GCIS & MDDA 2013/14 3rd Quarter Performance & Strategic Plan; Discussion on putting SABC Board on the agenda

Meeting report

The Chairperson requested that the meeting commence with consideration of the minutes of previous meetings of the Committee. A discussion ensued regarding the agenda of the meeting and whether an update on the resignations of SABC board members should be entertained.

Discussion on Meeting Agenda and insertion of SABC Board agenda item
Ms J Kilian (COPE) suggested that for the sake of ensuring a quorum it was better to consider and adopt minutes of the Committee’s previous meetings before going into discussion with the entities present as some members had indicated that they wanted to leave before the conclusion of the meeting, to catch their flights back home.

Ms M Shinn (DA) suggested that the Committee hear from the entities first before considering the minutes.

Ms Kilian reiterated that she had motivated why it was important the Committee considered the minutes before going into the presentation; besides, from the agenda of the meeting, it was first on the order.

Mr G Schneemann (ANC) suggested that the presentations be considered first and the minutes be postponed to the next meeting of the Committee.

The Chairperson said that it was best to move the consideration of the minutes to the next meeting of the Committee.

Ms Kilian was agreeable to the suggestion by Mr Schneemann and the Chairperson; however, it was advisable that corrections be made to the minutes by members present at the end of the meeting and then adoption left till the next meeting of the Committee.

Ms L van der Merwe (IFP) aligned with the suggestion by Ms Shinn and further suggested that the minutes be considered within the first thirty minutes of the next meeting.

Ms Kilian stated that she conceded to considering the minutes at the next meeting of the Committee as long as the Committee was briefed on the developments of the resignations of the South African Broadcasting Company (SABC) board.

Ms R Lesoma (ANC) vehemently objected to Ms Kilian’s last comment. The minutes and the SABC meetings were two separate issues and should be raised independently. It was inappropriate to use the briefing on the SABC as a rider to conceding that consideration of the minutes be postponed.

Ms R Morutoa (ANC) stated that she seconded the proposal to consider and correct the minutes after the presentation by the entities present.

The Chairperson suggested that the Committee defer the adoption of the minutes to the next meeting of the Committee and start that meeting thirty minutes earlier to effect the necessary corrections. With regard to the SABC issue, the meeting would drag on if the Committee considered the issue. All members of the Committee were concerned about the “going-ons at the SABC”.

Ms Kilian requested that her objection against non-consideration of the SABC issue be recorded. It was pertinent the Committee had feedback on the situation; there was a general perception in the public that the Committee was not effectively performing its duties with regard to the issue.

Ms Lesoma reiterated that the issue of the minutes had nothing to do with the “ongoings” at the SABC. The agenda before the Committee had no provision for consideration of the SABC issue. Did Ms Kilian intend to amend the agenda? It was inappropriate to accuse the Minister of not effectively carrying out his duties.

Ms Kilian strongly objected and stated that at no time had she accused the Minister - she had only stated that public perception about the way the Committee was addressing the issue.

Ms S Tsebe (ANC) remarked that Ms Kilian was out of order and it was inappropriate to have to adjust the agenda to accommodate issues that were not originally placed on the agenda. All Members were equally concerned about the SABC saga, why further complicate the issue with instigative comments if there was no political agenda to it.

Ms Shinn commented that the time spent discussing the issue could have been put to better use and a briefing delivered on the situation at SABC. Precedent existed where the Committee had briefly discussed and addressed matters of urgency - the SABC fell under this category. As an oversight body of the SABC, the Committee needed a brief update on the issue and Ms Kilian was not out of order to request this.

The Chairperson noted that it would have been a different matter if the issue of the minutes had initially been sorted and then the SABC issue highlighted separately. The point of irritation for Members was inserting a rider to accepting deference of minutes. It was important that members raised issues separately. With regard to an update concerning the SABC, it was necessary the Committee had time for further interaction with the Board. However, the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the Board had resigned - this posed a challenge to convening Board meetings and in turn for the Committee to summon the Board to appear before it. It had been previously agreed that the Minister met with the Chairperson of the Board to discuss the challenges but before the meeting could be arranged, the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson resigned. The President had to consider the resignations and either reject the resignations or accept them and appoint an Acting Chairperson before the Committee could take any further steps; as it was, the Committee had no legal stand on which to summon the board to appear before it.

Ms Kilian thanked the Chairperson for the update.

GCIS on its Third Quarter Performance Report
Ms Phulma Williams, Acting CEO GCIS, commenced the presentation with an introduction of the delegation from the GCIS. She informed the Committee that the presentation was also available in Braille and audio versions. In general, the GCIS had successfully achieved 80 of the 94 targets it had set out for itself for the third quarter of 2012/13; 4% of the targets had been partially achieved, i.e. over 50% of the target had been met and 2% of the targets were not achieved. She handed over to Programme Directors to discuss in brief, the programmes performances for the third quarter.

