As the nation was still celebrating Bafana Bafana qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, officials from the department of sport, arts and culture were being grilled in parliament about their annual report.
The department’s portfolio includes heritage entities, libraries, performance arts centres and sports federations.
Wednesday’s meeting came a day after the Auditor-General of South Africa (Agsa) said there was a “heavy reliance over the auditing process to identify errors” in the department. The AG also said irregular expenditure had increased to R70m in 2024/25 from R65m the year before.
Dr Cynthia Khumalo, director-general of the department, led the presentation, which said the department spent 99.5% of its more than R6bn budget, reflecting “strong financial management and effective implementation of programmes”. About 93% of the department’s targets were achieved, compared with 91% the previous year.
“We have had several challenges as a department in the execution of our work,” said Khumalo. But she assured the portfolio committee on sport, art and culture that internal audit processes were in place within the department.
MPs, however, were not convinced by the more than 180-page presentation. Leah Potgieter of the DA said a number of issues were raised by the AG.
“One of the biggest problems is that the department relies on the AG to pick up issues, and it’s very apparent from the annual report that this is the truth.
“They don’t mention consequence management for any of these issues in the annual report. It doesn’t seem to be a priority in terms of performance management,” she said.
Potgieter added that the department spent nearly 100% of its budget but achieved 93% of its targets. She questioned if “this did not speak to overspending”.
The MK Party’s Gift Motaung said issues raised by the AG before the committee were “very alarming”.
“The reports that we’re getting from the department, for me … I’ll take those reports as null and void,” he said.
Nomgqibelo Nkosi of the ANC was also concerned. “This thing of non-compliance, not adhering to the recommendations of the AG, it bothers us as members of the portfolio committee. Seemingly, we are just wasting our own time as members.
“We speak about irregular expenditure all the time, but there’s nothing that is happening from the department. Can the department take us seriously?”
There were also several questions about the department’s decision to allocate R82m for video assistant referee (VAR) technology for local football. The department announced the allocation in September.
“Indeed, what we are taking away from federations is about R40m,” said the department’s CFO, Israel Mokgwamme.
But this answer didn’t satisfy Gaolatlhe Kgabo from the ANC. “While you are dealing with the issue of federations, can you give us a clue in terms of the yardstick that you have applied to measure the importance of VAR implementation over the grassroots development of different sports activities through the funding of federations?” he asked.
It means then that there’s also a lack of institutionalised internal controls within the entities and therefore they are not able to enforce accountability for non-compliance and poor performance.
— AG’s deputy business unit leader Mbali Tsotetsi
Khumalo acknowledged what was said during the meeting. “The thing of most concern to me is when members say we don’t seem to take them seriously. I do believe maybe it’s a perception that we must correct
“On our side, we are very committed and we understand the role of the portfolio committee. I’ve taken note of your other recommendations,” she told the committee.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the committee received a briefing from the AG’s deputy business unit leader Mbali Tsotetsi.
“There has been an improvement in the number of auditees that have received clean audits in the 2024-25 financial year. However, the overall results for the portfolio have remained stagnant as similar internal control deficiencies were identified, resulting in the outcomes of 51% of the auditees within the portfolio obtaining negative audit outcomes,” read a presentation to the committee.
“A culture of transparency through reliable and timely reporting is not emphasised as significant internal control deficiencies remain unaddressed and there is no accountability for lack of implementation.
“This resulted in heavy reliance over the auditing process to identify errors in the financial and performance reports of which some were addressed subsequently to achieve credible reporting.
“There is a lack of institutionalised integrity and accountability to enforce compliance with legislation, as consequence management is not taken swiftly by the portfolio leadership,” said the AG’s report.
Tsotetsi told the committee there was “a slow response “ by the department in addressing recommendations to ”improve the audit outcomes”. She added 13 entities had attained a clean audit compared with 11 in the previous financial year.
“It means that the culture of transparency and accountability is not yet embedded. We’re also saying that we don’t see the accounting officer and the authorities applying urgent intervention to improve internal controls, and they are also not implementing consequence management where it is required.
“It means then that there’s also a lack of institutionalised internal controls within the entities and therefore they are not able to enforce accountability for non-compliance and poor performance,” said Tsotetsi.
Senior AG manager Omphemetse Setebe said irregular expenditure was a concern. “Most of the irregular expenditure was mainly due to not having followed the proper supply chain processes and prescripts as prescribed by the National Treasury.”
Key recommendations from the AG included that the accounting officer or authorities enforce accountability by expediting the processes of consequence management within the portfolio. The leadership of the portfolio must act swiftly to strengthen the internal control environment to prevent negative audit outcomes and key vacancies must be filled without delay.
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