Minister Anroux Marais' 2023/24 financial year budget speech
Western Cape Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport, Anroux Marais
2023/24 DCAS budget appropriation speech
29 March 2023
Honourable Speaker
Premier
Cabinet Colleagues and Members of the Provincial Parliament
Head of Department and Managers of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport
Our partners in the sport and cultural sectors
Members of the media
Residents of the Western Cape
Introduction
Speaker, today I present the Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport’s (DCAS) appropriation budget for the 2023/24 financial year, acknowledging that the 2023 MTEF budget is premised on prioritising the recovery of our sectors by aligning it to the Western Cape Recovery Plan in the areas of Jobs, Safety, and Wellbeing.
The Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport is in the business of bringing hope to the people of the Western Cape. We bring hope through creating safe spaces of connectedness through libraries, theatres and sport facilities. We bring hope through creating work experience opportunities for our youth. We bring hope through showcasing people who have worked hard and reached success, despite their circumstances.
Speaker, our department is also focused on putting preventative measures in place that will aid in stemming the tide of unemployment, youth disillusionment and social ills that stem from frustration and hopelessness. We believe that it is better to create an environment which stops the problem at its source, rather than trying to manage the fall-out effects. Our department is perfectly positioned to take on this role of prevention through our various programmes.
In the coming financial year, we will build on our successes, learn from our experiences and together with our partners focus on our priorities which include:
Supporting youth in providing first work experience opportunities.
Focusing on the promotion of physical and mental health and wellbeing through our various programmes.
Establishing safe spaces for communities and especially the youth.
Speaker, the DCAS budget decreased from an Adjusted Appropriation of R938,467 million in the 2022/23 financial year, to a Final Appropriation of R895,529 million in the 2023/24 financial year, resulting in a net decrease of R42,938 million. The decrease is mainly attributed to a R30,000 million allocation for the 2023 Netball World Cup included in the 2022/23 financial year; and a once off earmarked allocation of R16.476 million received in 2022/23 for the procurement of digitization scanners to enhance the virtual and digitisation services in the Western Cape Provincial Archives.
Major Sporting events
This is an exciting year for major sporting events as the province gears up to host various big events. The department is supporting more than 100 events across the province, with the biggest one being the Netball World Cup which will be held in Cape Town for the first time in history in Africa from 28 July to 6 August 2023.
We will be partnering with the municipalities in all districts to co-host viewing centres and fan parks for the Netball World Cup so that people across the province will be able to watch the matches. There will be1 fanpark in Central Karoo, 1 in Garden Route, 1 in Cape Winelands, 1 in the West Coast and 1 in Overberg.
The earmarked FanParks will be held at the following venues:
1. Rosemare Stadium, George Municipality
2. Dal Josaphat stadium, Paarl, Drakenstein Municipality
3. White City, Saldanha Bay Municipality
4. Caledon, Theewaterskloof Municipality
5. Rustdene, Beaufort West Municipality
There will be 2 viewing centres in Central Karoo, 2 in Garden Route, 1 in West Coast, 1 in Overberg and 1 in Cape Winelands.
The Viewing Centres will at the following municipalities:
1. White Location, Knysna Municipality
2. Bongolethu, Oudtshoorn Municipality
3. Main Street,Plettenberg Bay Bitou Municipality
4. Thusong, Riversdale Hessequa Municipality
5. Bella Vista/Wolseley Montana Hall Witzenberg Municipality
6. Callie de Wet Hall, Robertson Langeberg Municipality
Additional funds have been made available to fund the Cape Town E-Prix in the 2023/24 financial year. Formula E is the world's first fully electric street racing series, bringing the latest innovations in electric vehicles and alternative energy solutions to city centres. The event provides a catalyst for the Western Cape Green Economy and provides a platform for global, African, and local green economy players to meet on an annual basis to identify opportunities to support business and drive job creation. The first event was held on 25 February 2023 and was very well supported and received.
Since the beginning of 2023, we have seen various women’s sporting tournaments being hosted in the province. In January, our Netball team competed at the Quad series event, which saw South Africa, Australia, England and New Zealand competing in Cape Town. We also hosted the International Women’s Ice Hockey tournament in February. And, most exciting, we saw a record crowd attending the final of the Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup at Newlands, where our Proteas women narrowly missed out on the trophy. We have seen a huge appetite for women’s sport and now is the time for us to advocate for equal salaries for our female athletes. We cannot condone that our women compete on the same level as men but that they are paid less.
Speaker, in our aim to ensure inclusiveness in everything that we do, we have continued with the project of translating the rules of various sporting codes into isiXhosa. To date we have completed the translations of the rules of chess, netball, cricket and boxing. We have just completed the translation of the laws of cycling and we will commence with Table Tennis in 2023.
Over and above providing protective factors for school going youth, we also create pathways to mastery. Speaker I am proud to announce that Team Western Cape was crowned champions at both editions of the Winter Games and Summer Games at the SA National School Sport Championships in 2022. This is the first time that the Western Cape were crowned champions at any championship since its inception in 2012. We are extremely proud of our young athletes for these achievements.