Mr Keitu Semanke, Acting Deputy CEO, discussed the targets under Programme One: Administration, which had the strategic objective to build people, products, processes and a reliable knowledge base to ensure an effective government communication system. 86% of the programmes target had been achieved (see document). Progress on the construction work of the new head office was delayed as a result of rain in the 3^rd quarter. The contractor however confirmed and committed that the building would be completed as planned by 30 April 2013. Production and distribution of copies of the ‘Government Communicators’ Handbook’ was delayed due to the slow submission of inputs from the different chief directorates. The revamped ward information management system review was delayed. No projectising was done for the Corporate Services branch for the period under review due to increased external client requests for project coordination which was prioritised.

Mr Seale Tyrone, Acting Deputy CEO, discussed the progress of Programme Two: Communication and Content Management, which had a strategic objective to build people, products, processes and a reliable knowledge base to ensure an effective government communication system. In the year under review, the implementation of its knowledge management strategy and procedures had only been partially achieved. Only two rather than the targeted three Newsletters for political principals and government communicators were published. The Annual Report on government communicators was delayed - the delay was caused by the decision taken to outsource the writing of the chapters of the book because of a high staff turnover in the unit. The programme had exceeded its target in the production of its press clippings due to an increased demand for media monitoring product and services. Its targets on electronic newsletters were only partially achieved - two rather than three had been published for the quarter.

Ms Nebo Legoabe, Deputy CEO, anchored the presentation on the performance of Programme 3: Government and Stakeholder Engagement, which had the strategic objective to maintain and strengthen a well-functioning communication system that actively informed and engaged the public. The programme partially achieved its target to produce 170 quarterly reports on the implementation of its marketing and communication plans. The programme partially achieved its target to produce weekend reports for the Management of the GCIS and the Presidency; 10 out of 11 targeted reports were produced due to slow media coverage in December. In future, holiday months would be taken into account to set targets. The programme partially achieved its targets on media briefings - it held five instead of the targeted ten briefings, a total of six media briefings were conducted to further articulate the decisions of Cabinet. These briefings received extensive media coverage on traditional media, social media and community media. Only 66 out of the targeted 72 rapid response reports were achieved, as there were only 18 working days in December 2012.

Mr Donald Liphoko, Chief Director: Advertising and Media Bulk Buying, discussed the performance of Programme Four; Communication Service Agency which had the strategic objective to provide efficient and effective production, media bulk buying and an advertising agency for the government. The programme partially achieved its target to produce 15 radio adverts - only 13 were produced in the quarter under review. The programme had not achieved its digitisation target of 1, 000 hours because the service provider was unable to get the system to work. Training for staff had commenced and contingency plans had been put in place to meet up on targets.

Ms Williams concluded the presentation by stating that corporate governance principles only thrived in situations where public servants understood project management principles and corporate services had to operate within this principle. There was a need to consolidate communications reports from government departmental websites, annual reports and media briefings. The GCIS had not been very successful with regard to the marketing of the Thusong Centres and was in the process of preparing a memo to Cabinet with regard to the administration of the centres. The digitisation project had proved to be a mine field of problems, but finally the GCIS had achieved some success and was working to cover up on the failed target.

GCIS on its Strategic Plan for the Medium-Term Period: 2013/14 - 2016/17
Ms Williams stated that not much had changed with regard to the Strategic Plan except for a scale down on the financial aspects due to budget cuts. Also, there had been a consolidation of some sub programmes and renaming of programmes in a bid to reposition the organisation in the light of its new budget and in a bid to maximise resources. The vision, mission and values of the GCIS had remained as were; it was important to emphasize that communication formed part of service delivery and the GCIS communicated with the citizenry on behalf of the government to empower and update communities on the priorities of the government. The GCIS had not been without its own fair share of challenges - including limited fiscal resources, institutionalisation of government communication, office space constraints and insufficient media bulk buying support - all of which it had tried to meet with appropriate responses. The presentation went further to discuss in detail the Strategic Plan of the GCIS, with each programmes strategic plan anchored by the responsible programme head (see document for details).

Ms Williams drew Members attention to the budget summary per programme for the incoming financial year (see document); Programme 1: Administration, had the highest allocation at slightly over R132 million. Programme 3: Government and Stakeholder Engagement came next with an allocation of over R119 million. Over R47 million was allocated to Programme 4 Communication Service Agency - the reason costs could be managed in this programme was because the GCIS refrained from using outsourced consultancy services and whenever it did so, transfer of skills was a major part of the services to be provided. The only outsourced service of the GCIS was research and this was to ensure independent results were obtained for research.

