The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture ran the process that led to CCIFSA’s 2019 elective conference in Mpumalanga.
Now it cannot say how much it spent.
The money was never booked to a dedicated project or cost centre.
The Department made the admission in written replies to EFF MP Eugene Mthethwa.
“The Department is unable to give the Committee a reliable total or breakdown of these costs. The process leading to the Mpumalanga Conference of August 2019 was driven directly by the Department at the time, and the related expenditure was not recorded against a dedicated project or cost centre, so it cannot now be separated with confidence from the Department’s other expenditure in that period.
The Department can confirm that no funds were transferred to CCIFSA in the 2019/20 financial year: R2 500 000,00 approved in November 2019 for the newly elected leadership was not paid in that year and was instead provided from the 2020/21 budget,” the Department said.
Minister Gayton McKenzie has now asked his own Chief of Staff, Ntsiki Pule, to explain under oath how the Department came to take over the conference.
Mthethwa wanted to know why the Department stepped in while CCIFSA still had leaders and was being funded.
“Ms Pule is now the Chief of Staff to the incumbent DSAC Minister. The Minister has requested Ms Pule to provide the Committee with a sworn statement on her knowledge of the process that led to the 2019 elective conference in Mpumalanga. Ms Pule is also available to appear before the Committee should it so wish,” the Department said.
The reply does not say what job Pule held in 2019.
The Department gave its own account of why it intervened.
“During 2016/17, CCIFSA made significant progress in establishing decentralised provincial and sector-based structures across all nine provinces to strengthen the representation of artists and creative practitioners. However, dissenting voices persisted, particularly concerning the recognition and legitimacy of the CCIFSA leadership and calls for the convening of a national conference.
“These developments necessitated the Department’s intervention to facilitate an inclusive and representative process. Among other things, CCIFSA developed the concept of a ’10th Province’ to accommodate national organisations that wished to retain their independence while continuing to participate in the broader CCIFSA framework. The continued contestation ultimately contributed to the convening of the Mpumalanga Conference, through DAC Ministerial intervention,” it said.
CCIFSA’s own closing report from that time was also found wanting.
“Against the six key performance areas in CCIFSA’s 2014 proposal (an office, policies and administrator; branding and communication; sector research; national consultation roadshows; strategic policy documents; and an AGM to hand over to a new board), CCIFSA’s closing report of November 2019 claims that five were achieved and that the AGM was not held. The forensic investigation found that the same closing report contained misleading financial information. No operational funding was paid to CCIFSA in 2019/20,” the Department said.
The Department also cannot name the bus companies that ferried delegates to CCIFSA’s first conference in 2015. It paid for the buses through its travel agent.
“The Department utilised its appointed service provider for the provision of transport and accommodation. The service provider, in turn, engaged the relevant bus companies as subcontractors to deliver the transport services. The then DAC’s contractual relationship was with the appointed service provider, and the Department would not ordinarily hold detailed information relating to the service provider’s subcontractors, as these arrangements were managed by the appointed intermediary in terms of its contractual obligations. The Department has requested the names of the bus companies from the travel management company and will submit them to the Committee on receipt,” it said.
In August, former CCIFSA president Tony Kgoroge told Parliament that extra buses arrived at that conference unexpectedly. He said some of the people on them openly backed Mthethwa, who was running against him. Mthethwa’s questions refer to a claim that CCIFSA lost more than R700 000 on the extra buses.
The Department said it did not know about the extra buses and paid nothing for them. It said everyone who arrived unregistered was put up “following a decision taken by the then Minister and the Interim Committee to avoid further disruptions.”
It said it found no legal basis to blame Mthethwa.
“The additional costs relating to the catering and accommodation of non-registered delegates were subsequently accounted for in CCIFSA’s report, and the expenditure was incurred as a consequence of the circumstances prevailing at the time. The Department did not establish, on the information available at the time, a legally determined basis to attribute the additional expenditure to Mr Eugene Mthethwa personally. Accordingly, no recovery claim was instituted against him,” the Department said.
It also holds no record of where those delegates stayed or how their accommodation was arranged.
CCIFSA was launched in 2015 under then Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa. The Gobodo forensic probe found it received R51.8 million from the Department over a decade.
Eugene Mthethwa told the committee in August that there has been no elective conference since 2019.