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- The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture said a host of interventions were in the works to help get the Robben Island Museum on a better footing.
- Funding of R21.5 million was re-prioritised from the Capital Works Budget towards specific operational costs, while alternate revenue is being found
- The Robben Island Museum opted to withdraw disciplinary proceedings against CEO Mava Dada chief financial officer Blayne Crocker.
The Department of Sports, Arts and Culture updated Parliament on sweeping interventions at the Robben Island Museum with a view of getting the company to improve revenue and save jobs after years of instability.
However, the museum is not likely to get any real closure when it comes to the findings in a forensic investigation by Morar Incorporated in 2019, which found thousands of cases of irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
The Morar Incorporated report prompted the museum to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the its CEO and CFO.
The Robben Island Museum is the custodian of the heritage site Robben Island, which was the prison where South Africa's first democratically elected president Nelson Mandela served much of his 27 years behind bars after being sentenced to life by the apartheid state.
However, in recent years, the Robben Island Museum has been rocked with financial and governance challenges including the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and hard lockdown restrictions as well as other longstanding financial challenges.
The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture sent Parliament a report, which formed part of the announcement, tabling and committees' circular on Friday evening, saying that a host of interventions would help get the company on a better footing.
"While in the last financial year, additional resources have been allocated to retain staff, the department and the entity should work together on a viable solution to stave off possible retrenchments," the report said.
The department said in its report that it intervened by approving reprioritisation of funds to avoid job losses and salary cuts. Funding of R 21.5 million was reprioritised from the Capital Works Budget towards specific operational costs, while they find alternate revenue, the report said.
However, the report said the council of Robben Island Museum was given legal advice and opted to withdraw disciplinary proceedings against CEO Mava Dada and CFO Blayne Crocker, but stressed that the department would insist on accountability.
"The accounting authority must implement consequence management and there must be an action plan to deal with investigations for 15 828 cases of irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditures to ensure that matters of discipline, financial misconduct and recovery are dealt with," the report said.
The department said to respond to reduced ability to generate revenue, the company should look at generating revenue through alternate means through specifically focusing on marketing to promote the island. He said management were holding workshops to reassess the heritage site's marketing.
"This workshop will focus on reimagining the institution to ensure that it diversifies its offerings to reduce reliance on tours, which have been affected by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. [The museum] will find alternate means of generating revenue," the report said.
The museum's council chairperson Khensani Maluleke said some of the matters raised in the Morar Report were dealt with in another report by the MacRoberts firm, and that the museum intended to make the report public "upon conclusion of all processes".
"We do however have to take into account the legislative prescripts of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) which came into effect on 1 July 2021. The report is currently being verified for POPIA compliance and we are also engaging the shareholder to keep him abreast of the latest developments.
"Once we are satisfied that the report does not infringe on any party's rights, the content will be made public," said Maluleke.
Maluleke said in 2020 the council for the Robben Island Museum resolved that certain allegations of mismanagement made by the Ex-Political Prisoners' Association be investigated.
"Following an investigation and a written report of legal advice furnished to the Council, which sustained a prima facie case for disciplinary steps, charges of misconduct were brought against two ... officials, and it was contemplated that a disciplinary inquiry would ensue on 21 and 22 June 2021," said Maluleke.
Maluleke said after getting documentation from employees' representatives and the assessment of those documents against the evidence expected from witnesses to testify on the council's behalf, the council took further legal advice.
"On the basis of that advice, the council took the decision to discontinue the disciplinary process and issue the employees with notices in terms of which they were advised of the withdrawal of the charges," she said.
Last year, Dada told Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Sports, Arts and Culture that a significant part of the museum's financial troubles was a 2011 decision to absorb part-time employees into the organisation with substantial pay hikes and no scant auditing of their skills.
DA MP Tshepo Mhlongo told Fin24 that the Robben Island Museum that new board would have to appear before the committee to brief it on the Morar report and findings.
