The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture has failed to deliver promised community outdoor gyms and play parks.
It also missed targets for school sport and artist employment and it struggled to account for some of its reported performance.
The damning findings expose a department falling short on the services and opportunities it is supposed to deliver to communities.
The Auditor-General told Parliament on Tuesday, 27 October 2026 that the department achieved only 80% of its performance targets for the 2025-26 financial year.
Among the failures were targets for school sport programmes, support for sport and recreation bodies, capacity-building projects and job opportunities for artists through the creative sector stimulus.
The consequences extend beyond a disappointing performance report. Communities were left waiting for facilities, while intended opportunities for young people and artists were not fully delivered.
“Communities would continue to be deprived of the intended sport, arts and culture facilities, delaying the anticipated socio-economic benefits and service delivery outcomes,” the Auditor-General’s office told the NCOP Select Committee on Education, Sciences and Creative Industries.
The outdoor gyms and play parks were not built because budgets were approved late.
According to the Auditor-General, the failure pointed to deeper weaknesses in the department’s planning and budgeting.
“The non-achievement of targets due to late approval of budgets points to weaknesses in planning and budgeting processes,” the office said.
In other words, a failure to approve budgets on time has derailed projects intended to benefit communities.
The department also missed its capacity-building target following changes at the Free State Arts and Culture Council. This resulted in the appointment of a new administrator.
For other targets, the department could not produce supporting documents to substantiate its reported performance.
One performance indicator still contained a material misstatement because the department could not provide the necessary evidence.
The Auditor-General warned that the absence of supporting evidence undermined accountability and transparency.
“The lack of supporting evidence on performance reporting results in the inability of oversight bodies and stakeholders to assess actual performance, resulting in reduced accountability and transparency,” the office said.
The problem was not confined to performance reporting. The Auditor-General also raised concerns about prolonged delays in the department’s infrastructure projects, warning that they exposed projects to cost escalation, vandalism, theft and the risk of facilities remaining incomplete.
There was also a risk that infrastructure funding could be diverted to cover operational costs, leaving even less money available for construction.
The office recommended stronger project monitoring and closer cooperation with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.
The department’s financial management also came under scrutiny. It failed to pay some creditors within the 30-day period required by the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).
The Auditor-General further identified delays in transferring funds to beneficiaries and concerns about whether the department adequately monitored the money it distributed.
These weaknesses raise questions about the department’s ability to ensure that public money reaches its intended beneficiaries and delivers the promised results.
Its information technology controls were also deficient. The department’s asset management system had an inadequately designed disaster recovery plan. The Auditor-General found no evidence that backups were stored offsite and tested.
Without reliable backup and recovery arrangements, the department risks losing access to critical data or being unable to restore its systems following a disruption.
The findings paint a picture of an institution struggling not only to deliver on its commitments but also to demonstrate, through adequate records, what it has achieved with public funds.
Yet the department’s political and administrative leadership did not appear before the committee to answer questions about the findings.
Committee chairperson Makhi Feni adjourned Tuesday’s meeting after Deputy Minister Peace Mabe failed to join. Minister Gayton McKenzie and Director-General Cynthia Khumalo were also absent.
Feni had insisted that political accountability was essential when Parliament examined the department’s financial performance. The meeting ended before the department and the National Arts Council could deliver their presentations.
