and promote arts culture and heritage.  The development, protection, preservation and promotion of arts, culture and heritage was the strategic goal in Programme 5: Heritage Promotion. Access to information and enhanced development, protection and preservation of arts, culture and heritage were the strategic goals for Programme 6: National Archives and Library Services.

Mr Xaba stated that the APP had 157 indicators. These indicators were published in the Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE) document that was produced by National Treasury. They had been selected because of their high impact nature in tracking progress made by DAC to national Outcomes. National Treasury required that the Department reported on these ENE Indicators every quarter. It was recommended that these ENE indicators form the basis for the Department’s quarterly reporting to the Portfolio Committee. This would assist in streamlining reporting and allows for consistency. The Portfolio Committee could still add a few more indicators that they would like to specifically track every quarter.
The key targets included:

-Number of Arts Practitioners placed in schools : 2013/14 target - 150
-Number of public projects supported per year : 2013/14 target -9
-Number of jobs created through leveraging of partnerships of public art and touring ventures: 2013/14 target - 1150
-Number of organisations trained in cultural events management: 2013/14 target - 5
-Number of language practice bursaries awarded: 2013/14 target - 280
-Number of poles and flags installed in schools: 2013/14 target -2500
-Number of handheld flags distributed per year: 2013/14 target - 100 000
-Number of heritage (legacy/monuments) projects supported: 2013/14 target - 2
-Number of bursaries in heritage studies awarded: 2013/14 target -  106
-Number of jobs created in the heritage sector: 2013/14 target - 7500
-Number of community libraries upgraded per year: 2013/14 target - 40
-Number of new community libraries built: 2013/14 target -  16
-Number of cultural events supported: 2013/14 target -39
-Number of touring venture projects supported: 2013/14 target -5
-Number of jobs created through support to arts, culture and heritage: 2013/14 target -9832

Mr Xaba presented on the Conditional grant highlighting the Community Library Service Grant. He stated that the purpose of the grant was to transform urban and rural community library infrastructure, facilities and services (primarily targeting previously disadvantaged communities) through a recapitalized programme at provincial level in support of local government and national initiatives.  The grant would be continued during the MTEF period. Provincial allocations for the MTEF had been finalised by National Treasury. The motivation for this had been that the disparities in service provision across provinces had not yet been addressed. This grant was intended to address backlogs that have accumulated over the years as a result of past discriminatory practices.

He presented on the various public entities and their budget allocation and ended with the budget estimates for 2013/14. He stated that the focus from the National Treasury in the MTEF period was on reprioritisation, identifying savings and applying budget cuts of 1%, 2% and 3% over the MTEF. Finally he ended with the budget summary for the period 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16. The summary was given as per economic classification. He showed how funds would be spent stating that 23 % cent would be spent within the Department whilst the remaining 77 % cent would be spent ‘outside’.  He showcased in a pie chart how funds would be spent both inside and outside the Department. Adjustments for the 2013 MTEF allocation were outlined.  Budget allocation was outlined according to programme as was allocations to public entities.

Discussion
PanSALB Board: Candidates and Budget and Budget Cuts
The Chairperson said that the Committee had shortlisted candidates for the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) but because of the public hearings that were being held on matters of rural development (the Committee had been doing some joint work on such matters with other committees) the selection process for the preferred candidates had been shifted to the period 23 to 24 May. Personally, she believed that a woman should chair the board. One could not pretend that there were no women in the Arts and Culture sector. She was not happy with the cuts that had been made at Robben Island as it was a world heritage site. There had been a number of issues raised in this regard. She was also not happy with the amount that had been given to PanSALB (referring to the increase). PanSALB had a great number of job adverts at the moment and it would seem language units did not get money but PanSALB was advertising a number of posts. She suggested a moratorium on the posts. She argued that there had been too many posts within the entity and it was not clear why these posts were needed. Some were very unnecessary.  There had even been a complaint from the unions regarding these posts.

