Report to the Parliamentary Portfolio Report to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee: Arts and CultureCommittee: Arts and Culture

Presenter: Prof. Mbulungeni MadibaPresenter: Prof. Mbulungeni MadibaChairperson’s Report (03/03/2015)Chairperson’s Report (03/03/2015)

Table of Contents

1. Purpose

2. PanSALB’s Mandate

3. Prescribed functions of PanSALB

4. Role of the Board of Directors

5. State of the organisation when the new Board

took over

6. Steps taken by the Board

7. Plans and Recommendations

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Purpose of the presentation

To give PanSALB’s progress report since the last

meeting with the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee and

future plans

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The Pan South African Language Board was created by the Constitution of the

Republic of South Africa Act 108 of 1996. In terms of section 6(5) of the said

Constitution, it states that a Pan South African Language Board be established

by national legislation which must:

(a) Promote and create conditions for, the development and use of-

(i) all official languages;

(ii) the Khoi, Nama and San languages; and

(iii) South African Sign language; and

(b) Promote and ensure respect for-

(i) all languages commonly used by communities in South Africa.

PanSALB Mandate

Prescribe functions of PanSALB

PanSALB was established as an independent statutory body by an Act of Parliament (Act 59 of 1995) as amended with the following explicit aim (Section 8 of the Act):

 (a) make recommendations with regard to any proposed or existing legislation, practice or policy dealing directly or indirectly with language matters at any level of government, and with regard to any proposed amendments to or the repeal or replacement of such legislation, practice or policy;

 

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(b) make recommendations to organs of state at all levels of government where it considers such action advisable for the adoption of measures aimed at the promotion of multilingualism within the framework of the Constitution;

(c) actively promote an awareness of multilingualism as a national resource;

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(d) actively promote the development of the previously marginalized languages;

(e) initiate studies and research aimed at promoting and creating conditions for the development and use of (i) all the official languages of South Africa, (ii) the Khoe and San languages and (iii) South African Sign Language;

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(f) promote and ensure respect for all other languages commonly used by communities in South Africa;  

(g) advise on the coordination of language planning in South Africa;

(h) facilitate cooperation with language planning agencies outside South Africa;

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(i) establish provincial language committees and national language bodies to advise it on any language matter affecting a province or a specific language; and

(j) establish national lexicography units to operate as companies limited by guarantee under section 21 of the Companies Act (No. 61 of 1973), and to allocate funds to the units for the fulfilment of their functions.

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Role of the Board of Directors• The Board of Directors (part-time members)

provides oversight and strategic direction to the organisation

• PanSALB was without a Board since 2012 following the dissolution of the Board by the Minister

• The new Board was appointed with effect from 1 April 2014

• The Board was inaugurated on 17 & 18 June• The Board held its first meeting on 7&8 July 2014

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State of the Organisation when the new Board took over

Four main challenges:

1.Vacant executive leadership

2.Underperformance

3.Bloated and unmandated organisational structure

4.Financially-compromised organisation

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5. Irrelevant Strategic Plan

6. Litigation problems

7. Low staff morale and infighting

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CHALLENGE 1

VACANT EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP

• Vacant office of the CEO

• Vacant office of the CFO

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CHALLENGE 2

NON-PERFORMANCE

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Business Model

Research Develop Use

Monitoring and Evaluation PROMOTION

Language Rights

Customer

PanSALB Programmes

Programme 1 – Administration

Programme 2 – Business Development

Programme 3 – Public Engagement

ORGANISATIONAL

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LEADERSHIP

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PROGRAMME 2 – CORPORATE SERVICES

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PROGRAMME 3 – FINANCE SERVICE

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PROGRAMME 4 – LANGUAGES SERVICE

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PROGRAMME 5 – LEGAL SERVICES AND LINGUISTIC HUMAN RIGHTS

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Challenge 3:Bloated organisation structure

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PanSALB Executive Structure

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Management Structure

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EMPLOYMENT AND VACANCIES

Programme 2013/2014ApprovedPosts

2013/2014No. ofEmployees

2013/2014Vacancies

% of vacancies

Senior Management(Level 13 -16)

35 27(3 Contract)

8 22.2%

Highly Skilled Supervision (Level 9 - 12)

62 40 22 61.1%

Highly Skilled Production(Level 6 – 8)

27 22(1 Contract)

6 16.7%

Skilled(Level 3-5)

16 16 0 0%

Unskilled(Level 1 – 2)

0 2 (Contract) -2 (Contract) 0%

TOTAL 140 107 36 100% 

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Financial problemsPeriod Allocation

®Expenditure ®

Shortfall ®

2010/11 53 545 000 61 080 000 (7 033 000)

2011/12 57 962 000 56 081 000 (2 069 000)

2012/13 69 480 000 84 480 000 (15 000 000)

2013/14 78 180 000 92 384 000 (14 204 000)

Revenue Generated – Service offered:

2013/14 Nil

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STEPS TAKEN BY THE BOARD

1. Vacant Executive Leadership: CEO & CFO

• The Board appointed acting CEOs as there were no funds to appoint a permanent CEO

• The Board resolved at its meeting of 4-5 February 2015 to kick-start the process of the appointment of the CEO of the Board.

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•The advert has already been drafted and is in the process of being translated into other languages to be advertised in the national newspapers.

•The closing date for the applications is 23 March 2015 and we hope to have appointed the CEO to start at the beginning of June 2015.

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• An acting CFO was also appointed, and a permanent CFO will be appointed after the appointment of a permanent CEO

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2. Underperformance

• The current Acting CEO is putting measures in place to develop staff critical capabilities and improve performance

• The Board has also established committees to assist the organisation with some expertise

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3. Bloated unmandated orgnaisational structure

• The Board sought a Legal opinion to address the problem of the bloated unmandated organisational structure

• The Board took a resolution to disregard the contracts of individuals appointed by Mr Mxolisi Zwane as advised by the Legal opinion

• The matter is at the moment in court

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4. Steps to address financial challenges

• The Board has appointed a Forensic Investigation to look into the possible financial mismanagement in the organisation

• The Acting CEO will report various measures he has or is putting in place to stop financial bleeding

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• The chairperson and the acting CEO held a meeting with the National Lottery Board on 23 February 2015 to discuss the grant given to PanSALB and how it can be prioritised to focus on areas relevant to the Board’s mandate

• It is hoped that the grant if managed properly by the organisation instead of third parties will boost the staff morale and capabilities to deliver on the organisation’s mandate

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5. Strategic Plan• The Board’s responsibility is to provide

strategic direction or framework for the development of the Strategic Plan

• The Board held a two days meeting (1- 2 August 2014) to discuss the Strategic Plan draft submitted to it by management

• The draft was referred back to Management as it was no adequate or relevant

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• The Board also assisted management in two strategic planning workshops organised on 25 September 2014 & 24 October 2014

• The Management showed a serious lack of requisite expertise and competence to develop a strategic plan

• The Board and DAC have proposed the establishment of a Task Team to assist the organisation with the development of a Turnaround Strategic Plan

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6. Litigation, staff performance and morale

The Acting CEO’s report provides a detailed discussion on steps taken to deal with litigation, staff performance and morale

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7. Other contributions by Board members

• Board members have in their individual capacities also made various contribution to the work of PanSALB and the promotion of multilingualism in general.

• The chairperson, for example, is working with HESA in running workshops across all higher education institutions to address language policy matter and the use of African languages.

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THANK YOU

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