Hon Chairperson, hon Chairperson, Chairperson ...
... they will transform and they need to transform.
Sorry, I just want to say that I am not trying to stifle any kind of robust debate, but this is a small venue. So, howling at each other across the floor, I won't tolerate, please. Thank you. Continue.
Thank you, Chairperson, for your protection. But, indeed, whether you like it or not, the ANC will in due course embark on that parliamentary enquiry. The media can't be left untransformed. If we are reasonable as South Africans who believe in transformation and change in this country, we will agree that it is necessary. Of course, if you dare or care, you can just research in terms of how untransformed this print media is, in our country.
Minister, allow me to highlight some of the key issues contained in the GCIS department's Budget Vote, which was established in 2012 and which indeed we have managed to achieve. We do recognise that some of them have been partly achieved but the majority of them have been achieved.
However, Chairperson and hon Minister, we want to say, as a committee, we are concerned that there are some indications that to a certain extent some of these priorities have been stifled by the staff turnover in some of the sections. However, if we have already corrected that it will mean that we are on the right path in terms of making sure that GCIS continues to do the work it is supposed to.
I must also say that as the ANC, in 2007 we had taken a decision that we want each municipal area to have a community radio station, not for the municipality but in a municipal area. Indeed, we are looking at the progress which the MDDA is making there. We are not there yet, but don't dare fail us. We want all municipal areas by 2014 to have community radio stations because our people deserve to listen to the news, to be entertained and educated in their own languages. And indeed if that will be a reality that we could achieve, as ANC, we will be glad because it will be a step towards the achievement of media diversity.
I must also take this opportunity to thank the funding partners of MDDA. I won't mention all of them but if you can get a copy of my speech you will see them. We urge them to continue their support for the noble cause of media diversity, and polarity of voice and opinions. Together we will increase our funding for the MDDA and turn the tide in respect of the transformation of media in South Africa.
The ANC would also like to thank both the staff of the GCIS and the MDDA for work well done. Our thanks also go to ... [Interjections.] ... This is a political platform; we are debating a budget on a political platform [Interjections.] Exactly, so I am glad if you know that. [Laughter.]
I must also acknowledge that on 24 May the MDDA will be having the Local Media Award ceremony. I hope that the preparations to do so are at an advanced level.
In conclusion I would like to quote the words of former President Thabo Mbeki, who once said: "As a consequence of the victories we have registered during our first 10 years of democracy and freedom, we have laid a firm foundation for the new advances we must and will make during the next decades."
By saying so, I would like to extend the same to the MDDA and the GCIS. You have done us proud all the time and we hope you will continue to do so; to make us proud as a nation.
Hon Minister, we are encouraged that the budget as requested is sufficient to address the requirements contained in your strategic plan and we will support the key national imperatives of your strategic plan in your budget. And we would like to call upon all the parties and all those who are participants in this sector that, indeed, if we can work together, we can do more. The ANC supports this Budget Vote. I thank you. [Applause.].
Chairperson, hon colleagues, it seems that the Guptas have not only taken over our air force bases but are poised to play a role in South Africa's hot air war, but more of that later.
A leadership change in government's communication service last year has allowed the expertise of the core functions of the department to take centre stage. Most of its publications are competently designed and produced. Its services to the media on behalf of government and the Cabinet are much improved, but it is hampered by Cabinet Ministers who seldom arrive on time for press conferences. The Government Communication Information System, GCIS, also shares a fault that is all too common on websites - laziness in keeping their information current.
Last year I accused this department's leadership of empire-building on steroids, of setting up a publishing operation to rival what it sees as the unsympathetic commercial media sector; and it believed that National Treasury was a bottomless pit of taxpayers' money. Luckily, fiscal sense was dispensed from Treasury as some of the GCIS programmes have been pruned. Print orders of its publication have basically been halved as it has been forced to take a more realistic view of the numbers of readers in its market. For example, the ambition to print the monthly magazine, Vukuzenzele, as a fortnightly has been shelved and the print run clipped to 20,4 million copies annually.
While this publication has value in informing citizens around the country of government activities, GCIS has no way of proving that Vukuzenzele is read and that copies are not mouldering in some warehouse. Certainly, on the portfolio committee's visits to post offices and Thusong Service Centres around the country last year, few, if any, copies were found.
