Parliament, Tuesday, 27 October 2026 – The Select Committee on Education, Science and the Creative Industries has criticised the leadership of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture for not making themselves available to attend a long-scheduled meeting with the committee today.
The committee Chairperson, Mr Makhi Feni, said this was shocking behaviour, given the department and its entities’ poor audit outcomes. “It is the committee’s standing resolution that in the absence of the Minister, Gayton McKenzie, and at least the Deputy Minister and the Director-General, the committee will then be unable to continue with meetings with the department. The absence of the political and administration leaderships shows the serious lack of taking accountability seriously. The committee will not condone that behaviour,” Mr Feni said.
“It is unfortunate that the committee was put in an undesirable situation because most the matters raised in the Auditor-General’s report are matters that require political explanations and oversight. We have concerning matters regarding the Robben Island Museum that has not had an audit committee, as well as delayed implementation of infrastructure projects leading the state to incur unnecessary cost escalations,” he said.
The Auditor-General informed the committee on Tuesday that approximately 41% of the department’s entities had the potential to achieve clean audits. However, the department is hamstrung by lack of consequence management, ineffective monitoring of action plans and slow implementation of recommendations.
The Auditor-General also noted that the Robben Island Museum’s financial statements must be prepared with serious attention. In addition, the department must work collaboratively with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure to address the prolonged delays in implementing infrastructure projects.
Mr Feni said that it would be futile to continue with today’s meeting, as a junior official would be unable to answer the committee’s questions on matters raised by the Auditor-General. “We have noted this kind of general behaviour from departments and entities to disregard the committees of the National Council of Provinces and behaving as if they are doing the NCOP a favour. We will not allow these entities to be a funnel where government funds leak without any kind of accountability; we are not going to negotiate with officials on whether they want to be overnighted,” Mr Feni said.
The committee will reschedule the meeting, if its programme allows; the committee oversees many other departments, including the departments of Basic and Higher Education and of Science and Technology.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES, MR MAKHI FENI.
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Name: Sibongile Maputi
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