|
|
Joel
Netshitenzhe
Briefing to Portfolio Committee on Communications
8 May 2001
GCIS budget vote: Summary of Annual Report and programme
I. Introduction
- Once again our thanks to the Portfolio
Committee on Communication for affording us this opportunity to
present our annual report and programme. As is customary, we will
present a broad sweep of activities over the past year and plans
for the current financial year.
- We do welcome the fact that we have
interacted with the Portfolio Committee on a number of occasions
in the past year on major new initiatives of the GCIS, particularly
the IMC and the MDDA. As such, we are able to benefit on an on-going
basis from your wise counsel.
II. Communication environment
- The President's announcement of
a practical and strategic Programme of Action for 2001 with a
call for unity in action for change has created a communications
environment with new opportunities and challenges. The speech
however came against a background that was not optimal.
- The national mood at the turn of
the year, as indicated in research, combined positive long-term
trends with short-term negatives. Widespread appreciation of the
gains of, and progress in, our democracy were combined with a
diminished sense of government's performance.
- This was impacted upon, we believe,
among others by discourse in the media, which tended to be more
narrowly negative and strongly weighted towards an oppositional
perspective. In many instances, reports and analyses proceeded
from the premise of negative assumptions in which mindset rather
than judgement based on fact was often dominant. This tended to
remove the basis for rational debate.
- However, the response to the President's
State of the Nation Address indicates a decisive shift towards
discussion of the critical matters in the government's programme
of action. Greater interaction by the political principals with
the public and the meeting with SANEF have laid the basis for
this trend to be consolidated.
- Therefore, possibilities exist for
a steady, slow and painstaking corrective process to ensure that
South Africans dialogue around the basic issues that face the
nation. However, we should not expect that such interaction would
resolve the fundamental disagreements with those who oppose social
transformation; nor change the mindsets of media that are bent
on a single-issue anti-Mbeki and anti-government crusade.
- What is critical is that government
should continually improve its communication capacity; and creatively
use all available opportunities to interact in an unmediated manner
with the public. At the same time, any progress on the part of
the media to take heed of the findings of the HRC on Racism in
the Media, to improve professionalism and ensure focus on the
critical issues of transformation, will help lay the basis for
a truly informed public which takes active part in changing its
life for the better.
III. Centrality of development communication
- An important element of the Communication
Strategy for the year is interaction between the Executive and
the public at large - to ensure that the principle and practice
of participatory governance, in the form of Imbizo, among others,
finds greater expression in the programme of governance.
- Progress is being made in this
regard, shown for instance in the launch of the Taxi - Be Legal
Campaign by the Minister of Transport; the participation of the
Minister of Housing at a stand of the Department in the Rand Easter
Show; the interactions in the launch of water projects; and the
celebration of the Budget Vote of the Department of Social Development
with the elderly.
- Some two weeks ago, the President
spent three days in the Northern Province, and the intention is
that he would visit two other provinces this year. In that visit
he interacted directly with tens of thousands in direct question-and-answer
sessions, inspection of successful and unsuccessful projects,
meetings with leaders of various provincial sectors, as well as
a provincial radio/TV talk-show through which he reached over
1.5-million people. From this experience we are drawing lessons
that would stand us in good stead in the future.
- Development communication is also
underpinned by the progress we are making in setting up Multi-purpose
Community Centres. Thus far, 10 such centres have been launched
in various provinces. Critically, improvements have been registered
in terms of seniority of participants in the national steering
committee and consequently the flow of information to DGs in relevant
departments. The Governance and Administration Cluster has adopted
the MPCC project as a critical part of the Shared Service Delivery
Programme of government.
- A comprehensive review process was
undertaken last year, and many logistical problems have been ironed
out. The broad time frame is to have 60 MPCCs in all districts
of the country in 2003. The review process also took into account
the observations made by the Parliamentary Committee last year
on the question of sustainability of these centres.
- Overall, such sustainability of
MPCCs will be ensured through the commitment of Provincial and
Local Government structures to provide management services to
the centres, active involvement of departments in maintaining
their offices and paying for services, some income-generating
activity, and the participation of the Department of Public Works
at various levels.
- Development communication also finds
expression in the increasing availability of Ministers and other
members of the Executive to take part in radio programmes in languages
other than English, as well as creative mechanisms of dissemination
of government media products.
- In the instance of the President's
State of the Nation Address, live link-ups were arranged also
with community radio; African language public broadcast radio
stations were able to translate the speech as it was being delivered,
and Ministers availed themselves to these stations on the same
day and during their briefings; millions of booklets and leaflets
were produced in various languages for distribution through various
channels, including MPCCs and at Imbizo events.
IV. Media Development and Diversity
Agency
- The process towards the establishment
of the Media Development and Diversity Agency is continuing. The
MDDA, as we underlined during the presentation to the Committee
a few weeks ago, is a critical element in the efforts to change
South Africa's media environment and ensure that development communication
- communication for development - becomes a reality, especially
for poor and marginalized communities. As such, South Africans
as a whole will have the opportunity in broad terms to become
not mere consumers but also generators of news and analyses about
their own lives.
- The MDDA draft Position Paper was
adopted by Cabinet and is now the subject of intense discussion
and negotiation among various stake-holders. The Committee has
fully been briefed on the positions adopted by various interest
groups on the matter. The discussions that have followed the submission
of formal responses have shown that the initial responses generated
more heat than light. This was in part due to misperceptions about
the actual intentions of the initiative and a misreading of some
of the formulations.