Keeping printers in business and spending in the budget allocation are not the measure of an effective communication strategy. An independent audit of circulation and readership is the only way to be confident that the message is reaching its intended market. This negligence in proving readership sets the GCIS apart from the professional publishers who are rigorously pressured by their clients to prove that the right message is reaching the target market and that it is properly understood. The GCIS makes no attempt to prove that its publications and some of those it supports with advertising are actually read by the intended audience.
Last year, I asked every government department how much money it spent on advertising and sponsorships with the Gupta-owned newspaper, The New Age. It came to a staggering R64,1 million. Up to 76% of The New Age's advertising for the six weeks from mid-November to the end of January last year came from government. Why government departments need to advertise when most of the Public Service is on holiday is puzzling. In the commercial publishing world, only retailers advertise at Christmas time.
My colleagues in the ANC will howl that this amount is peanuts compared to what government spends elsewhere on advertising. This is true, but as usual, the ANC doesn't get the point. The point is that every credible publisher that has to compete in the open market for its advertising revenue has to prove to its clients that their publications are using the right vehicle to deliver their message to a specific audience that delivers the required results. This is why the Audit Bureau of Circulations certification is essential to publications whose survival depends on clients who demand delivery.
The New Age declines to have its circulation independently verified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, ABC. Earlier this year, in response to the DA's onslaught on their government ad spend on The New Age, it released some figures of dubious quality through its own audit process. This is inadequate and is unlikely to impress the Auditor-General whom the DA has asked to investigate whether government ad spend with this newspaper is wasteful. But never fear, because the GCIS has cracked The New Age circulation puzzle.
Last year it responded to my question on whether an independent analysis was done to determine the circulation and readership of the newspaper. It replied, and I quote:
GCIS conducts regular media sampling through its provincial offices and complements this with verification of print orders and audited circulation where available. The GCIS verified The New Age market entry deliverables as follows: 100 to 120 000 published copies per day; 24 to 32 pages daily; editorial content drawn from nine provinces, distributed through three print regions; and electronic editions available through e- paper, iPad app, Facebook, Twitter and the online edition.
I'm still quoting:
On the basis of the above analysis, The New Age was recommended as a suitable publication for government departments to use in conjunction with other mainstream and community media, particularly in support of provincial and local outreach initiatives.
As an aside, I thought that Vukuzenzele was used by government to spread its message to the areas not reached by commercial media, but I digress. I am still quoting from the GCIS's parliamentary answer:
No independent studies of advertisements are conducted to test the efficacy of advertising messages post campaign, due to the prohibitive cost of establishing an ongoing national research panel, which is sufficiently sensitive to providing feedback by publication. And it rambles on some more.
I was intrigued that GCIS was satisfied with an audit of The New Age. So, I followed up this year with a question, asking how their audit was done. This is the reply, and I quote:
GCIS conducted a visit to The New Age premises and inspected the original print order confirmations from The New Age's subcontracted printers. Circulation is the number of newspapers that are printed and distributed each day, and can be extrapolated from the print order data. The print order reconciliations are audited by Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler, KPMG, The New Age newspaper's auditors, as part of their due diligence process in testing internal audit protocols and finalising their findings on The New Age financial results.
If this opinion did not involve the spending of millions of taxpayers' money, it would be laughable. Verifying the print run is only the first step in the circulation audit of a publication. All that GCIS did was to determine that The New Age's printers weren't ripping them off.
The GCIS does absolutely nothing to determine whether the newspaper is requested by the right readers who buy it or are given it for free. It does nothing to discover whether undelivered or unsold copies are returned unsold or unread. The GCIS's audit of The New Age would qualify for amateur hour if it were not a farce performed by public servants paid by taxpayers.
Again, the DA calls on the Auditor-General to declare that departmental spending on advertising in The New Age is fruitless and wasteful and forbids it in the coming year. It is essential to make this ruling because the GCIS encourages departments to channel their ad spend through it because it can negotiate bulk rates with all publications. This principle has merit, but it has to be done professionally and meticulously to ensure that the target market is effectively reached, and that there is no wastage.