Discussion on Presentation by the GCIS
Mr A Steyn (DA) remarked that there were lots of discrepancies in the report compiled by the Directorate Strategic Planning, Performance Monitoring and Report (the report) and the presentation by the GCIS. This left room for doubt on the integrity of the GCIS’ presentation.

Ms Phulma Williams, Acting Chairperson GCIS, apologised for the discrepancies and committed to correcting them.

Mr Steyn in reference to the report noted that it had been highlighted that the service provider purchased the system but was unable to get the system working  - this created the possibility of a fruitless/wasteful expenditure scenario. Did the GCIS purchase the system from a service provider who could not make it work?

Ms Williams replied that at the time of taking the decision to digitise archives of tapes, the GCIS had been under the impression that the technology was readily available in South Africa - this turned out not to be the case.  Through a South African company, the GCIS had ordered the conversion technology needed and unfortunately grappled with it upon delivery. Staff had been trained on its use and the process had kick-started, albeit slowly.

Mr Steyn referred to the presentation by the GCIS and the assertion that its online job portal was functional - he noted that the web page was not up to date and no vacancies had been posted on the web page.

Mr Keitu Semanke, Acting Deputy CEO, replied that he would cross check the web page to rectify the issue.

Mr Steyn remarked that there was a difference in completion of construction and finishing of a building project. would the contractor hand over the new office building to the GCIS by end of April, or would the construction just have been completed then? Were there cost implications involved in the delay associated with construction of the new office building?

Ms Williams replied in the affirmative - there were cost implications involved in the delay of the office building. Assurances from the contractor were that the building was to be finished and handed over to the GCIS on 30 April. The GCIS planned to table its request before National Treasury to roll over costs occasioned by the delay to ensure successful completion.

Mr Semanke added that the construction of the building was to be completed by end of March, April was set aside for beneficiation occupation and handover by the Contractor was set for the 1^st of May.

Mr Steyn remarked that the GCIS has indicated in its presentation that it had distributed all copies of the South African Handbook; however, some had been brought along to the venue of the meeting with the Committee - this cast aspersions on the integrity of the GCIS.

Mr Seale Tyrone, Acting Deputy CEO, replied that the Year Book had been distributed to many areas, with public and academic libraries serving as main areas of distribution. A small stock had been left for distribution at events such as the meeting with the Committee.

Mr Steyn noted that it was part of the GCIS’ mandate to assist departments in their communication strategy with the citizenry; however it had been quiet with regard to the Post Office strikes - in this regard it had failed the department.

Ms Williams replied that the GCIS may pick up filters of on-going issues through the media; it was however unable to fully respond until there was communication from the affected department with it. The response of the GCIS was largely dependent on the department. The GCIS tried to keep the citizenry abreast of the issues through its website and at the same time advice departments as much as it could.

Mr Steyn noted that the GCIS had not renamed the programs in the financial aspect of the Strategic Plan presentation.

Ms Williams explained that the National Treasury had indicated that it was unnecessary to reprint Strategic and Annual Reports because of change of name of programs and sub programs.

Mr Steyn asked where the income derived for the sales of Public Sector Manager magazine was directed.

Mr Steyn asked with regard to the media bulk buying if the GCIS recouped costs from Departments on the negotiated adverts.

Ms Williams replied that National Treasury did not allow GCIS access to the funds. The only possible way to access the funds was by presenting to Parliament a case for why GCIS needed the funds and if approved by Parliament, then National Treasury gave access.

Ms van der Merwe remarked with regard to the mandate of the GCIS that it seemed to be blurring the lines and pushing the mandate of a political party - in particular the ANC - rather than the GCIS. The GCIS had excused its lack of quick and timeous response to issues affecting departments, however, when Mr Henk Pistorius had made derogatory remarks  against the ANC in the media, the GCIS was very quick to respond on the issue - was this not the job of the ANC’s Public Relations Officer rather than GCIS?

Ms Kilian echoed the sentiments of Ms van der Merwe and stated that GCIS’ response to issues should not be on behalf of any political party - a change in party was possible and government departments had to remain independent and not be aligned to the policies of only one party.

Mr Schneemann responded that it was the duty of the GCIS to communicate the work of the government and the government in power was an ANC government; Ms Kilian must reckon with this reality.

Mr C Kekana (ANC) added that it was a waste of time to challenge government departments into preparing for a change in government as suggested by Ms Kilian and hence remain unaffected by issues emanating from the ruling party.

Ms Williams responded emphatically that the mandate of the GCIS was to communicate governments’ plans and not that of any political party. The response it had given with regard to Mr Henk Pistorius’ comments was a response to a political issue that had been raised - racism - and the response was on behalf of the government and not the ANC. The fact that crime knew no colour was the underlying message in the GCIS’ response and not an ANC defence.