Libraries
We have seen the need to improve literacy and to provide municipalities with support to continue rolling our library services. Many young children find refuge in the safe space that a library provides – librarians often become surrogate parents and trusted adults in the lives of our young children. Libraries have the power to help us prevent more youth straying down the wrong paths and we must ensure that we provide an engaging library service, which is the heartbeat of every community.
Speaker, the final appropriation for the 2023/24 financial year includes additional funding for Library Services in the amount of R26.654 million over the 2023 MTEF for B3 Municipalities, and R5.500 million over the 2023 MTEF to replace the book selection and furniture in the Beaufort West Regional Library which were sadly destroyed by a fire in November 2022. The additional funding for B3 Municipalities is welcomed because it will fund the shortfall currently experienced by these municipalities, mainly due to rising inflation.
The department received an additional allocation of R1.3 million towards the Municipal Replacement fund, which enabled the Hessequa Municipality to convert all of their contract library staff to permanent appointments. This made an important impact on the lives of those working at the library and brings renewed hope to the library and the community it serves.
In society, libraries remain the hub for information, knowledge, and culture. Besides providing learning opportunities, they also promote literacy, education, and community enrichment. In order to ensure sustainability, libraries need to be transformed and promoted. With a view to providing a more rounded library experience, DCAS will implement the concept of libraries serving as multipurpose community arts centers. Initially, we aim to enable and optimise collaboration with recreational centers in our library spaces; to serve as an outlet/service center for other government services, exhibition spaces for museum artifacts and gallery exhibitions and performance spaces for literary arts.
The department will therefore continue to maintain 375 public libraries across the province. The libraries offer 375 opportunities for imagination and hope with an increased focus on partnerships with other government departments and local government. The public libraries continuous to play a pivotal role in promoting a culture of reading and lifelong learning while providing safe spaces for our youth and children.
Hope for youth
Speaker, our youth are showing growing levels of disillusionment and hopelessness, which leads to us losing them along the way. My department has positioned itself to act proactively and address the problem at the source, so that we can make interventions in the earlier stages of our young people’s lives, rather than trying to “fix” the aftermath of the problem. We are channeling our funding into interventions that will make positive impacts on our youth and will help them to develop holistically into successful, economically active adults.
Funding to the amount of R2.000 million was received to unlock learners' creativity. This programme is part of the Mzansi Golden Economy strategy, which aims to create sustainable jobs and develop the arts, culture, and heritage sector. It is designed to create and develop pedagogical capabilities and skills that arts practitioners can utilise in schools to collaborate with arts and culture educators. 25 Artists will be appointed to work with classroom teachers to teach arts and culture in three districts (Cape Winelands, Central Karoo and West Coast).
An additional R7.000 million was received to grow the EPWP programme in the 2023/24 financial year in the areas of arts, culture, museums, heritage, archives, and library services. This funding provides an opportunity to create additional work opportunities for unemployed youth in the Western Cape.
We have also received funding to continue our Youth in Service programme YearBeyond providing 4 000 youth with a first work experience. We are the only province to partner with national and offer full time work opportunities to youth giving service.
Youth have been prioritized in the following way by DCAS:
• Investment in rolling out various literacy and reading programmes for children in ECD centres, schools, libraries and communities through its Library Services and YearBeyond. These are aimed at building a culture of reading and improving reading for meaning by the age of 10.
• Investment in whole child development with a focus on ensuring children are exposed to a range of sporting, art and cultural activities and supported to find and pursue their passions through After School Programmes.
• Investment in building youth’s sense of belonging by creating “positive peer groups” through sport, arts, culture and giving youth access to heritage resources via our museums and community facilities.
• Youth are supported to develop mastery in sport and the arts.
• Opportunities for youth to gain work experience are maximized through a combination of youth service opportunities, EPWP and other public works programmes, and partnership programmes.
The Department continuously works to extend and expand its services to youth and reviews its youth development work annually.
Speaker, I would like to share the story of Melikhaya Mzola, who is here today. Melikhaya was accepted onto the YearBeyond programme in 2022 and was working at the Mossel Bay Library as an ICT cadet. During this time, a system challenge with the SITA Library Information Management System system arose, which slowed down checking in and out of library books. Melikhaya took the initiative to develop an app which could assist with the continuation of the circulation system so that patrons could still access books. With the support of officials from the municipality and the library, Melikhaya’s app was implemented and service delivery could continue. This is the kind of innovative solutions that our youth can bring, and we thank Melikhaya for what he has done – he has been a true asset to the area.
Initiation
Speaker, an additional R3 million was received to effectively implement the Customary Initiation Act No 2 of 2021 over the 2023 MTEF. The focus will be on Improving governance of the customary Initiation practices to prevent the death of initiates.
The Customary Initiation Act, (Act 2 of 2021) was promulgated on 4 June 2021 and implemented on 1st September 2021. Following the implementation date, and as required by law, the Premier appointed the Western Cape Initiation Coordination Committee. The first term commenced on 30 November 2021 till 30 June 2022 and the second term started on 1 July 2022 for a period of 5 years.