The GCIS and its Media Development and Diversity Agency have stated their intent to re-engineer - they use the word diversify - the print media industry. They wanted the portfolio committee to believe that it is the department's patriotic duty to ensure that new, emerging media such as The New Age are given government advertising support so they can gain a firm footing against what it sees as an entrenched, old-guard ANC-hostile media industry. [Interjections.]
We believe that government's support in establishing community media that serves the local interest and linguistic needs of marginalised communities and entrenches the diversity of use, is commendable. But the billionaire Guptas don't qualify for taxpayers' money to help them get established. If they believe that they're meeting a market need in South Africa, let them invest their own money to establish themselves, like every other South African publisher has had to do. If they're unwilling to do this with their own money, it can only be because they are more than willing to be paid by taxpayers, to be part of and profit from the ANC's election propaganda machine.
Let us be under no illusions that the GCIS, along with the Gupta-friendly South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, will be used to bombard the nation with a rosy view of South Africa. The ANC's perceived dominant role is securing our constitutional democracy before next year's election.
The role of the governing party's imbongi will become increasingly apparent during the coming year. This was evident in the strategic overview of the GCIS's Media Development and Diversity Agency, which declared that, and I quote:
The much-awaited policy and elective Mangaung 53rd Conference of the ANC as the ruling party confirmed continuity in the leadership of government. This suggests that very little, if any, policy changes are likely to affect the work of the Media Development and Diversity Agency, MDDA. A change in government and the current leadership could result in a change in policy approaches which could hamper the effective achievement of the organisation's mission.
On the surface, this statement may seem self-evident. My ANC colleagues in the portfolio committee howled that there was nothing wrong with a public servant expressing relief that there had not been a change of leadership in the governing party. I contend that for the purpose of exercising their duties, political leadership battles are irrelevant to public servants. Their job is to fulfil the mandate of the government. Let me emphasise, the government of the day, and not to be concerned with the internal battles of the governing party. [Applause.]
Hon House Chairperson, hon colleagues, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, as was the case last year, Cope wants to acknowledge the sound administrative systems and high competency levels of the senior management structure of the Government Communication and Information System, GCIS. We also commend the unqualified audits obtained last year by the GCIS and the Media Development and Diversity Agency, MDDA. This is a sign that the political and administrative leadership is serious about financial and regulatory management and compliance.
However, looking at the practical day-to-day operations, Cope wants to highlight the very serious risk and irreparable reputation damage to the GCIS: if it allows itself to become a propaganda arm of government; if it has to defend the indefensible; and if it has to ensure the public that everything is going well and all the services are delivered, whilst the public affected by those service-delivery failures experience a completely different reality - in short, if professional communicators in the GCIS are directed from Luthuli House to spin the President and his failing Ministers out of trouble.
Cope supports the GCIS mission in that it is basically and essentially empowering the people of South Africa with information that can change their lives. We fully support that. However, we also support the contention that it should communicate proactively. There is no harm in that, but we are also concerned about the stress on government achievements. We have listened to the Minister today, who was venturing into a propaganda spin. For as long as the perception management programme does not become a propaganda spin exercise in support of the governing party, we will support that.
Close to R400 million is about to be allocated to this department. Therefore, we as Parliament need to review last year's practices and determine how they will roll out in the coming, pre-election year.
I believe the Minister will forgive us if we are part of the cynical South Africans who may ask why we need a GCIS, if the dissemination of government information has effectively been surrendered to the Gupta empire, with a little help - let us be honest - of the South African Airways, SAA, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, Transnet and the like.
Let me deal with The New Age media breakfasts. They are designed to create a platform for the rich and famous to get closer to government Ministers with sweetheart interactions from a select audience who are mostly public servants paid for by departments, and that is then relayed through public platform to South Africans. In addition to massive free publicity, the owners of The New Age collect R100 per guest, covering at least 400% of the actual costs of the breakfast. However, the real bounty is generated from the ordinary taxpayer by means of overly generous sponsorships from our parastatals like Transnet, Telkom, etc.
The question is how ethical it is to have to buy expensive tickets to a media breakfast session if you have a right to have access to information from government? We also want to know whether the GCIS can play a direct or indirect role in organising these breakfast shows. Have they done it in the past or are they doing it now?