Mr Xaba replied that PanSALB had had some financial difficulties and a great deal of the money it received funded other entities such as the National Language Units. These smaller entities had complained that their budgets had not changed and they could not meet their targets with those budgets thus PanSALB’s budget had been increased.  In the past Treasury had been approached to give a special allocation as PanSALB had been in financial trouble. He understood the concerns raised about how the money was utilised and this would be raised when Mr Xaba met with them.

Ms H Msweli (IFP) asked why PanSALB had received a bigger budget than other entities yet the South African Library for the Blind was getting such a small budget. She requested that the Department revisit the budget for “heritage professionals” (this is the exact phrase used by member)as it was not sufficient?

Mr Vusithemba Ndima, Deputy Director-General: Cultural Heritage and Preservation replied that there had been studies done on ‘brail production’ and the implementation of the scientific study could be utilised to procure more funding from Treasury in terms of facilities for the blind.

Robben Island
Ms L Moss (ANC) said that a great number of people ‘claimed Mandela’ however there was so little money being given to support the Robben Island Museum. Other national treasures such as Table Mountain were given a great deal of attention.

Mr Xaba replied that Robben Island Museum had actually noted savings; its problem was not money but implementation. There had been a meeting and it had been decided that not all the services within the entity would be provided by Department of Public Works (DPW). There had been a process of developing a ‘User Management Plan’ amongst other plans and there had been negotiations with DPW as to how to proceed forward. Robben Island was unique as it was an island and did not receive services from a municipality such as water and electricity. All this it provided for itself.  There was great deal that went with this. There was also the problem that it was a museum and a world heritage site with a sensitive environment. There were a great number of animals for example. The eco system needed to be managed.

Historically Black Theatres
The Chairperson said that the former black theatres were getting little funding, what was to be done in this regard?

Targets in terms of percentages
The Chairperson said there had been rumours that there had been fiscal dumping as what had not been spent by the Department had been given to the entities.

Flagships
The Chairperson asked if flagships (flagship programmes) were being prepared in the Free State and in Kwa Zulu Natal.

District Six
The Chairperson recalled that the District Six Museum had indicated that it had not received funding from government.

Mr Ndima replied that there were many institutions that sent in proposals for funding. He acknowledged that there were also discrepancies as to the way that money was allocated but it did not take away from the fact that there was still more money needed in those institutions that already got a great deal of money. He understood that the District Six Museum was a provincial museum and he speculated that the lack of financial assistance from the Department was due to budgetary constraints.

Budget Allocation to smaller entities
The Chairperson said that she was not happy with the allocation given to museums. She argued that entities that were not doing well were given more money because they were large but the ones doing well were not because they were small. She asked how the museums were meant to survive on so little funding. There was also an issue with monitoring and evaluation with these institutions.

Mr S Ntapane (UDM) said that the Northern Cape was the biggest jurisdiction within South Africa and the museums that were operating there were doing a great job. Had the Department considered the vastness of provinces in allocation?

Dr H Van Schalkwyk (DA) said that the William Humphreys Museum was an exceptional museum full of people who took the matter of social responsibility very seriously. She asked if the budget of entities should not be directly linked to their performance.

Mr Xaba replied that the Department would love to increase the budget of some of the smaller institutions. The Department was currently in a period within the budgeting cycle where it was going to face cuts and not increases as this was happening across all departments. It would be increasingly difficult to get money for smaller institutions. One of the problems was the cost of compliance for smaller institutions were the same as that of larger institutions. The cost of compliance had been the main source of increase in their costs. The Department had been renegotiating the structure of the institutions in this regard. Currently they all had to have a board, and audit committee, pay the Auditor-General and a whole host of other costs that went with compliance. This was a process that was being undertaken and hopefully would be finalised this year.

Mr Paul Mashatile, Minister of Arts and Culture, replied that he shared the concern of the Committee that the museums needed to be funded properly but as Mr Xaba had said the budget was tight. South Africa came from a paradigm in which heritage was not the focus but other issues such as human settlements and the like were important. It was now a time where one could argue that heritage was important and should be funded. Now that there was a review of various white papers the issue of compliance costs needed to be addressed. He suggested that it might help to cluster certain museums in a region under one board and cut down on a number of costs. This would allow for them to be realigned with the scarce resources the Department had. The number of institutions was also increasing. There was a need to aid these institutions.

