Minister
Essop Pahad
Address:
Budget vote of the GCIS
8 June 2000
Madame Speaker;
Honourable members.
Our march to a better life requires
that each and every South African should put shoulders to the wheel
– all of us as partners in transforming ours into a society
that cares. We must know our rights and exercise them, in the same
measure as we take on our collective responsibility to build South
Africa into a nation of our dreams.
A fundamental prerequisite for this
is that South Africans – rich and poor, black and white –
should be able to access information necessary for them to live
their lives to the full in an increasingly complex world. From the
boardrooms to the coalface of production, from the leafy suburbs
to the dusty roads of ghettoes and villages, from the greenery under
irrigation to the bare earth washed raw by years of soil erosion,
we all need information that we can use.
Such is the task of communication in
general and government communication in particular.
We therefore celebrate this third Budget
Vote of the Government Communication and Information System, keenly
aware of the immense challenges facing us. We know that we cannot
as yet claim that information is a right fully exercised.
But we dare celebrate because the difficult
journey has started. As we review the past year, and set out tasks
for the coming one, we can say with confidence that, steadily but
surely, more and more members of the public are being drawn into
the information cycle; more and more people are gaining direct access
to information they deserve; more and more South Africans are gaining
an understanding of the social dynamics in the country.
What gives us this confidence, and
what is the environment in which we have to conduct our work?
Research carried out by GCIS on behalf
of Cabinet, as well as other surveys, during the 1999/2000 financial
year consistently point to a broadly optimistic outlook among South
Africans. There is greater appreciation of the government’s
policies and activities, and a markedly positive view of the general
political situation in the country.
Included in the key feedback of such
research is the deeply rooted conviction among the majority that
government can only succeed if it works in partnership with the
people.
Partnership for development has also
been the principle guiding the programmes of Government Communications.
We fully appreciate that we are one among the thousands of purveyors
of information on social developments in our country. As such, we
take particular interest in the quality of mediums of discourse.
The hearings of the Human Rights Commission
on racism in the media represented a critical element of the self-examination
that all such mediums require. Let me restate that while we viewed
the decision of the HRC to conduct these hearings as necessary and
correct, we fully respected their independence. Thus, as government,
we called for the HRC and the media to reach consensus on the modalities
of the hearings – an outcome that was attained in spite of
the thousand voices of condemnation.
It is heartening that the introspection
generated by these hearings has given a spur to the efforts of the
South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) and other media
organisations to deal with this matter of racism as part of the
process of transforming our media and improving the quality, integrity
and credibility of the profession. It is our hope that the final
report of the HRC will set in motion processes that should, in the
final analysis, give South Africa the media it deserves.
Needless to say, such is our partnership
with the media that none of us can succeed without the other. Thus
GCIS has taken it upon itself to continually improve the service
it renders to the media. In our co-ordination of government media
liaison work, we have striven to ensure that Ministers and officials
are available to assist with information required and to avail themselves
for briefings and interviews. Gradually, what had in the past been
a litany of complaints is becoming an exception rather than the
norm.
In addition to regular press breakfasts
and other ministerial briefings, we are upgrading our news service
to community media into an on-line government service. With the
installation of video conferencing facilities, the space and time
between the two capitals has become that much smaller, and the lives
of journalists that much easier. Besides the general improvement
in the government’s website, we are also proud of the innovations
that have been introduced, including live video and text transmissions
of major activities, involving particularly the President.
But, Honourable Members, it is a matter
of course that improving on what exists, in terms of mediums of
communication, cannot address the massive information needs of all
of society. Clearly, communities require the means not only to receive
information; but also the right to impart their own news and views.
It is in this context that we have
intensified the efforts towards the establishment of a Media Development
and Diversity Agency. Despite some changes with regard to media
ownership, the voices, particularly print media, remain in a few
hands. Despite greater black and female participation in decision-making,
the country’s media still do not adequately cater for the multiplicity
of information needs within our vast country. The emergence of community
voices in radio needs to be sustained and spread more widely, including
into print.
The initiative towards the MDDA, headed
by an inter-departmental Steering Committee, has gathered momentum,
with widespread consultations involving key stakeholders –
media owners, community media representatives, NGO’s, editors,
the advertising industry and regulatory bodies, among others.