The mutually beneficial relationship between the ANC and the Guptas certainly does not begin and end after breakfast. [Laughter.] Let's have a look at the bulk-buying function of the GCIS. As the hon Shinn indicated, the universal norm for advertising rates is based on audited circulation figures. Dumped freebie copies of The New Age newspapers at airports ... [Interjections.] ... and in Parliament and the offices of the SABC cannot be such a circulation channel. On what basis can the Minister then allow the placement of public-service departmental advertisements and supplements in The New Age? The New Age has never been audited for circulation and readership figures, and has a rumoured print run of only 7 000 to 8 000 copies daily in selected areas and parastatal buildings.
The SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, advertisement is a case in point. [Interjections.] Why is this advertisement in a newspaper that is essentially distributed in government offices, when it has ... [Applause.] ... a target audience of people who need to know about the re-registration campaign to get hold of their grants? It is not a good example. [Applause.] What is the Minister doing about that?
An analysis of a randomly selected number of The New Age has revealed a shocking reality. It is clear that 17 advertisements placed in one of the newspapers, only two were from private institutions, Total and the Ulwazi group. The rest were from parastatals. In the other newspaper, where they were 19, there were only two, with the other being Blue Labels Telecoms - I don't know who that is. The rest is Sassa, South African Airways, etc. We have Telkom, Transnet, and we can go on and on.
It is clear that The New Age is not a viable and independent daily newspaper but a propaganda paper in the style of The Citizen. Can I remind you that even in the worst days of apartheid, that compelled the leader of that party to resign?
The question is, who benefits? Is The New Age roll-out part of the national communication strategy of government or of the ANC? Is it a mechanism to channel public funds towards the business empire of the Guptas, who have a too cosy relationship with the President of our country and his family, or is it a mechanism to ultimately channel money into the election coffers of the ANC for next year's election? [Interjections.] The fact of the matter is that public money is currently being spent and is being round-tripped from the public purse into some people's back pockets. We need to know where that goes to. [Applause.]
That brings us to the rapid response function of the department. The GCIS's handling of the Waterkloof Air Force Base disaster was seriously conflicted. They were quiet for three long days. It was only on 3 May that they paraded a gallery of senior Ministers. Yes, from the hon Greg ... [Interjections.] ... shame man, I just wanted to remind him because he forgot that it was Mr Gwede Mantashe who responded. Government was silent about this. [Interjections.] ...
Secondly, is it necessary for the GCIS to comment on the tensions within the alliance? Why comment and release a media statement about the fight between the Minister of Basic Education and SA Democratic Teachers Union, Sadtu? Why get involved in the dirty linen issue between the Minister and Sadtu? That is not a government function. Rather explain to the parents and the teachers who are affected why teachers are not in school, teaching. Tell them when education services will proceed again ... [Interjections.] ... and when the teachers will be back in their classrooms.
Why defend the rights of Ministers to use private health care? That is what is on the GCIS website. It is right there. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Chairperson, the hon Minister in the Presidency, Collins Chabane, hon Deputy Minister, Members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for this opportunity to speak on the Government Communication and Information System, GCIS.
We have been told that the main task of GCIS has been to communicate government information, what government does, and deliverables from the government to our masses. Some of those masses are in faraway, remote areas and, as a result, some of the communication in the past did not reach them. That is why the first thing that GCIS - thanks, Ma Storey - realised was that we need to transform communication in the country. That transformation was supposed to take place in the following areas: ownership, distribution, content and languages.
Let me just speak briefly about ownership. The media, especially the print media, in the main is owned and that type of ownership needed to be transformed. It needed to be transformed so that, instead of just having big media houses, we would also have small commercial media and also community media. These are the types of media that are found now in disadvantaged areas like the rural areas and the townships in the urban areas. The other part of that transformation is that in the media houses' newsrooms, you need to implement transformation in line with the policies of the ANC government: transformation of race discrimination, gender discrimination and disability discrimination. This type of transformation must take place in the media newsrooms.
A lot has already been achieved in South Africa, if we compare it to other countries, especially in the rural areas, which are not easy for anybody to develop, because of a lack of facilities and backwardness still found there. We really need to resource the community media that is in the rural areas. Otherwise, if we don't, we will be setting them up for failure. This government is already finding means and ways to resource them better because, remember, all along, communication in South Africa has been dominated by big media.