Ms van der Merwe asked what the functional states of the Thusong Centres were and what possible solutions could be proffered for dilapidating centres. In the same vein, Ms Lesoma noted that the Committee in previous interactions had brought to the attention of the GCIS the issues it had noted with the Thusong Centres on its oversight visits and asked what its plans were to capacitate the centres.

Ms Williams responded that the GCIS realised that serious thought needed to be given to the idea of the Thusong Centres; currently, the infrastructure of the centres resided in one department while the services to be provided in the centres resided in another. This created a whole lot of confusion with regard to the administration of the centres and accountability. The crux of the problem was in the resourcing of the centres and because no conclusions had been reached in this regard, the centres were falling apart. GCIS had commenced the process of engagement with other departments and preparation of a memo to Cabinet on resolving the issues of accountability and resourcing of the centres.

Ms van der Merwe asked what income the GCIS derived from the Public Sector Manager magazine.

Ms Williams responded that the Public Sector Manager magazine was one of the success stories of partnership between private companies and the GCIS.  There had been no funding from National Treasury for the magazine, hence the GCIS had sought to go the partnership route and awarded the tender to a private company who in turn sourced for funding, produced and distributed the magazine. Revenue derived on advertisements in the magazine was shared between the producing company and GCIS - the revenue per publication varied, depending on the number of adverts placed in the issue. Revenue derived from the magazine went straight to National Treasury. In the same vein, savings from the media buying did not accrue to the GCIS. The GCIS only deducted amounts payable to service providers and the rest resided with the Departments.

Ms van der Merwe asked what the GCIS’ role was in communicating digital television to the citizenry.

Ms Z Ndlazi (ANC) noted with concern the number of acting personnel on the management team of the GCIS and asked how effective the retention policy of the GCIS was in terms of recruiting and retaining highly skilled employees.

Ms Williams replied that while the GCIS recognised the need to retain its staff, it had taken the view that it was necessary to emphasize succession and transfer of skills between staff members, to ensure that it retained skill within the organization whether or not certain staff remained.

Mr Semanke added that the GCIS had a very effective retention strategy. Many of the acting personnel in management positions were a direct result of the determination of the former CEO’s contract - interviews for permanent positions were to commence by the next week. The turnaround time for filing most vacant position within the GCIS was two months.

Ms Lesoma noted that the presentation of the GCIS had focused on governments’ relations with the citizenry through radio and print; what efforts were being made in terms of television outreach.

Ms Lesoma requested further information from the GCIS on its vacancies and the timeline that had been set for filling the vacancies.

Ms Kilian asked for clarity on what the GCIS presentation meant by revamping the ward system.

Ms Kilian remarked that the percentage of targets met by the GCIS was impressive. It was however necessary to cross check that these targets had actually been met because self-assessment was indeed difficult. Was the GCIS comfortable with the targets it had set and what could be done to further improve performance?

Ms Kilian remarked that it was impressive that the GCIS had sought creative ways to stretch its budget in the light of the economic down turn and budget cuts in government. With regard to its publications, did the GCIS keep records on its circulation and readership figures? Do the publications reach the intended targets?

Ms Kilian asked what informed the media bulk buying and radio advertisements of the GCIS - audited figures? If not, what percentage of theses advertisements did not reach intended targets?
Ms Williams replied that the procurement policy of the government was taken into consideration to ensure small enterprises were involved in the process. Attempts had been made to ensure not only the big service providers were serviced but also the small and upcoming companies. However, risks on each tender were also taken into cognisance.

Ms Kilian asked what the publication frequency of GCIS’ publications were - one off, monthly, bi monthly? With regard to its ‘Participatory Democracy in Action’ publication, to what extent did the GCIS educate the public on the fact that it was an era of constitutional democracy and on the avenues available to the citizenry to seek redress for their frustrations? How can the GCIS educate the citizenry on alternative mechanisms to address frustrations on service delivery rather than destruction of public property?

Ms Legoabe responded that the theme of participatory democracy was driven by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DOJCD), in conjunction with other departments. The GCIS partnered with the DOJCD on its efforts in educating the public and in this vein developed leaflets on the do’s and don’ts of public protests for the purposes of enlightening the citizenry.

Mr Schneemann asked for clarity on the proposal to maintain vacancy rate of 8% described in the presentation of the GCIS.

Mr Semanke in response stated that there had been a policy directive that all government departments maintained a baseline vacancy rate of 10% hence the GCIS had chosen 8% as its baseline rate. Practice and experience over the years had shown that the GCIS always had a minimum staff complement of 97% throughout the year.

Mr Schneemann noted that the Strategic Plan of the GCIS had indicated the presence of GCIS stand at Post Offices with materials to educate the public - this was inconsistent with the reality observed during oversight visits of the Committee. Many of the stands had been bare - was the lack of informative material a direct result of the reduction in printing?