Capital Works
Dr Van Schalkwyk asked if ‘capital works’ included the maintenance of the museum or was this part of the Department of Public Works (DPW).

Ms Nthombi Skosana, Acting Chief Financial Officer, DAC, replied that the budget for maintenance of museums was given as subsidies and was done by DPW.

Consultants
The Chairperson said that she hated consultants as sometimes they did work that could have been done within the organisation. She asked what the role was of consultants within the Mzansi Golden Economy. Was the Department capacitated to continue on without the consultants?

Minister Mashatile replied that with the filling of posts there would be less reliance on consultants. At the moment there was a great deal of work being done such as the French Season and the possible British and Chinese seasons. There was thus a reliance on consultants.

Events
Minister Mashatile said that the Department did want to invite the Committee to its events however with the Cape Town Jazz Festival there had been a problem with the organisers. He requested that the Committee indicate with his office what events they were interested in and they should be able to attend. This included events that were outside the country.

Monitoring and Evaluation
Mr S Ntapane (UDM) said that he was pleased to see there would be an intensification of the monitoring and evaluation of entities. PanSALB was one of the entities that needed a great deal of monitoring and evaluating.

Deceased artists
Mr Ntapane asked how artists who had been famous but had not been wealthy would be ensured a decent burial.

Annual Targets
Mr Ntapane asked if the Department had annual targets. He argued it would be easier to conduct oversight if there were more regular targets to look to.

Academy for scarce skills
Mr Ntapane asked if the Academy to promote scare skills had been developed and how far it had gone.
Mr Ntapane asked if San language, the Khoi language and Sign language would be included in the development of special terminology.

Dr Mbulelo Jokweni, Chief Director of the National Language Services, replied that the Department had been mandated to develop ‘specialised terminology’ for all languages.

Language practitioners
Mr Ntapane asked what criteria had been used to select the language practitioners and the schools they would operate in.

Continental events
Mr Ntapane asked if the Department had participated in the four continental events and how they would choose the participants.

Vacancies
Mr L Khoarai (ANC) said that the State of the Nation Address (SONA) had stated that there was a need to fill posts within departments yet the Department still had a 10% vacancy rate, what was being done about this?

The Minister replied that two Deputy Director Generals had been appointed and another was in ‘the Cabinet Process’. The lower posts would be easier to fill as they did not need Cabinet approval where as senior posts could take up to six months due to the process. There were some posts that had not reached Cabinet as there had been no response form the South African Qualification Board and this had stopped the process. There had been many attempts to call the South African Qualifications Board and procure information but these had not been successful.

Mr Xaba replied that the former Chief Operations Officer had moved to the Department of Women Children and Persons with Disabilities and thus there was another post to be filled. He was however confident that these would soon be filled.

Mr Conrad Greve, Chief Director: Human Resources Management, DAC, replied that the vacancy rate stood at 9.56% which was below the target but there was a strive to be below 10%. On the 10 March a couple of below senior management positions had been advertised and those were the priority positions and short listing and interviews were being conducted. There would be another round of advertisements in May and also in June as well. These positions were now being filled.

Flags
Mr Khoarai said he had recommended in the past that the rolling out of flags be done within all schools in South Africa especially within the rural areas. Had this been done?

Ms Moss asked what the blockage was in terms of the roll out of the flags. Had it been the service provider? She questioned how this service provider could be used if it did not deliver.  The issue of service providers was still an issue in 2013 and had been for quite some time.

Mr Ndima replied that there would significant improvement in the roll out although there had been challenges in the past with service providers. The solution had been to decentralise the role of service providers and have various ones in various provinces.

National symbols
Ms F Mushwana (ANC) noted that a great had been done to make people aware of the national symbols. She however did not see what was being done to utilise this in unification. There was a need to make sure that the nation was proud of the national symbols.

Job creation and the Extended Public Works Programme
Ms T Nwamitwa-Shilubana (ANC) said she had not heard about the involvement of the EPWP which was a strategy to create jobs. Where did it fit in?