It is very important to also point out that there are achievements in South Africa. I just want to highlight that by mentioning that in agriculture, for example ... No, [Interjections.] she is being naughty because I am busy. [Laughter.] [Interjections.] Alright, you have it. I hear the money is being pocketed in the back pocket. Mine is in the inside pocket of my jacket. [Laughter.] I just wanted to say that analysts in South Africa have mentioned the achievement of communication in our media, especially government media, by saying that in agriculture, where we want to beneficiate and manufacture agricultural raw material in South Africa, there has been a great improvement. This is because people who are in agriculture for the first time are receiving information about different agricultural activities that they can embark on. They have a broad choice of selecting which agricultural activities they want to be involved in.
Look at Johannesburg, for example, where they are slaughtering 10 000 heads of cattle a day in the abattoir, to supply the demand in Johannesburg, as well as 15 000 sheep a day. All the remains of skin go into footwear and a lot of agricultural people are realising that there is a big market, if you do livestock farming, because the end product is that we are no longer exporint our raw material. In fact, in the value chain, about two levels of that - treating the skin and so on - is done in Johannesburg, which is part of manufacturing.
I have heard that in diamonds, in Botswana - this information also comes from communication - with Botswana now being the number one international producer of diamonds, in the Kgalagadi, two levels of the value chain of diamond production is beneficiated in Botswana. When we hear all these things about ourselves and neighbouring states, that is important information that becomes available for South Africans to know how best to handle their economic activities. They can then copy best practice from other countries, their neighbours, and also from their own neighbours within South Africa.
So, I just mentioned that because I wanted to highlight how important communication is, especially in a developmental state where we need to create jobs. This communication, in the past, has just been in the favour of the rich. We want media communication to be in favour of even the poor. We have to use it to develop jobs. I have heard that in education somebody asked why there was an alliance issue. It is part of communication to communicate all kinds of deliverables, not just in terms of sewerage or dustbins, but also in education, because if we don't skill this nation, there will never be development in this nation.
The educating and training of artisans and all kinds of skills are very important. Unless we communicate that to our nation, we will be failing in our effort to communicate what the government is tasked to perform. I wish to support this budget. Thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Members of Parliament, it is a great privilege for me to participate in my first Budget Vote today, cognisant of our collective responsibility as the vanguard of South Africa's prosperity and wellbeing. [Applause.] Thank you.
Central to all we do is communication. Communication is the tool through which we can correct the social injustices of our past. It is the very tool that can have profound effects in terms of enabling people to lead the type of lives and attain the type of freedoms they have always dreamed of.
Let me therefore, at the outset, state that the IFP will support this Budget Vote because of the critically important role we believe that the Government Communication and Information System, GCIS, has to play in promoting an educated, informed citizenry. Let me just also hasten to add that the IFP shares the concerns that have been raised by my colleagues in the DA and Cope with regard to The New Age and the Guptas' influence on government communication. [Interjections.]
We recognise that the leadership of the GCIS has made great strides over the past financial year. However, I am sure that the GCIS will accept that there is always room for improvement in the execution of its important mandate. During a recent interaction with the leadership of the GCIS, I raised what I believe to be two critical issues: the need for a clear distinction, at all times, between the ruling party and the state, and between information and propaganda. There is no doubt that we live in a world of spin where government public relations is important. However, it should never be more important than government's core business.
This is clearly the thornier issue of this debate. We have seen the growth of government communications agencies in managing political debate. We have seen citizens being fed a steady diet of good-news stories instead of a healthy diet of news to educate them. We have seen a shift, often, where the public has not been provided with public information in the public's interest but is provided with a healthy dose of stories to make government look good.
A quick glance at Vukuzenzela is a case in point. Between all the stories of new courts opening, jobs being created, social grants being increased and government giving hope to the hopeless - which we welcome, of course - I did not see one story educating citizens on how to access their rights if they were not the beneficiaries of these services. Surely, when service delivery protests rock a community, or when a child with a disability is unable to access education, or when a grandmother from a far-flung rural area is unable to access transport or quality health care, it is not reasonable to provide those citizens with flowery, feel-good stories only.
