04 May 2020
Honourable Minister Mthembu,
Minister in the Presidency responsible for monitoring and evaluation
The Deputy Minister of Sport,
Arts and Culture, Ms Nocawe Mafu,
The Director General of the
Department, Mr. Vusumuzi Mkhize.
Members of the Media,
Dear Compatriots,
We meet immediately after the
Freedom Month of April, which we deemed this year a month of “solidarity and
triumph of the human spirit” in these challenging times.
This month of May, International
Workers Month, we salute workers, especially in our country who, through
death-defying deeds, ensured that we joined the world to enjoy Mayday as
Workers Day.
Similarly, this is also Africa
Month. Every year as Government and broader society, we pause, reflect and
celebrate our Africaness. We do this as an endeavour to constantly highlight
the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (now the AU) on 25 May,
which is Africa Day. Our main recurring theme which is underlined by our
commitment is “Building a better Africa and a better world”. This year is
special since South Africa, under the leadership of President Ramaphosa, is the
Chairperson of the AU.
A unity and solidarity of
Africans is called upon in this contemporary era of the challenge of the
Coronavirus pandemic.
After President Ramaphosa
announced a national state of disaster, on the 15th of March, following the
outbreak of the Coronavirus, our Department held a consultative meeting with
the sport and creative sector. We made a point at the time that the sector is
going to be the hardest hit by the pandemic since the necessary measures to
curb the spread of the virus were detrimental to the sector.
We were propelled by this state
of affairs when we committed ourselves to do something to try and soften the
impact of COVID-19.
On the 25th of March, we
announced a R150 Million Rand Relief Fund to assist artists, athletes,
technical personnel and the core ecosystem of the sector. The other part of
this fund was open to proposals for livestreaming the work of creatives and
athletes, particularly, intergenerational cooperation between younger artists
and the legends.
The deadline for application of
the Relief Fund was the 6th of April. Subsequent to that, we appointed
independent adjudication committees.
Sport Adjudication process
The sport adjudication panel was
the first to be appointed on the 9th of April - and the first to begin the
adjudication process. The 9th of April was also the deadline for proposals for
service providers applications.
On the 23rd of April, more than
300 applications were received and the disbursement of relief funds to successful
applicants began.
On the 24th, 93 successful
applicants received their relief funds.
Once more in the sporting sector,
after re-submission of applications were referred back to the federations, a
total (aggregate) of 473 applications were received from 25 sporting
federations.
Arts and Culture
The total number adjudicated upon
is 1050.
232 were recommended.
603 were not recommended.
203 were referred to DSAC.
12 is the number of digital
applications to be moved to the NFVF.
We are concerned that the largest
number of those not recommended are artists who are seemingly in greater need
of relief. Some of the reasons of non-compliance include:
• DSAC application document
missing, or attached but not filled in.
• No cancellation or even
contract documents.
• No proof of event at all.
• Postponement, and not
cancellation (as per judging criteria – this should be changed in the next tranche
of applications).
We were especially concerned
after the adjudication committee advised us of some of their reasons, many of
them legitimate reasons such as lack of resources, etc….However, it is
important to note that the applicants who were not recommended have the option
to address the appeals committee.
Wednesday the 6th of May we will
be meeting with the sector, especially the key national organisations in the
sector to look at how, within the legal parameters, we can ensure that those
who really need the assistance, especially from the disadvantaged communities,
receive funding.
We have seen that we have not
moved as fast as we can in allocating these funds so we have beefed up our
mechanisms in order to fast-track the process.
There were technical glitches in
the beginning, as we are creating a new system to deal with a new problem. In
some instances, teething problems as it were, the adjudication panel felt that
the Department needed to give more information. They therefore referred such
applicants back to the Department. So the back and forth in that process was
one of the major causes of the delay, which speaks to inherent flaws in our
system.
Over and above the quality
assurance of the approved and conditionally approved sport applications, the Department
has also quality assured all declined sport applications to ensure that no
applicant is declined erroneously and further, given the undertaking that,
should any such applications be found through the adjudication panel
secretariat, to have been wrongly disapproved, they will once more be referred
back to the Panel. The arts and culture adjudication panel will be following
the same process.
//END//
Media Enquiries:
Masechaba Khumalo: Spokesperson
(Minister)
Mr Mickey Modisane: Chief
Director Marketing and Communications (Sport)
Ms Zimasa Velaphi: Marketing and
Communications (Arts and Culture)
