Cape Town -The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) allocated more than R50 million to aid the Robben Island Museum, which faced serious financial constraints due to Covid-19.
The funds, meant for operational costs and saving the livelihoods of many employees, was allocated to the museum between January, 2021 and March, this year.
This emerged in a written parliamentary response by Minister Nathi Mthethwa who was replying to questions from DA MP Denis Joseph.
Joseph inquired about the measures put in place to accommodate the staff complement “given the financial constraints”, and maintenance of buildings in terms of the agreement between the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI), and the museum.
He also wanted to know about the progress made post-Covid-19.
According to Mthethwa, the department intervened as the museum had to make a hard decision of either initiating a Section 189 process of the Labour Relations Act, retrenchments or reduce employees’ salaries across the board.
“The Robben Island Museum was granted approval to reprioritise R23m in January, 2021 and a further R17m in June, 2021 from the infrastructure grant to be utilised for operations.
“Through engagements with the National Treasury on museum’s financial position, the department was able to further allocate an additional amount of R20m at the end of March, 2022 to assist with the operational costs.
Any shortfall was covered by museum utilising its fast-depleting reserves,” said Mthethwa.
He added that the museum embarked on austerity measures by suspending the filling of non-critical positions, and no cost-of-living adjustment increases were provided to staff.
“These measures have allowed the museum to continue to sustain its salary bill and improve its financial position, thus avoiding job losses which would have had a negative reputation for the entity,” he said.
According to Mthethwa, a tripartite agreement between the DPWI, the DSAC and the museum expired in 2020, and a new agreement has not yet been finalised.
The minister said the DPWI was in the process of procuring a total facilities management company, which would take responsibility for maintenance works on the island.
Cape Times