This is a matter that goes to the very heart of our democracy. Our citizens must be equipped with practical and useful information to better their lives. Information that empowers. Information that educates. Nothing less.
The IFP also notes that while the communication and information aspect of the GCIS at national level is satisfactory, the communication abilities of provinces and municipalities leave much to be desired. Many Thusong Service Centres are in a state of disrepair and are failing because no one seems willing to take responsibility for their management, while there is often little buy-in from other spheres of government. Yet, Thusong Service Centres are the very mechanism that has been put in place to communicate with the ordinary South African. Without functioning Thusong Service Centres, the success of the GCIS to communicate its work to communities, especially rural communities, must be called into question.
A few examples bear testimony. The Mkhupula Thusong Centre in Msinga has no electricity. The Mbazwana Thusong Centre in Mkhanyakude has no centre manager, and provincial departments have failed to come on board. This has negatively impacted upon service delivery in that community. We implore the leadership of the GCIS, again, to engage all stakeholders in this regard, so that the failing centres can be resuscitated as a matter of urgency.
The sheer volume of publications still remains a cause for concern. Vukuzenzela is just one in a slew of GCIS media. Yet, for many of these publications produced by the GCIS, the readership figures are unclear and may be considered relatively unstable. Thus, an excessive amount is still being spent to print a variety of publications, the success of which cannot be verified. We believe the GCIS must review the effectiveness of each publication and determine whether it really reaches its intended audience and its intended outcomes. For example, one can just start by looking at this very glossy Public Sector Manager magazine, which is distributed to all of us and very widely in the public sector, and enquire whether these are read or just simply dumped, because I have seen many of them dumped around Parliament.
In a country such as ours, where the majority of our adult population has access to cellphones, it makes sense to communicate with our citizens via mobile platforms. This will be a step in the right direction to ensure that we reduce printing costs and wastage, as the dumping of undelivered and unread publications nationwide, is, without a doubt, a major problem. The move to mobile platforms must be expedited. I also note that while Vukuzenzela has an online platform, it is outdated. The last publication listed was from last year.
The Media Development and Diversity Agency continues to make great strides in developing community media. The importance of community media can never be underestimated. Not only does it often give a voice to the voiceless, but it can have a profound effect, in many instances, on the development of our communities. We applaud the good work that is being done in this regard.
We know that an informed electorate is critically important to deepening our democracy. The IFP therefore pledges our support to the GCIS in pursuance of this fundamental, national goal. I thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson, hon Minister in the Presidency - Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Administration, hon Deputy Minister in the Presidency, hon members, staff members of the Government Communication and Information System, GCIS, it is indeed an honour for me to join my colleagues and participate in this debate. I will focus on Thusong Service Centres as a programme of government. This achievement marks yet another milestone in the overall transformation of the service delivery mechanisms of the ANC-led government.
The Thusong Service Centres programme affords us, as the ANC, a rare moment to reflect not only on the achievements of government in extending vital services to our people, but also the challenges we face in this process.
Thusong Service Centres were established, as we in this democratic dispensation say, as a means to an end, not an end in themselves. And these centres, although there is still much work to be done to strengthen them, are starting to serve the high developmental ends, which are places for community development and empowerment; and above all, they are places where participation can be realised. This ideal is paramount in the National Development Plan, the ideal of an active citizenship working closely with government to better their lives and promote development locally. As such, many centres around the country are bearing fruit.
Thusong Service Centres, then called Multi-Purpose Community Centres, MPCCs, were initiated in 1999. And it was to extend government services in an integrated way, primarily to rural communities and to address historical factors that limit citizens to access government information and services.
In 2005, Cabinet approved the Second Generation Business Plan for the programme, indicating that by 2014 there should be at least one such centre in each of the 283 municipalities. The establishment should be a combination of central hubs, satellites and mobile units.
The overall objectives of the programme are to bring government information and services closer to the people and to promote access and opportunities as a basis for improved livelihoods; to build sustainable partnerships between government, business and civil society; to create a platform for greater dialogue between citizens and government; to introduce information and communications technology to communities; to promote computer literacy and access to technology.
We do have successful Thusong Service Centres in the country, and just about every province has a story to tell about their successes. Over the past quarter, that is, from January to March 2013, more than 1,2 million people were serviced in the Thusong Service Centres and the mobile units.