Mr Schneemann noted with concern that ‘Vuk’uzenzele’ was one of the most successful GCIS publications, yet the Strategic Plan had indicated a plan to cut back on its publication. Was it not a better option to cut back on more bulky publications such as the Year Books and reduce to electronic copies, while increasing the circulation of Vuk’uzenzele? In the same vein, Ms Shinn remarking on the proposed reduction in the production of Vuk’uzenzele stated that there was a discrepancy in the figures in the presentation and the annual report. She asked for clarification on this.

Mr Tyrone clarified that the total projection for years ahead for the production of Vuk’uzenzele was 40 million copies.  The GCIS tapping into research carried out by independent bodies such as the South African Advertising Research Foundation, had recognised the need to balance growth in demand and digital reach. The GCIS was also intent on tapping into the growing literacy levels of the citizenry in the distribution of its publications. The GCIS considered the Year Book as an important research tool, hence its continued production - it was also available on the website.

Mr Schneemann questioned if the GCIS monitored the successful distribution of its braille publications; on an oversight visit of the Committee, cartons of undistributed braille publications were observed at a Post Office.

Mr Tyrone remarked that the GCIS was guided by these observations; this was not the norm but the situation would be properly considered to ensure there were no further incidences of dumping.

Mr Schneemann questioned if the GCIS had considered electronic options for the production and distribution of majority of its publications as a means to reducing costs. The GCIS should consider developing an application for mobile phone users to aid in easy download of its publication by electronic subscribers. This would further help in its mandate of disseminating information.

Mr Tyrone responded that the GCIS was attending to issues highlighted on distribution with a view to improving. It was strengthening its marketing functions to ensure actual reach to targets and this included its relations with the Post Office. There were indications that the demand for home deliveries was still high and the main interest of the GCIS was to ensure that its distribution strategy was as balanced as the content of its publications.

Mr Schneemann referred to the proposed training of government communicators and questioned if this training included spokespersons of political office holders and the timeline for implementation of the training.

Mr Schneemann asked if the outreach programs of the GCIS were targeted at citizens living in urban areas only or if they extended to the rural areas. Rural communities were in need of majority of the information disseminated through the GCIS.

Ms Nebo Legoabe, Deputy CEO, replied that the GCIS had prioritised outreach to rural areas and also encouraged Ministers to do the same through walkabout events, town hall meetings and community radio stations. However, it still recognized that urban areas needed some form of engagement with the GCIS from time to time.

Ms Shinn noted that there seemed to a problem with the procurement process relating to the revamp project and the information management system.  Who was responsible for Information Technology (IT) in GCIS? Had GCIS not carried out proper evaluation and sought advice from skilled personnel before embarking on these projects? Did the agreement with service providers of these projects contain penalty clauses for non-delivery or late delivery on services? If not, had there been a review on the IT staff in GCIS?

Mr Semanke replied that the revamp project had not been executed by an external provider - it was done in conjunction with provincial offices. It was noticed that there were defects in the system, hence the need for a revamp: after commencement it was observed that there were no adequate staff to maintain the system. No financial losses had been incurred in the process as it was executed internally.

Ms Shinn noted that the presentation  had highlighted that the Thusong Centres were marketed in town halls - what was the purpose of a town hall meeting to market Thusong Centres and was this a right avenue for marketing them?

Ms Morutoa in response to Ms Shinn remarked that beyond communicating through the print media, one on one communication was important; particularly for illiterate citizens  - this was why town hall meetings became very important.

Ms Shinn asked if any independent valuation had been made on the effect of the GCIS publications.

Ms Shinn noted that about R27.3 million had been spent on advertising bulk buying in the current financial year - this was a significant increase compared to other years, had the number of departments using this service increased? What independent analysis had been carried out to determine the effect of these adverts? Were the adverts reaching the intended targets?

Mr Kekana thanked the GCIS for the braille and audio alternatives for the visually challenged.

Mr Kekana remarked with concern that the scorecards on performance were high but in reality no impact was felt by the citizenry.

Mr Kekana stated that marketing was a sub function of maintenance and necessary for the sustenance of the Thusong Centres. Ms Morutoa added that marketing of the Thusong Centres was indeed necessary.

The Chairperson noted with discontent that of all the departments which reported to the Committee, the GCIS was worst performing in terms of its spend percentage - at the end of the third quarter it had spent only 58% of its allocation. He asked for an explanation on this. How did this justify approving the next years’ financial budget and what assurances could the GCIS give to the Committee that if its budget was approved it would be spent. Ms Kilian in addition, noted that although the presentation had indicated an underspend by the GCIS, it had overspent on its personnel budget - this was at odds. She asked for an explanation on this.