The Department has, together with partners in the community such as traditional leaders and initiation forums, introduced several strategies and approaches to ensure a safe rite of passage. We will continue accelerating our efforts to achieve a zero-mortality rate as we highly value the lives of those who have undergone this important cultural rite of passage. The Department will use the increased budget allocation for the Initiation Programme to increase the current capacity, assist with early detection of conditions that could lead to deaths, upscale our current monitoring system, increase our training efforts for the cultural practitioners and implement a digital initiation registration system to provide parents and guardians of initiates to have easy access to information that will ensure a safe rite of passage.
Arts and Culture
Support to the Arts and Culture fraternity remains a priority for our department. During the 2022/23 financial year we increased our allocation by R3 million to support arts, culture and heritage NPO organisations, individual artists and arts companies. The total allocation of R20.4 million reaches 109 beneficiaries across the Province. Arts and Culture organisations play a significant role, not only in the development and promotion of arts, but also ensure that youth at risk do not fall through the safety net. We will continue employing all efforts to increase the financial and other contributions to broaden the Art landscape.
Speaker, in October 2022, the department hosted the Cultural Affairs Awards, where we had a deaf Master of Ceremonies for the first time. Mr Jabaar Mohamed is here today, and I want to thank him for being one of the MCs at the event, and for helping us host a truly inclusive event.
Speaker, Community Arts Centres continue to be places for primary access to arts participation, training, and celebration for communities. This fundamental role of community arts centres has become more important over the years given the high levels of violence in our society, resulting in the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, substance abuse and other mental health challenges particularly in young people. Through community arts centres we can focus on providing youth with meaningful platforms to find and unlock their passions, which is key to reducing risk-taking behaviour.
In order to harness the diversity of views and interventions and to bring much needed efficiencies and collaboration in the sector, DCAS has adopted a “managed network” institutional model which consists of partner organisations, institutions and bodies with whom DCAS has (or should have) formal agreements that contribute towards delivering on DCAS’s mandate.
The Community Arts Centres form a key component of this network whose aim is to encourage greater efficiency in mobilising the creative economy using scarce fiscal resources, to improve sharing of information and knowledge.
In 2019 the department developed a Community Arts Centres strategy and together with the National Department as well as implementing agent, Stand Foundation (Sustaining theatre and Dance foundation), under the leadership of Mr Mike van Graan, we have begun to progressively implement the strategy. Together with our partners in the Community Arts sector, a Community Arts Centres Network of the Western Cape was formed to engineer peer learning and support. In addition, Community Arts Centres toolkits were developed. These toolkits, which form part of the WCG Community Arts Centres Plan, place governance, marketing, production, and programming skills in the hands of centre managers and arts organizations and by so doing play a central role in building capacity and ensuring much needed sustainability in the community arts ecosystem.
Museums
We will continue to engage EPWP interns at museums across the province. These interns receive significant museum experience while also contributing to the work of our museums. Furthermore, where possible, we expand similar internship programs to non-affiliated institutions in order to promote the expansion of the museum sector in our province. One of the interesting new activities we will introduce this year is the placement of EPWP Heritage Ambassadors in selected hotspot locations to undertake research on community facilities. By doing so, we hope to instill pride and a sense of ownership among the province's youth.
Speaker, last week we also re-opened the newly renovate George museum. The museum space has been reconceptualized to showcase performing and visual arts and we hope to use this as blueprint for our other museums, where the spaces can become cultural spaces where communities can showcase their talents.
Heritage
The World Heritage Site nomination dossier entitled: The Emergence of Modern Humans: The Pleistocene Occupation Sites of South Africa for the three sites: Diepkloof Rock Shelter and Pinnacle Point Site Complex in the Western Cape and Sibhudu Cave in KwaZulu-Natal was submitted to the World Heritage Centre in August 2022. The World Heritage Centre received the dossier and commented in October 2022 requesting a few points of clarification and suggesting improvements. These changes were completed by November 2022 and the dossier was officially submitted in January 2023, in an effort to preserve and promote these heritage sites of national and international significance.
Speaker I am proud to announce that a major milestone on this journey was reached. On the 1st March 2023 we received communication from the World Heritage Centre that the nomination of The Emergence of Modern Humans: The Pleistocene Occupation Sites of South Africa met all of the technical requirements outlined in the Operational Guidelines concerning completeness check of nominations to the World Heritage List. The achievement of this milestone is a major step forward towards the inscription of the sites as World Heritage Sites in 2024.
Conclusion
Speaker, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport continues to adopt an approach of working closely with other government departments, as well as with outside partners, to ensure that we can effectively and efficiently deliver our services to the people of the Western Cape. We are constantly improving on our Managed Network Model approach to innovatively use the resources at our disposable to make the biggest impact possible.
We continue to bring hope and joy through our programmes, as we work towards a preventative, proactive approach in supporting our youth especially so that they can become successful adults. We believe in the power of sport, arts and culture in changing the lives of people who feel despondent and hopeless.
Under the leadership of Premier Alan Winde, I look forward to taking the next steps to establishing the Western Cape as the sporting and cultural hub of the country, where hope and joy abounds for every person living here.
Thank you.
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Media Enquiries:
Tania Colyn Acting Spokesperson for Minister Anroux Marais Tel: 076 093 4913