Training on Batho Pele customer care was provided to both centre managers and service providers to ensure that the community is serviced with dignity and care.
Here are some successful Thusong centres. There is a Mpumalanga Thusong, where the programme is co-ordinated by the Department for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs. There is also a Dududu Thusong Service Centre in Kwazulu-Natal, where there was an outreach to take a girl-child to work during the child protection week. There is also a Kgomotsego Thusong Service Centre in the Northern Cape, where there is a centre that provides information for all local and foreign tourists travelling to Namibia and the Kgalagadi National Park.
There is also a Laingsburg Thusong Service Centre, where they also run a soup kitchen. There are some activities in the centre, including community gymnasium, choir and band practices to keep the youth off the streets. More than 2 000 community members access the centre on a monthly basis to access government services and information. [Applause.]
There is also a Mamelodi Thusong Service Centre in Gauteng, where the success story is that there was a couple who had been living together for 30 years and tied the knot in the Thusong Centre, using the services of the Department of Home Affairs. The average usage of the centre per month is about 20 000.
Thusong Service Centres serve as an effective means of bringing information, in a two-way process, to the communities in a manner that ensures government and citizen interaction. We want to congratulate the Minister and his team for the sterling work in ensuring that our people become active participants in improving their lives and building the nation. [Applause.] [Interjections.] The ANC supports this Budget Vote. [Applause.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY - PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND EVALUATION, AS WELL AS ADMINISTRATION: Thank you, House Chairperson. Chairperson of the portfolio committee; Minister in the Presidency - Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Comrade and hon Collins Chabane; hon members; honoured guests; members of the GCIS management and staff present, members of the Media Development and Diversity Agency, MDDA, Board, management and staff present; members of the media present, particularly the community radio media; friends and comrades; ladies and gentlemen, I have a slight case of the flu, but it is not the flu that I am experiencing in the House: the Gupta or The New Age flu, which seems to be caught only by the opposition and not the ruling party. I am not sure. The hon Minister Collins Chabane will have to assume the role of a traditional healer and cure it later.
Today I feel privileged to stand before this House and deliver this Budget Vote speech, as we celebrate Africa month and the 50th anniversary of the OAU under the theme "Pan Africanism and African Renaissance". This 50th anniversary is expected to facilitate and celebrate African narratives of the past, the present and the future. As a country and a continent, we are acutely aware of the role that a strong and diverse media plays in meeting these expectations.
The mandate of the OAU was to decolonise and unite Africa. Ultimately, decolonisation produced moments of inspiration, promise and greater political power, but failed to transform issues of, amongst others, economies and indigenous languages. The new mandate of the AU is to fulfil vision 2063 so that issues such as diminishing indigenous languages can come to the fore through diverse media platforms.
We take this opportunity to congratulate the community radio stations that reach out to almost 80% of our communities in their own indigenous languages. This includes the Khoisan Community Radio Station, which is now broadcast on radio. Ten years ago, the fruit of government's tireless work and efforts was realised with the launch of the Media Development and Diversity Agency, MDDA. It is important to reflect on the original concept of the MDDA in order to understand better and appreciate the current work of the agency.
The concept of the MDDA was rooted in the founding consensus of our democracy. At its heart is the understanding that our nation's legacy of imbalances and exclusions had to be overcome through a partnership of all sectors of society if our vision of a new society were to become a reality for all South Africans. The MDDA was informed by the belief that if we address some of our fundamental problems in the media environment, then the issues of content and diversity of opinion will start to take care of themselves.
However, we have not fully realised this goal because we need a bit of a push and we need an MDDA that is more empowered. This Parliament, in recognising the exclusion and marginalisation of disadvantaged communities and persons from access to the media and the media industry, resolved to establish the MDDA as an agency in terms of the MDDA Act, 14 of 2002, in partnership with the major print and broadcast media industry, to help create an enabling environment for media development and diversity that is conducive to public discourse and reflects the needs and aspirations of South Africans. I must state here that, indeed, we have achieved this goal.
Today we have overtaken countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso and others in the very progressive and enabling environment that exists in our country. They were number one at the time when we started, but today South Africa is now leading in that particular environment, including exceeding countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia. I think that is something worth celebrating. [Applause.]