Ms Williams responded that very often figures from National Treasury were based on payments gone out from accounts of entities and did not take into consideration amounts pending and yet to be withdrawn for services already rendered. The savings currently recorded in the bank balance of the GCIS were not an actual reflection of things - the only savings at the end of the third quarter were savings occasioned from the delay in the building project. The GCIS was not anticipating a huge under or over spending on its third quarter accounts; the correct figures would be provided at the next meeting with the Committee.

The Chairperson while remarking that he realised his question was more a policy issue, asked if the current structure of the GCIS promoted or hampered seamless communication of the governments’ priorities. If no, what must be done to improve the structure and was a complete overhaul of the structure the answer.

Ms Williams replied that it was correct to assert that this was more a policy issue. On inception, the GCIS was regarded as an oversight body to give direction to other departments, however, there were no powers granted to back up this role, hence it found itself in a position to only advice departments. Over the years, the GCIS had been increasingly tasked with duties which other departments ought to be carrying out and this had further put a strain on its budget and resources.

The Chairperson requested that questions yet to be responded to by the GCIS were put through in writing to the Committee due to time constraints.

MDDA on its Third Quarter Performance Report
Mr Phenyo Nonqane, MDDA Board Member, introduced the delegation from the MDDA and thanked the Committee for the opportunity to appear before it. Mr Lumko Mtimde, CEO MDDA, commenced the presentation with introductory remarks on the background and objectives of the MDDA.

Mr Nkopane Maphiri, Projects Director, briefly summarised the performance indicators in four key result areas of the MDDA; grant and seed funding, fund raising and resource mobilisation, research, knowledge management, monitoring and evaluation and advocacy for media development and diversity. The MDDA had met all targets for the third quarter in the financial year under review and even exceeded its target for the third quarter to fund one small commercial print project and instead funded two.

Mr Mshiyeni Gungqisa, MDDA CFO, discussed the financial aspects of the MDDA’s performance over the third quarter of the 2012/13 financial year. A variance of R34, 526 was incurred on administration costs, derived as a result of late receipt of travelling invoices. A variance of R 818, 170 was declared on employee costs for four vacancies that had remained unfilled. A variance of R16, 871 was highlighted on board costs from non-attendance of board members at board meetings. The presentation further highlighted the budget summary and costs per programme of the MDDA (see document).

The Chairperson invited Members to comment and interact with representatives of the MDDA on the presentation. At the end of the discussions, the Chairperson requested the MDDA to proceed with its presentation on its 2013/14 Medium Term Framework and Annual Performance Plan.

MDDA on its 2013/14 Medium Term Framework and Annual Performance Plan
Mr Mtimde summarily briefed the Committee on the 2013/14 Mid Term Framework (MTF) and Annual Performance Plan (APP) of the MDDA. Most of the information remained the same as previously presented, but the vision, mission and value proposition of the MDDA had been revised (see document). Further, the MDDA now had eight programs - Programme A: Community Media, Programme B: Small Commercial Media, Programme C: Research, Training and Development, Programme D: Monitoring and Evaluation, Programme E:  Human Resources, Programme F: Communications, Branding and Stakeholder Management, Programme G: Risk Management and Internal Audit and Programme H: Financial Management. The new Human Resources Programme now had a plan for a Supply Chain Management (SCM) Specialist and an IT Manager. The rest of the presentation detailed quarterly targets for 2013/14 and the Human Resource Plan for implementation of the MDDA’s strategic focus (see document).

Mr Nonqane discussed briefly the MDDA’s request for additional funds. R3.1 million was needed for monitoring and evaluation; these funds were needed to strengthen the M & E unit and increase the number of projects monitored yearly to more than 50. An additional R10 million was needed for Grant Funding: Since the funds from Print funders decreased on yearly basis additional funds were needed to add to funds allocated to small commercial media sector which was funded mainly from Government and Print Funders contributions. An additional R2.4 million was required for the Implementation of Communications Strategies: To increase public awareness with regards to media development and diversity issues and also encourage an increase in number of projects applications in rural areas. Human resources required an additional R1.339 million. In total, the MDDA required total additional funding to the tune of R16. 839 million.

Discussion on Third Quarter Performance by the MDDA
Ms Shinn asked why The New Age was not indicated as a print partner of the MDDA in its presentation.

Mr Lumko Mtimde, CEO MDDA, replied that New Age was a new entrant and the initial partnership agreement of the MDDA was with the four major printing partners. The MDDA was in the process of engagement with new entrants to the industry, while cautiously observing.

Ms Shinn questioned if the online registration of community printers had commenced and if not when it was likely to kick off.

Mr Mtimde replied that the MDDA was ready to launch the website and was previously waiting for the full complement of the Board to be launched - now that the Board had its full complement, the process could commence. The MDDA planned a roll out of an online awareness campaign as part of its tenth year celebration within which the website would be fully launched.

Ms Shinn asked if the MDDA had closed down any publications because of unavailability of funds and what criteria it used in awarding funding.