- GCIS has recently interacted with
the Print Media Association (PMSA) and we are steadily edging
towards consensus on the critical areas. Among others, there is
an acceptance of the broad mandate of the MDDA, the principle
that there would have to be some contribution from the commercial
media sector as well as matters of the independence of the Board
and the infrastructure that the MDDA would require to fulfil its
mandate. A Memorandum of Understanding will be negotiated in due
course.
- Further consultations are planned
with other stakeholders. And, within government, discussions have
been held with the Department of Communications to examine the
detail of the sources of funding from the fiscus. In the overall
our assessment is that all these discussions should be completed
within a few weeks. This would then be followed by the introduction
of relevant amendments to the draft Position Paper and, hopefully,
relevant legislation will be submitted to the Committee before
the end of this year.
V. International Marketing Council
- In the mandate of GCIS as well as
the programme of government as a whole, a high premium is placed
on international communication for the benefit of the country.
In this regard, government proceeds from the premise that this
should be a joint effort by all South Africans. Underpinning such
communication are such attributes as the consolidation of our
democracy, the positive macro-economic environment, progress in
the efforts to address the multitude of socio-economic challenges
as well as the country's natural and historical endowments.
- We had occasion to brief the Committee
on the formation of the IMC and the enthusiastic participation
of members of the private sector in its work. Since then, the
IMC has had its lekgotla to examine the business plan in detail.
And it is a measure of their commitment to this work that senior
executives from some of the country's biggest companies and members
of Cabinet spent one and a half days examining these challenges.
- At this retreat, a number of content-related
and operational decisions were taken; and these will be ratified
at the next full IMC meeting this month. These include such matters
as the appointment of a Chair from the private sector and the
setting up of an Executive Committee. Consultations are continuing
on the best legal form that the IMC as a structure should adopt
for it to fulfil its mandate.
- Although the "niched"
intervention of the IMC campaign in international markets will
start later in the year, GCIS and members of the IMC have been
taking active part in the conceptualisation and execution of some
of the major campaigns now under way, including the Celebrate
South Africa initiative in the UK. In line with the IMC mandate,
these interventions are meant to ensure that such campaigns take
into account the over-arching message about South Africa and its
attributes.
- It is acknowledged across the board
that success in foreign shores is a function of progress we make
within the country to promote pride among South Africans in their
own country and, critically, the conviction to express this. Steadily,
it is dawning on more and more South Africans that what we do
and say to other nationals and among ourselves has a profound
impact on how we are viewed as a possible investment and tourist
destination. Most encouraging in the recent period is the multitude
of initiatives as well as offers from individuals and corporate
entities to contribute to this exciting initiative. This includes
the MNet advert competition and Nedlac's "Proudly South African"
campaign.
VI. Integration of government communication
- Most of the issues referred to above
are some of the instances that underline the integrative role
of GCIS in government communication. It is in recognition of the
need to strengthen this role, that Cabinet last year adopted various
proposals on how to ensure the effectiveness of GCIS in supervising
the work of all communicators at national government level. This
includes a contribution by GCIS in the evaluation of the performance
of Heads of Communication in all Ministries/Departments. And there
is continuing reflection within government on the concept of "System",
so as to improve government communication.
- Regular consultations through communicators'
clusters, pre-Cabinet meetings and the Government Communications
Forum (which brings together national and provincial communicators)
continue. As a result of training and peer interactions, there
is a perceptible improvement in communication planning and execution.
Systems have also been put in place to ensure strategic pro-active
interventions and improve rapid response capacity.
- GCIS has also played a central role
in the conceptualisation of communication approaches with regard
to major government campaigns. This includes the HRC Conference
on Racism as well as preparations for the UN Conference to take
place later this year. Approaches of government to issues such
as the campaign against HIV/AIDS, Imbizo, anti-corruption initiatives
and the Coat of Arms and Corporate Identity also form part of
the core projects of GCIS.
VII. Corporate issues
- GCIS continues the process of renewal
as it grows into a fully-fledged establishment. Such continued
revitalisation includes the consolidation of the project team
approach, improvement in our professionalism in rendering bulk-buying
and other services to other departments, marketing of GCIS among
the core clients, creativity in conceptualisation and designing
of products and the critical question of distribution. An important
part of continuing renewal is the application of IT as an instrument
of communication.
- Over the past year, GCIS has seen
an improvement in labour relations, with the active participation
of union representatives in strategic planning and other activities.
An HRD plan, including employment equity, in line with the requirement
of legislation - and as a matter of conviction on the part of
management - has been developed and is being implemented. GCIS
however faces the challenge of retaining particularly skilled
staff: once spotted by other departments in the course of work,
a number of staff members are recruited into more senior positions
in other departments.
- Much progress has been made to ensure
that the demographics of GCIS correspond with the societal reality.
At all levels of the organisation, there is overall improvement;
and the organisation is far ahead of the targets that have been
set for government departments. The organisation still faces the
challenge of improving the presence of people with disability,
especially at management level.
VIII. Budget and finance management
- There has also been a marked improvement
in the management of finances. Virtually all the requirements
of the PFMA have been instituted; and the audit function is improving
its interventions to ensure prevention of malpractices.
- With regard to the budget, GCIS
has struggled over the past three years as government establishes
the baseline suited to the new structure with a new mandate. Over
the 1999/2000 and 2000/01financial years, we experienced over-expenditure.
As acknowledged by National Treasury, this is in the main due
to the fact that allocations were made without a history from
which to determine actual core requirements of a functional government
communications service. This has somewhat stabilised with further
increased allocations this year (from R64m to R70m), as well as
an additional R50m for international marketing.
Joel Netshitenzhe, CEO: GCIS
top
|
|