Ms Mandy Gilder, Acting Chief Director: National Archives of South Africa, replied that there had been 44 EPWP interns. They were a part of a two-three year project surrounding archives and archival records of the National Archives.

Mr P Ntshiqela (COPE) said it would be good to see how the Department was going to play its part in this regard (job creation).

Library grants
Ms Nwamitwa-Shilubana asked what measures had been put in place to end the trend of provinces not spending the allocated fund for the libraries? This had occurred frequently in the past.

Ms Moss asked what provinces would be receiving from the current grant as some provinces had still not spent their grant. How would the challenges within those provinces be addressed? How would the issue of roll overs be addressed?

Mr Ndima replied that the increase in money from Treasury showed the confidence in the programme. He acknowledged that there were still some issues within some provinces. The Department had done monitoring and had enlisted help from the Treasury Assistance Unit to aid the provinces. There had also been meetings with different Heads of Department and it had been stated that there could not be the argument that DPW was the reason for not delivering there was a need to find alternatives. There had been requests for submissions as to what would be done to remedy the situation from the provinces that had underspent

Department of Public Works
Ms Nwamitwa-Shilubana asked what measures had the Department put in place to make sure that efficient service delivery occurred when they worked with the DPW. There had been complaints from Robben Island that the entity ‘dragged its feet’. What measures were put in place to ensure this did not happen in the case of libraries.

Social Cohesion
Mr N Van De Berg (DA) said that Minister Mashatile, the Members of Parliament and persons within government had an important role in building social cohesion.  He asked if there was a mechanism in which people could talk about the issues surrounding social cohesion and possible contentions? He said sometimes the ‘Minister’s colleagues’ had said things that hurt people and had caused division.

The Minister replied that there had been a framework developed for the celebration of 20 years and the theme was to be mobilising society towards the consolidation of democracy. The President was to make a call for the nation to engage in nation building and social cohesion. In the next few weeks there was a plan to gather all the social cohesion advocates together to sign a declaration, these included people such as former judges and priests. The hope was that this would help with the agenda of nation building The theme was ‘To Celebrate Our Achievements Together’. It was something that was sometimes difficult to address and monitoring colleagues was sometimes difficult.  As the election period drew close it would prove more difficult for people not to occupy that space but there were attempts and one needed to leave it to the leaders to know what to say to build the nation and what not to say.

Clarification
Mr Van De Berg said there were a number of abbreviations, could they be expanded on?

Memorandums of Understanding
Mr Van De Berg said that there had been a request for more information on the various international MoUs being signed but the information had still not been provided. It would be good for the Committee to be informed in this regard.

Dr Jokweni replied that the MoU projects were outlined in the APP such as the MoU with the Dutch Union.

South African Languages Bill
Mr Van De Berg asked when the pending Bills would be completed. Would they be completed within the current Parliament or the next one? He also wanted more information on where the SA Languages Bill was at the moment. He argued that ‘time was ticking and the Bill needed to be set in motion.’

Ms Moss asked for a time frame in terms of the Bills as Members were part of the process.

The Minister replied that the Act had now been signed into law and there was to be a publishing of the regulations. There would then be a focus on implementation. One of the plans had been to utilise PanSALB. Government departments and agencies needed to be alerted that the Act had been signed into law. He asked the Committee to aid in knowing how best to implement the Act.  The Languages Bill remained contentious as the Department had been taken to court by “people who were sensitive about the matter’.

Numbering of the Presentation
Mr Ntshiqela asked why the presentation had not been numbered as this made it difficult to manoeuvre around it.

National Events
Mr Ntshiqela said that he had felt that some events the Committee had attended had not been very successful. He cited the example of the even held on Human Rights Day that sought to celebrate those who had passed on in Robben Island and it was clear that there had been little consultation with the loved ones of those who had passed on. It was also clear that little information had been given to them and the get together was also badly organised. People had thought that the President and the Minister would attend the event but they did not. The event was a good thing to have; however, it had not been coordinated in a manner that satisfied people. There had been a number of negative statements given by those who attended about both the Department and the government.