Mr Mtimde replied that the MDDA had not shut down any publication; most had shut down as a result of internal challenges. The MDDA was working in conjunction with the government to assist with sustainability of small publications. The criteria for funding was publicly available for interested parties; convincing the board on adding value to promoting the agenda of language diversity, contributing to media on historically disadvantaged persons etc were some of the criteria the Board took into consideration in awarding funding.

Ms Lesoma commended the speed on targets and questioned whether the MDDA considered its target milestones as being too low.

Mr Mtimde replied that the MDDA had taken the advice of Parliament and adhered to setting SMART targets, hence its ability to meet them. The MDDA was neither setting too low or too high targets for itself - however, because of funding limitations it was impossible to set some targets which could end up becoming unrealistic because of funding constraints.

Ms Lesoma questioned if the MDDA was popularising online applications for funding to ensure interested parties were aware of the opportunity.

Ms Lesoma commended the response of the MDDA to issues the Committee had raised in the course of its oversight visits.

Ms Lesoma highlighted the concerns of the Committee on the attendance of board members at board meetings and questioned if the functions of the board were being performed.

Mr Phenyo Nonaqane, MDDA Board Member, replied that the MDDA was dealing with the issue of board attendance and would be further addressed through its Annual Performance plan.
The Chairperson expressed displeasure at the response and remarked that the Committee had on a previous occasion requested for the schedule of board members attendance at meetings. What was meant by ‘dealing with it’ and did this ‘dealing with’ fall within the ambit of the law and the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the MDDA?

Mr Nonaqane responded that the MDDA had submitted a report on the attendance of board members at meetings to the Committee and this was one of its mechanisms of dealing with the issue.  Further, the issue had been given serious consideration at the last meeting of the Board.

Ms Morutoa responded that she could not recall any report distributed to the Committee.

Ms Lesoma questioned whether a letter or memo had been forwarded to the Committee. She requested that the MDDA explained summarily to the Committee what the attendance of board members at meetings was. What impact did the non-attendance have on the running of the MDDA?

Dr Renee Smith, MDDA Board Member, responded that the MDDA had sent a schedule of attendance to the Committee. The non-attendance of some board members at board meeting had had no negative impact on the smooth running of the organisation. While the board took seriously non-attendance of members at meetings, it also took into cognisance the fact that the schedules of some of its board members sometimes clashed with commitments on other boards. The board was monitoring number of consecutive meetings missed by its members and took this seriously.

Ms Lesoma in response remarked that the fact that the organisation performed well did not imply that the board should not provide the organisation with the necessary support. In future, the Committee must ensure that persons appointed to the board were not overloaded with other commitments. The issue of board attendance at meetings must not be underplayed.

The Chairperson demanded that the MDDA sent feedback to the Committee detailing the schedule on board meeting attendance and action taken on board members who had not been attending meetings with appropriate cause of action.

Ms Lesoma referring to the budget summary in of the presentation asked if there had been no rollovers on the budget. Did the MDDA exhaust its budget by 100%?

Ms Lesoma asked for clarification with regard to employee costs - should this not be a savings rather than a variance?

Ms Morutoa remarked that the Committee had been concerned about the state of community radio projects observed on its oversight visit to East London. What had been done to address this?

Mr Nkopane Maphiri, Programmes Director MDDA, responded that the MDDA had followed up on the observations and visited the radio stations. The stations had been asked to provide relevant documentation to access support from the MDDA and until they provided evidence of tax compliance and other documentation required, the MDDA could not proceed with award of funding to the stations.

Ms Morutoa referred to the overall objective of the MDDA highlighted in the presentation to ensure all South Africans accessed information in a language they understood and remarked that on oversight visit of the Committee to Port Elizabeth which had a predominantly Afrikaans speaking population, it was discovered that the community radio did not broadcast in Afrikaans.

Ms W Newhoudt-Druchen (ANC) referred to the program cost on budgets and noted with concern the proposed cuts on community media and research. Over the years, the MDDA had raised its concerns on insufficient research yet it proposed to cut funding on research. On oversight, the Committee had received complaints on the community media yet the MDDA proposed to cut funding to this area too.

Mr Mshiyeni Gungqisa, CFO of MDDA, responded that there would be a revision to this in the mid-term expenditure fund; the distribution was informed by regulation and until the regulation was revised, research remained at 5%.

Discussion on MDDA 2013/14 Medium Term Framework and Annual Performance Plan
Ms Lesoma thanked the MDDA delegation for the detailed presentation. She questioned whether it would not be cheaper for the MDDA to relate with the people through the GCIS. She suggested that for future deliberations, entities appearing before the Committee came with a schedule of issues which the Committee had raised on oversight visits.

