director's message

For the South African National Gallery (Sang) it was the 11th hour. By 18 January we had not heard a word about the Flagship or about our budget allocation for the 1999/2000 financial year. On that morning I phoned in to a radio programme which featured Roger Jardine, Wally Serote and Robert Greig and enquired about the allocation. Mr Jardine undertook to provide the information straight away, which indeed he did. We were shocked and dismayed at what we read: there was not a word about the Flagship; our subsidy would remain the same, except for improvement of conditions of service; we were informed that Dacst was committed to funding a wider spectrum of arts, culture and heritage needs and that, if we could not fit expenditure to meet the allocation, we were to reduce activities and retrench staff. Readers will remember that we were only able to keep the doors of the Sang open during the current financial year because we had reserves, which run out on 31 March. The new allocation of R4 252 000,00 covers our salary bill because we have kept posts vacant, and leaves us with R101 157,00 with which to run the institution. The Sang Council had decided not to retrench staff, as we are already understaffed and it made no sense prior to the restructuring. Besides, we would have to retrench numerous people across the board to simply cover running costs, leaving too few staff to fulfil line and support functions. And with what would we pay the retrenchments? The irony is that Dacst continues to employ staff while the institutions it is meant to serve are crumbling - there are now 500 people in the Department, while 280 are employed by the future flagship institutions in the Western Cape.

The instruction to cut down on activities was equally negative, counterproductive and futile, as every single museological, research and educational activity is already funded by money raised, and not from our subsidy. With these proposals for making our expenditure fit the allocation, Dacst was effectively putting us in a position where we could neither run the institution nor give expression to our vision and mission. In fact, it seemed that we were expected to write ourselves out of history. At the Sang we have always and fully understood that a wider spectrum of arts, culture and heritage needs have to be funded. In fact, we have been at the forefront of allocating our own resources to bring about transformation and equity. We know that there is a new order of priorities and new legacy projects; we know that we have to make sacrifices, but we do not expect to be sacrificed in the process. New projects are initiated by Dacst, but our opinions are not solicited, our expertise is not utilised.

The report from the Auditor-General for the year ended 31 March 1998 had stated the following: "Due to a cut in funding from the Government each year, the Gallery is eroding its reserves in order to fund its operations. The Gallery is relying on the founding of the flagship of museums to provide future financial stability, although its formation is still uncertain." There had been no communication from Dacst about the Flagship, yet our very future depended on its creation. Now we were treated as a separate entity. I called a meeting of the Executive Committee of Council and we decided, with the knowledge and support of the staff, to write to the Director-General, the Minister, the Portfolio Committee, the State President and Deputy President, thereby bringing to the attention of government the current situation and the implications for the national art museum. Receipt was acknowledged by the Office of the President and the Minister. But things started moving. A meeting of Directors and Staff Representatives of the Western Cape institutions was called on 17 February and we were told that the Flagships will indeed sail into the sunrise on 1 April. Dr Rob Adam, Deputy Director-General for Science and Technology at Dacst, has been put in charge of the process and the new Council will meet on 25 March.

Dacst and the Ministry have come in for a great deal of criticism for being inefficient, inexperienced and over-ambitious, for launching new projects and new legislation without considering the financial implications and for turning their backs on existing responsibilities. Last year the situation was exacerbated by political infighting and struggles for power. In an article in The Sunday Independent, 3 January 1999, Mike van Graan analysed the high-level disputes which were having crippling effects on arts, culture and heritage, and asked the question - which government is also asking - "does SA need an arts and culture department?" Dacst appears to be fighting back and at the time of writing there is a concerted public relations drive to change opinion, or at least to find scapegoats for the neglect of established institutions.

Press releases have gone out indicating the increase in funding for arts and culture and heritage, but critical facts are ignored, e.g. that the budget of the Department has grown by nearly 150% since 1994, from an initial allocation of R329,174 million to the current R804,409 million, while the core funding of the national museums has remained the same. In his budget speech, delivered on 4 March, Dr Ngubane blamed the way in which these museums are managed for the problems we are experiencing. Such a sweeping generalisation causes anger and despair in those who have kept Sang functioning and vibrant in the face of grossly inadequate funding and pitiful salaries. In the current financial year we had only two audit queries from the Auditor General, which would normally point to excellent management, let alone utilisation of resources. Our output, which is vast in relation to input, has never been measured by Dacst. There are many questions around the allocation of funds by Dacst, both for arts and culture and science and technology, but an assessment must wait for another time. Suffice it to say here that Dacst is still funding projects and organisations that are meant to apply to the National Arts Council (NAC), and more than R3 million is allocated for promoting South African arts internationally while we remain absent from the major international biennials.

The World Presidents Organisation held a dinner at the Sang; the money raised in this way made it possible for us to acquire two works: Frontline Three with Centurion Models (1997) by Sandile Zulu and Mounds: scratched, poked, imped (1995) by Jeremy Wafer. In the previous bonani I detailed the results of the Save the Sang fund-raising drive which was spearheaded by Zonnebloem Wines. Since December we have received R30 000,00 from Rose Korber and R4 000,00 from Ben and Shirley Rabinowitz, bringing the total to R81 500,00. So far this money has enabled the Sang to install contemporary South African art from the permanent collection, to maintain journal subscriptions and buy books, to contribute to the acquisition of the work by Sandile Zulu mentioned above, education projects and to publish two recent issues of bonani. We are grateful for the generous support we received from Sappi Waste Paper during 1997 and 1998. For the moment, this partnership has come to an end, but we hope to review and renew it in the near future. Bonani will continue until such time that the Flagship has its own newsletter.

The Sang Council held its last meeting on 24 February and I would like to take this opportunity of thanking the Chairperson, Karin Skawran, and members Ð some of whom served for nine years - for their hard work, commitment and support. Our meetings were conducted in a spirit of openness and honesty, where differences of opinion and vision could be expressed, debated and resolved. It was a privilege for me to have been part of the dramatic changes and to have worked with so many creative, dedicated people. We instituted staff representation on Council some years ago, and I would also like to express my gratitude to Joe Dolby, Moegshien Jabaar, Kim Siebert and Jasmine Young for their special contributions. We wish those who go forward to the Flagship Council strength and wisdom for the course ahead.

Marilyn Martin

David Goldblatt,
Interior of a beehive dwelling: the home of Mildred Nene (detail), 1989