Department of Arts and Culture on African Union Charter for African Renaissance and its 2012/13 Annual Report, with Deputy Minister in attendance

Meeting report

Opening remarks by the Chairperson
The Chairperson started by making a plea for Departmental Officials to take their work seriously. The Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, Dr Joseph Phaahla tendered an apology on behalf of the Minister of Arts and Culture and reported to the Committee that the Acting Director-General of the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) was still on her way to join the meeting.  

Briefing on the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance
Ms Louise Graham, Chief Director: International Relations, DAC, told the Committee that the purpose of the meeting was to obtain approval for the ratification of the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance. She explained the preparatory processes undertaken for ratification. One of the areas of progress in terms of the policy alignment of the Charter was the adoption of four complementary strategies; the Mzanzi Golden Economy Strategy, the Social Cohesion Strategy, the National Development Plan and the Industrial Growth Plan. The other area of progress was the current review of the White Paper for Arts and Culture and its revisions into a new Cultural Policy for the Department of Arts and Culture.

The implementation strategy of the Charter had taken into consideration the following:
Divided Charter obligations into four imperatives: economic, social, political and cultural;
Developed a policy alignment document of the Charter with existing policies, programmes and strategies;
Identified gaps and areas of improvement;
Proposed to incorporate the identified gaps into Review of the White Paper on Arts, Culture and Heritage;
Advocate long-term intervention to ensure the needs of culture and creative industries are sufficiently accommodated in the National Development Plan and Industrial Policy Action Plan and
Ensure commitment to the implementation of the Charter through implementation forums at national and provincial government spheres.

Ms Graham outlined the financial, constitutional, vulnerable groups and legal implications; and reported that most of the provisions encapsulated in the Charter were already accommodated in existing policies, strategies and programmes in government as outlined in the policy alignment document.

A media launch and a symposium on the Charter, provincial and institutional workshops, and a consolidated progress report to the African Union Conference of Ministers of Culture formed part of the process going forward. 

The Acting Director-General Ms Monica Newton was introduced.

Discussion
An ANC MP asked how far the discussions with regards to Swahili as a fourth official language in the African Union (AU) had gone.

Ms Graham replied that the issue of Swahili in AU was an ongoing debate and there were pan African forums which were discussing the issue.

An ANC MP noted that the presentation had raised challenges with regard to a lack of appropriate funding and financing strategies. She asked what measures had been put in place to address this particular challenge.

Ms Graham replied that this was also an ongoing debate. The DAC had approached the National Treasury for specific funds for the Mzanzi Golden Economy strategy and funding for Social Cohesion. The DAC’s Social Cohesion strategy was in a developmental phase and it planned to put a special bid to the National Treasury in request for finances for this strategy.

An ANC MP asked if the obligations in the Charter around cultural activities, festivals and events included music festivals.

Ms Graham replied that music festivals were included.  

An ANC MP asked for clarity about the implementation strategy and the measures in place for the protection of intellect property rights.

Ms Graham replied that the implementation strategy would be rolled out nationally and provincially and the Department was planning to establish an inter-departmental committee that would permanently be in charge of the implementation of the Charter. Intellectual property rights and copyrights were the mandate of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The DAC served on an inter-departmental committee led by the DTI which was currently in the process of reviewing the South African copyright and intellectual property rights regime.

A Committee Member asked about the illicit trafficking in African cultural goods.

Ms Graham replied that this was a huge problem. There was a long history in this activity as many African cultural objects had been removed mostly in museums and galleries in Europe and the Americas. This was an ongoing issue. The international instrument was the Hague Convention that dealt with the illicit trafficking and repatriation of cultural goods. South Africa was a state and it participated in the international discourse around the return of those goods.

Mr M De Villiers (DA, Western Cape) asked if the DAC was already planning to ensure that the Department was ready for the implementation of the Charter. He asked if the Department had the funds to implement what was expected of it.

Ms Graham replied that some funding already existed as the DAC had already been engaged with the Charter process for a number of years. It had the resources, although not a very large amount, but there were financial and human resources to carry the process forward. The DAC would be leading the inter-departmental team and other departments would have to come on board with their commitments in terms of the programmes that they had developed. The consultations had already taken place.  A slight increase in the responsibilities of the DAC was foreseen and this could be accommodated at the moment as provision had already been made.

Mr W Faber (DA, Northern Cape) said that under the subheading of “Implications” in the report, it was stated that there were no financial implications. He asked for clarity about this as every project had financial implications.

Ms Graham replied that this simply meant that it was a paper exercise. Once parliamentary approval was obtained, the DAC would engage with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. An instrument of ratification was then drawn up, a paper document that would then be deposited with the African Union. Then, the Charter had to be entered into force and once this was done, the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa would remain the central controlling mechanism. The financial implications would come in terms of programmes and projects which would have to be implemented to give effect to the obligations.

Mr Faber asked how the progress would be monitored.

Ms Graham replied that the inter-departmental committee would have the specific task to monitor the progress of the implementation and because the DAC had to report, there would be a national consultative process as well. This was not only in terms of implementation, but also in terms of monitoring and report backs.

Ms D Rantho (ANC, Eastern Cape) asked if signing the Charter affected South Africa’s other obligations, like the Bill of Rights or other international instruments it had signed.

Ms Graham replied that the provisions in the South African Constitution were actually stronger and more progressive than what had been written into the Charter.

Ms Rantho asked how the Department was going to implement the keeping of records and archives. She further asked about the return of human remains.  
 