Mr Mtimde responded that his had been done in preparation of the presentation but was cut out at the final stages to reduce the volume of the presentation. On behalf of the MDDA, he committed to furnishing the Committee with the requested schedule at subsequent meetings.

Ms Shinn asked for clarity on the revenue of the MDDA for the period in question - the presentation had indicated that the GCIS had funded the MDDA to the tune of R20.7 million but total expenditure was about R54 million. Was the difference in funding obtained through other revenue sources?

Ms Shinn noted that the expenditure estimates for community media for the last year was   R30, 000 but for the coming year it was billed at R480, 000 - why the dramatic increase?

Mr Mtimde responded that increase was attributed to increased investment in training and the targeted persons for training.

Ms Shinn referred to the performance indicators on the number of operation media projects and noted that the actual performance for the outgoing year was 310 projects yet the target for the incoming year was 460 projects; how did the MDDA plan to achieve this.

Mr Mtimde responded that the online project was as a different stage hence the significant difference in terms of targets.

Mr Schneemann opined that the meeting with the Committee was a wrong platform for the MDDA to table a request for additional funding. The responsible department and National Treasury were more suited to consider this request. It was no use bringing the request to the Committee, except it was to fore warn the Committee of possible challenges in carrying out its mandate.

Mr Mtimde responded that the MDDA accepted the observation by Mr Schneemann. The Committee had at an earlier meeting requested information on how much the MDA required in terms of additional funds, hence the inclusion in the presentation.

Ms Phulma Williams, Acting CEO: GCIS, in addition opined that there was a general lack of appreciation that communication cost a lot of money and in this light, the GCIS sympathised with the MDDA’s extreme budget constraints. The Committee was in a position to help the MDDA motivate for additional funds as its appeals to Cabinet and National Treasury had not yielded much results.

Mr Schneemann referred to the grant and seed funding given to 14 community stations and asked if these were for new publications and radio stations only or a combination of both new and existing. If it was restricted to new outfits only, what was being done to develop a sustainable industry?

Mr Mtimde replied that the grants related to both new and existing projects, hence existing projects came back for support.

Dr Smith added that research had been carried out late last year and a lot of work had been channelled towards building capacity. Projects were funded because no other source of funding was available to majority of them - as much as the MDDA would have liked to cut back on funding of some projects, it could not because the MDDA served as the only source of funding to majority of them - more innovative ways of sustainability had to be considered.

Mr Mtimde further added that there were plans to develop and provide corporate governance tool kits as a relevant platform to communicate most of the MDDA’s messages. This was a means to changing perspectives in terms of government communication and should help sustainability.

Mr Schneemann requested that the MDDA sent a report to the Committee detailing the number of grants granted each to new and existing projects.

Ms Lesoma opined that seed funding was for kick-starting new projects at inception, why did the MDDA apply the grant to funding existing projects as alluded in its response.

Ms Shinn expressed concern about certain aspects of the Strategic Plan of the MDDA with regard to the blurring division between the government and political party. Page 11 of the Strategic Overview of the MDDA discussed political imperatives of the ANC and the Mangaung Conference. It was not a government agency’s business what happened at the governing party’s political conference and it was worrying to observe the increasing blurring lines between party and State.

Mr Schneemann in response to Miss Shinn’s statement remarked that it was naïve to suggest that government policies were not influenced by political party policies. The current government was an ANC government and at the moment, ANC policies determined government policies. The MDDA was correct in taking note of the policy direction of the ruling party.

Ms Lesoma expressed displeasure at the views expressed by Ms Shinn and appealed to the MDDA to refrain from responding to the comment.

Ms Shinn took exception to Ms Lesoma’s answering remarks.

Ms Lesoma stated that she aligned with the response given by Mr Schneemann.

Ms Morutoa added that it was time the opposition acknowledged that ANC was the ruling party. She aligned with the suggestion that the MDDA refrained from responding to Ms Shinn’s remarks; even businesses had expressed keen interest in the Mangaung Conference to keep abreast of policy direction.

Mr Mtimde stated that the MDDA had no response to the comment and ensuing discussion.

Ms Shinn asked the CEO of the MDDA and acting CEO of the GCIS if they had been involved in placing of the full page, full colour adverts in national newspapers by SAATSA. Did the GCIS offer any advice to the agency on the adverts?

Ms Williams responded that the GCIS had been shocked at the adverts because they indicated a lot of wastefulness. The GCIS however could only advice government departments and agencies on the appropriateness or otherwise of their actions. The GCIS was taking the stand to support upcoming print publications and radio stations. The GCIS was working closely with the MDDA to address certain of these challenges and the GCIS now urged government departments to approach it for its communication needs.

The Chairperson asked what could be done to ensure the success of projects funded by the MDDA and what innovations or policies needed to be effected to ensure this.

Mr Mtimde responded that research was needed to arrive at possible solutions.

Meeting adjourned.