Among the areas of consensus which
have been identified, and which are contained in the Position Paper,
soon to be released for public comment, are:
- firstly, the setting up of the MDDA
is in the interest of our democracy and existing media, and such
a body should have an arms-length relationship with government
as well as public and private media houses;
- secondly, government, the private
media sector and international donors should mobilise resources
to contribute to media diversity and this should include funds,
training, print and distribution facilities;
- thirdly, the MDDA should be a body
with the necessary authority, and it should have a small structure
with the best systems of corporate governance;
- fourthly, its operations should
be transparent, and it should provide assistance on the basis
of broad criteria set out in policy; and
- lastly, the MDDA should not interfere
in matters of media content.
GCIS is finalising research into detailed
funding possibilities; and again in this area, some common ground
has been found, including that we would avoid compulsory levies,
given a commitment on the part of the private sector to contribute;
that all other funds in government dealing with media development
would be amalgamated into the MDDA process; that a hierarchy of
forms of assistance should be devised, including part-subsidies,
grants and soft loans; and that the ratio of administrative expenditure
to disbursements should not exceed 20 to 80.
We intend to complete this process
in the 2001/2002 financial year, so at last, South Africa can take
yet another giant step towards true freedom of expression –
the right to information and the possibility for millions to be
heard.
However, Madame Speaker, ensuring that
the people have access to information is not a matter merely of
freedom of expression. It is also about good governance. After all,
government is about the regulation of social activity by elected
representatives in partnership with the people themselves.
It is in this context that GCIS is
at the head of a major initiative to bring government closer to
the people, in the form of Multi-Purpose Community Centres or One-Stop
Government Centres. Working with virtually all the departments and
a number of parastatals, a national co-ordinating structure has
been established and 3 MPCC’s have been launched.
By the end of the 2001/2002 financial
year, each district of the country should have one such centre,
providing government services such as information, welfare, home
affairs, small business advice, and health services. In such a centre,
public information terminals as well as computers, telephones and
faxes in a tele-centre would also be provided, including in the
most remote areas of the country. Indeed, through this effort, we
shall not only be able to consolidate community life, but also ensure
that the latest technology is employed to fight poverty and ensure
access to information and resources. If anything, the enthusiasm
of communities where such launches have taken place, is itself confirmation
that we are on the right course.
But major undertakings of this nature
bring with them major challenges. These include training, ensuring
that departments operate in an integrated manner, commitment from
departments to provide efficient services as well as sustainability
and maintenance. We are addressing these issues, and we urge that
Honourable Members take it upon themselves to assist with the monitoring
of these centres.
We are confident that, through co-operation
among the three spheres of government, which has characterised the
centres so far launched; through the re-allocation of staff and
equipment by the departments; through partnership with the private
sector, organised into the Private Sector Consortium – and
with whom we will be holding a special workshop in July – through
all these efforts, we shall be able to achieve both the quantity
and the quality of services envisaged.
This programme, and our growing partnership
with African language and community radio will improve the contact
between government and those citizens otherwise by-passed in the
normal course of public discourse. This is what we mean by development
information: information for development.
But we are also intensely aware that
bettering the lives of the poor requires a partnership between our
country and the international community of investors, sports-persons,
traders, cultural workers, tourists and others.
It is therefore a matter of critical
importance that we join hands as South Africans to promote our country
abroad. After the decision of Cabinet on this matter, a Project
Manager has been appointed, who is bringing together line functions
such as Foreign Affairs, Trade and Industry, Finance, Home Affairs,
Tourism and Sport, as well as SATOUR and Investment South Africa
in a major integrated drive to develop and promote Brand South Africa.
This Project Team will work under an
International Marketing Council chaired by the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, which, in addition to government bodies, will include advisors
from the private sector. The Minister will soon be announcing members
of the Council who will help build a strong country partnership
blending creativity, experience, vision and drive, to position our
country where it belongs – as a prime tourist and investment
destination, as a trading partner, and as a co-worker with others
in building a better world.
I am certain that, in its work, the
International Marketing Council will interact with Honourable Members,
to ensure that we join hands as ambassadors of a country that possesses
the ingredients to succeed; as communicators who portray the country
as it is, rather than what it should not be. I suppose we all agree
that the recent visits of our President to Europe and the Americas,
again confirm South Africa’s standing in world affairs. The
challenge is how we work together to build on these achievements.