Ms Graham replied that because the Charter was a continental international treaty, it had to allow for the fact that countries differed and policies differed. It was therefore not prescriptive or obligatory in terms of establishing one standard or one set of policies. It allowed for national policies to differ. South Africa would therefore be subscribing to the general provisions of the Charter, but not necessarily to the cultural polices of any other country.
The return of human remains was dealt with slightly differently and on a more political level. The remains of Sara Baartment had been returned from France. The DAC was also engaging with the Austrians and the Australians but this was happening at diplomatic and political level.

The Chairperson asked how the Department of Arts and Culture planned to influence education in the country.  

Ms Newton replied that the DAC had a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Education. Arts education was a major focus of the Department’s activities through the Mzanzi Golden Economy strategy where it would be working with a programme called “Artists in Schools”. Through this programme, artists would be located in schools to supplement curriculum teaching.

The Deputy Minister, Mr Joseph Phaahla said that the Charter was an instrument to facilitate alignment of the focus on cultural development, promotion of our culture, history, languages and cultural practices. This was about a common platform for co-operation and collaboration that would allow countries to report on progress in the various areas mentioned above and it did not threaten the independence of countries.

The Committee approved the Charter.

Briefing by DAC on 2012/13 Annual Report
Ms Monica Newton, DAC Acting Director-General outlined summaries of the budget for each programme and economic classification. The report from the Auditor-General was included in the briefing. The Department of Arts and Culture had received an unqualified audit opinion with attention being drawn to the following: Performance information (predetermined objectives) where not all targets were achieved. The current findings represented an improvement from the findings of the previous year. However, procurement and contract management systems were inadequate and human resource management and compensation were inadequate.

The following interventions were made: strengthening supply chain management capacity and structures; payment and procurement had been centralised; finalised omnibus procurement of service providers in critical areas; governance functions had been centralised under good governance; and interventions had been made on planning and delivery of infrastructure.

Discussion
Ms Newton raised the concern that the Department had a very small team present and this might lead to a situation where all the technical questions might not be answered. She requested that in such cases answers could be submitted in writing to the Committee. 

The Chairperson asked how many flags had been handed out to schools.

Ms Newton replied that this issue received a huge focus of attention. Initially, the DAC only had one service provider but now each province had service providers and the process was decentralized and ensured a very rapid rollout of the project.

Mr Sakiwo Tyiso, DAC Chief Director: Co-ordination, Monitoring and Evaluation added that by December 2015, the Department hoped to have flags in all schools.

The Chairperson noted that the word ‘Asians’ had been used in the report. She asked for clarity about this.  

Ms Newton replied that the Committee was correct in that it was an outdated classification and the word ‘Indians’ should have been used.  This was probably a result of the template that was issued by the National Treasury. She said she would provide this feedback to Human Resources to stop using outdated terminology in the report.

The Chairperson asked when this Department would have a CFO.

Ms Newton replied that the Department had real challenges with regard to the appointment of a CFO. At this level, it would need to be confirmed by Cabinet. A candidate had been identified but was unavailable to take up the post. The Department was committed to concentrating on sorting this issue out.

Ms B Mncube (ANC, Gauteng) asked if hard copies of the report could be provided to Members of the Committee.

Mr Tyiso replied that the austerity measures introduced by the National Treasury had restricted the numbers of annual reports that could be printed at any point in time.

Ms Mncube asked if the Internal Audit Committee did quarterly reports to raise red flags about certain areas of work. She asked if any interventions had been made.

Mr Tyiso replied that the Department had structures that followed up on underperformance on a regular basis. There were also elaborate measures where areas of underperformance had been indicated and corrective measures were in place to follow up regularly.

Ms Mncube asked for a progress report on the building of community libraries.

Ms Newton replied that the Minister and the Deputy Minister had made a specific appointment to critically examine what was happening. As a result of that process, a series of recommendations were made. The Department was now working with service providers in this regard to ensure communities were not unduly disenfranchised by delivery problems in government.

Mr De Villiers asked for clarity about the repair of ferries used to take tourists to Robben Island.

Mr Tyiso replied that a letter had been written to the CEO of Robben Island about this situation. The CEO had provided a response, which would be made available to the Committee.

Ms R Rasmeni (ANC, North West) asked for clarity about the situation in the provinces.  

Mr Tyiso replied that additional efforts were being made to assist provinces. The Minister had met with the MECs, and the DG had met with HODs of the respective provinces. There was also a structure to facilitate and help with technical support. There were measures to improve on underperformance.

The Deputy Minister said that the Department would respond in writing on certain areas unattended to in the meeting including the area of fruitless and wasteful expenditure. This matter ultimately depended on co-operation from the provinces and municipalities.

Question asked which would be responded to in writing by the DAC
Ms Rasmeni asked why contracts in Mpumalangu had been terminated. What had caused the delays in the construction of libraries in the North West? 

Ms M Moshodi (ANC, Free State) asked why people were resigning from the DAC.

Mr Faber asked what the Department was doing about irregular expenditure and fruitless and wasteful expenditure and if this situation was related to municipalities.

Mr De Villiers stated that the Department had to attempt to erase the situation of irregular expenditure and fruitless and wasteful expenditure. Why was the Department struggling to appoint women?

Ms Mncube asked what made expenditure fruitless. Was there a progress report on the building of a Skills Academy?

The Chairperson said that the target for arts practitioners was 200 but only 75 were achieved.  She asked if 200 were not budgeted for. When were the 2 vacancies for Deputy Director-General going to be filled? The Chairperson asked if provision was made for the recurring habit of delayed programmes and projects and under spending.

The meeting was adjourned.