WeeklySA_AdminACCOUNTABILITY: No-shows by senior officials of the department to parliamentary briefings cause consternation among parliamentarians…
By Edward Tsumele
A showdown seems to be looming between the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee over the non-appearance of senior officials to scheduled meetings.
The committee has taken strong exception to the failure in the past four weeks by senior officials of DSAC, including its Acting Director-General Cynthia Khumalo, to show up at key scheduled meetings before the members of the Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture to account for the department’s performance, including the use of its budget for arts development and promotion in the creative and cultural sector.
Instead, the department has sent other officials to the meetings – a move that angered committee members as they found this arrangement to be unsatisfactory. Such arrangement has frustrated continued efforts by the committee to get answers to from the accounting officer over lingering matters that have been inadequately addressed.
Consequently, the committee apparently penned a letter to Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie and his Deputy Peace Mabe on Wednesday to appear next Tuesday, to explain the continued failure by senior officials – especially Khumalo and the department’s chief financial officer – to attend scheduled briefings.
A media statement released by the Portfolio Committee on Wednesday has explicitly confirmed that indeed that the two Ministers had been summoned.
The chairperson of the committee, Mr Joe McGluwa, said the committee was not about to negotiate with officials on how they want to be held to account. “This is very serious and happening for the third time now. If it is not the non-appearance of officials, it is poorly prepared presentations that lack financial performance reporting,” Mr McGluwa said.
“This is against the spirit and principle of the three arms of the state. Nothing will ever be derived through undermining parliamentary oversight. At the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, we want responsive employees who are able to assist entities in their responsibility of service delivery to poor South Africans,” McGluwa said.
On Tuesday, the department’s Acting Director-General and chief Financial officer did not appear for a scheduled parliamentary meeting to discuss the department’s annual report. The departmental officials who did attend the meeting were unable to provide answers to the questions asked by Members of Parliament.
McGluwa said the costs associated with Tuesday’s unproductive meeting amounted to wasteful expenditure that should not have been incurred. This was also not the first time the department had failed to fully engage with the committee.
“The committee will not tolerate repeated disregard for its oversight role. In this case, the absence of key officials prevented the committee from obtaining the necessary information on the department’s financials and programmes. As a consequence, the committee made the decision to release the officials who were in attendance, as their inability to address these critical areas rendered the meeting unproductive,” the chairperson said.
Hence, the committee resolved to invite the Minister and other relevant officials to a rescheduled meeting next Tuesday.
The department, together with his agencies, especially the National Arts Council, have been under the spotlight over allegations of maladministration for the past four years. Among other thorny issues has been its questionable policy of accruing surplus funds while dozens of applications for funding by stakeholders get rejected.
This has been compounded by its adversarial relationship with sections of the creative community which have been unhappy over the NAC’s conduct of its affairs. – CITYLIFE/ARTS