This is a challenge about our self-esteem
as a people. It is about our national identity; it is about our
pride as South Africans. In this regard, the concrete achievements
that we make together within South Africa play a critical role.
Yet we cannot underestimate the function of national symbols.
It is therefore a matter of great pride
that GCIS was intimately involved in the development of the Coat
of Arms in partnership with other departments and Design South Africa.
Out of this process emerged a crest that is emerging, along with
our national flag, as a symbol of national unity. I trust that in
the not too distant future these halls, our streets, factories,
schools and homes will resound to the sound of !ke e: /xarra //ke
– unity in diversity!
For government, the Coat of Arms is
more than just about symbolism. Together with the Department of
Public Service and Administration, GCIS has started the process
of ensuring that the introduction of the new Coat of Arms goes hand-in-hand
with the regeneration of the spirit and practice of Batho Pele –
putting people first.
Madame Speaker;
Members will have realised that most
of the projects we have referred to, involve more than just GCIS,
but a host of departments in joint effort. The Coat of Arms, international
marketing, Multi-Purpose Centres and others place GCIS at the coalface
of the re-engineering of government for integrated planning and
implementation. The same applies to major transversal campaigns
such as those around HIV/AIDS, Voter Education, Y2K Awareness and
the Arms and Investment Procurement Package.
One of the critical ways in which GCIS
provides leadership and ensures integrated governance is through
the formulation of government’s communication strategy. The
clusters of departmental communicators and individual departments
are then meant to develop subsidiary strategies using the national
strategy as the framework.
This process, introduced only last
year, has obviously not gone smoothly. To start with, government
as a whole is grappling with the theory and praxis of integrated
governance. Other problems faced include the capacity of individual
departmental communicators; resources allocated to communications
and access of some communicators to management planning processes.
The majority of departments have restructured
in line with Comtask recommendations and prepared their own strategies;
and training continues to improve quality of output. We are confident
that working with Directors-General and Ministers we will ensure
that communication receives the attention it deserves in the interest
of good governance.
GCIS is also working with provincial
communicators regarding training and development of communication
strategies. And progress has been made in setting up a national
training infrastructure for communicators. This includes the establishment
of a standards-generating body, a quality assurance body, a database
of service providers, a national skills audit and the running of
courses.
At the same time, GCIS is improving
on its track record of rendering excellent design, print and audio-visual
production services. The bulk-buying approach has, in some instances,
resulted in as much as a 30% discount on TV advertising and 10%
on print.
In order to play the role expected
of it, GCIS itself has had to go through intense transformation.
Primary in this is the project management approach, which affords
GCIS the capacity to provide integrated multi-media services to
our clients. About 20% of staff have been trained in the project
management approach. And in almost all respects, the GCIS has broadly
achieved levels of representation reflective of the demographics
of the country.
We have also built mutually-beneficial
relations with our counter-parts in SADC, India, the UK and in the
new Pan-African News Agency initiative.
Honourable Members;
These then are some of the activities
of the Government Communication and Information System. What we
present to you in commending this budget is certainly not brick
and mortar; but it is about the spiritual sustenance without which
reconstruction and development will be a wish beyond the horizon.
Ours is a slow and painstaking task
of contributing to the building of a nation inspired by the civic
duty to become active participants in social change, and moved by
the passion to see South Africa succeed. And we know too well that
information is one of the critical weapons in the fight against
poverty. For millions of people, especially in the far-flung villages
of our country, information on health matters, bursaries and welfare
grants – to quote but a few examples – is literally a
matter of life and death; the dividing line between opportunity
and a wretched existence, between haplessness and hope.
If through its efforts, GCIS has made
the slightest contribution to this endeavour, we will be assured
that we have played our part.
For this, I wish to thank the Secretariat
of GCIS and the rest of the staff for their commitment to the profession,
in the service of the people. I also wish to thank the Portfolio
Committee, whose advice and critical scrutiny have spurred us on
towards the excellence for which we aspire.
Thank You.
Minister
in The Presidency, Dr Essop Pahad
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