Mr Ndima replied that there could have been better coordination and acknowledged that there had been teething problems.

The Minister replied the event had not been organised by the Department and they (the Department officials) had been called away elsewhere with the President. There had been an assumption that the Department and President were available but they had not been as they had been in another event in Paarl. This was an issue that needed to be addressed as the President was not due to be there. There was a need for events not to be organised without consulting all stakeholders.

National Anthem
Mr Ntshiqela said he had not heard much about the national anthem in the presentation. People often did not know the national anthem. He wanted to know where this was incorporated in the programmes so that it was ensured that South Africans knew the national anthem.

Mr Ndima replied that the Department had drafted a strategy to popularise the national anthem in Universities and Colleges. There had also been a tool kit developed to show what was to happen when the national was sung. There had also been a translation of the national anthem so that each community understood what was being sung so that it evoked understanding and meaning.

Programmes
Mr P Ntshiqela asked if the language based programme spoke to the Language Bill.

Non Profit Organisations and Non Government Organisations
Mr Ntshiqela said there was a need for clarity in what was to be termed an NGO and an NPO.

Emerging artists
Mr D Mavunda (ANC) suggested that provinces and local areas should create a way in which emerging artists could register themselves or be captured so they could be recognised and receive assistance from the Department.

Departments and the official languages
Mr Mavunda said that during the deliberations of the Languages Bill it should be considered that all the departments catered to the languages that the all the people spoke in. How far had the coordination amongst departments gone to utilise the 11 official languages within their various application forms? He had found that some people were unable to fill in forms as a specific department did not provide a form in their chosen language.  

Dr Jokweni replied that the application forms within Departments needed to be translated and the point was well taken.

Oral History
Mr Mavunda said that oral history was not being captured and there was a need for it to be documented. He envisioned that this could be institutionalised in a policy of some kind within the Department.  There was still a vast amount of history not captured.

Ms Gilder replied that there was an oral history programme and an Oral History Society. There had been annual conferences and the 10th Annual Conference was to happen in Kimberly in 2013. The proceedings of the conferences were to be published and an impact study conducted. There were a number of untold stories out there and the plan was to partner with other institutions and private entities.

Proposal of a workshop
Ms Moss proposed that there be a two day strategy session or a workshop as this was an important exercise. The amount of time allocated was not enough to properly analyse what was being done within the programmes of the Department. The workshop should involved all stakeholders and allow for an array of questions to be asked.

Compliance with Treasury
Ms M Morutoa (ANC) asked if the APP was compliant with the National Treasury guidelines. She asked this because some of the information needed to (such as if targets had been achieved) had not been given. She also wondered how the figures given in the programmes had been achieved.

Ms Xaba replied that the APP did meet those requirements. When it had been completed the Auditor General had been asked to do a preliminary audit and it had been found to be compliant. He stated that part of the problem may have been that only some key targets had been presented. The APP in its full form had been circulated and most of its targets were compliant. 

Bursary Scheme
Ms Morutoa asked if the bursary scheme was within the mandate of the Department or if there was a policy which tackled the mandate?

Policy on Human Remains
Ms Morutoa asked if the policy on Human Remains had been finalised.

Skills
Ms Moss asked how the Department had identified the skills needed within the Department and within entities and could this information be provided.

Mr Ndima replied that a skills audit had been done and this could be shared with the Committee. There were some skills that had heightened interest and some that had shortcoming such as technical studies within the heritage Sector. There was a lack of interest in the skills production within the area of technical studies which included things such as restoration.

Mr Greve replied that a work place skills plan was done on an annual basis and it was determined which areas were strategically relevant. As part of the performance management system employees were required to state what skills they would require in order to do their job. The Department was busy with that audit and it would then be consolidated with the work skills plan and then the training was rolled out according to the plan.  There had also been an internship programme last year and there had also been discussions around this. The Department wanted to target students that had graduated through the bursary scheme mainly national language service and heritage.  The current programme ended in June and the new one would start on the first of July.

The meeting was adjourned.
 

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