Company sues Sport, Arts and Culture

An events and management company is suing the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture for over R2 million for alleged non-payment of services rendered during the National Mandela Day celebration held in the province in 2011 and the civil case is scheduled for next Thursday on the roll of the Polokwane High Court.
It was revealed when the department appeared before the Legislature’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) last Thursday that the company had been appointed to render services for the event at an initial cost of R3 087 093, but, before the end of the event the company and the department allegedly entered into a verbal agreement for additional services at R2 183 000 bringing the total cost of the event to R5 270 093.
The department was requested by the Department of Arts and Culture to host the event at a budget of R2 183 000 but secured services costing R3 087 093, adding the difference of R904 093 to the proposed budget by the Department of Arts and Culture. Sport, Arts and Culture Department Head, Mortimer Mannya stated that there had been a verbal agreement with the national department to settle the difference but that the Department of Arts and Culture only confirmed in the previous financial year that they wouldn’t settle the difference. Reading from written responses to questions by Scopa, Mannya said R3 087 093 paid to the service provider was recommended as unauthorised expenditure by the Auditor-General as the appointment of the service provider was done in contravention with procurement rules and regulations. The department approved a deviation for the appointment of the service provider through quotation instead of the normal competitive bidding process as the amount was above the R500 000 threshold.
Mannya said there was no evidence that the contract for the additional services had been signed. The committee was, however, not happy with the answers and committee member Rudolph Phala indicated that the department has been sitting on a qualified audit for over a decade, adding it to a list of departments that give Limpopo a bad name.
The future of the Mapungubwe Arts Festival was also questioned as Phala expressed the opinion that the festival was a mechanism used by government officials for corruption. He said an international artist was booked to perform at the festival last year to the tune of over R2 million but the artist did not show up, although he had been paid. Phala asked officials to clarify the steps taken to recover the money from the artist. Mannya responded that the artist was booked by a nongovernmental organisation (NGO) funded by the National Lottery and the NGO was responsible for retrieving the money.

Story & photo: ENDY SENYATSI
>>endy@observer.co.za