This is consistent with the freedom of expression provisions enshrined in our Constitution, in section 16(1) and the access to information provisions in section 32 of the Constitution, Act 108 of 1996, and the MDDA Act.
The mandate of the MDDA is to encourage ownership, control and access to media by historically disadvantaged communities as well as the historically diminished indigenous languages and cultural groups, with a view to promote support and encourage diverse media.
However, as we are all aware in this House, the majority of media in our country is still owned by four large publishing groups. According to the survey done by the South African Audit of Circulation, which has been quoted so many times here, there are at least 29 commercial newspapers written in English and just a handful written in other indigenous languages. Most of those written in indigenous languages are regionally based. You find them only in certain provinces, not nationally. So, 29 national newspapers are published in English or Afrikaans and the indigenous languages are excluded. This calls upon us, therefore, to reflect, debate and provide solutions on our way. I will then leave that obviously to the able committee of communications to reflect on that particular issue as we celebrate 20 years of democracy. When we look at those 20 years of democracy, we ought to identify challenges still outstanding in society so that we could then be able to deal with those challenges.
As the Chairperson of the portfolio committee has indicated, it is also important to remember that it is 20 years since the first broadcast by the first SA community radio station Bush Radio. They were on air on 25 April 1993, headed by Ms Brenda Leonard. I understand she is in the House with us here. Zibonele community radio, in Khayelitsha, started at the same time as a primary health station and is under the current leadership of Mr Mzamo Ngomana. I hope he is also in the House. Similarly, it is also 20 years of the National Community Radio Forum. The story about how this started - I think it ought to be shared and told.
A young student from the University of the Western Cape, who today is the CEO of MDDA, started as a student in print media. Alternative media was everywhere. Cape Town had Grassroots, Pretoria had The Eye, Gauteng had the New Nation and all sorts of newspapers. He then felt that a radio station was needed, and he applied for a licence, but the National Party government of apartheid refused him a licence. He decided to go live on that day. Unfortunately, he was raided and all his equipment was taken away. So he could not be live on the 25th but the attempt to do so was there.
Then a similar project, called Zibonele, started. Their platform was the promotion of primary health, and that licence was issued. However, the first license obviously had to wait for the new democratic government of the ANC. In 1995, through the Independent Broadcasting Authority, IBA, we gave the first licence to the Pietermaritzburg radio station, which is still alive and live today. [Applause.] I think we ought to tell this story.
Secondly, since then we have had 120 community radio stations across the land, 80 of them live and broadcasting. I think that is a big achievement from 1994 until today, which we also need to celebrate. We have over 400 community platforms, such as newspapers, including community radio, plus the community television channels that are now beginning to emerge, that give alternative platforms for communities to access information, entertainment and education, so that they are informed as citizens of this country.
I am pleased to report also that the commitment and hard work of the MDDA has been shown through the many deliverables, including the unqualified audit reports since its establishment. I think everyone has attested to it. The Agency has also made a mark in developing and diversifying the media landscape, though with meagre resources. Since 2004, it received a budget of R233 million accumulatively. I am not sure how much of that money goes into helping the more than 400 projects they take care of to ensure that training of the media people, management and finance issues are attended to, so that you do not start community radio stations or circulate newspapers then, six months or two years down the line, they are all gone. Therefore, that project ought to be supported. I therefore hope that as we appropriate money through the GCIS and whatever goes to the MDDA, we need to appreciate their work.
In addition, they also trained over 1 800 people, provided 147 bursaries to different radio and print media. As the Chair has indicated, the agency has also created almost 300 direct and indirect jobs and held seminars promoting media literacy and the culture of reading.
Workshops were also conducted on the corporate governance toolkit that they have developed to assist all these community stations to be viable, sustainable and lasting as the democracy matures. The agency also held training sessions with its beneficiaries on issues of financial management, compliance with funding agreements and other key corporate governance issues. I think that is something we ought to keep ensuring that the MDDA does.
In the 2013-14 Strategic and Business Plan, in addition to other projects, the MDDA plans to continue supporting more projects. Firstly, it plans to support at least one community radio station in every community. Secondly, it will support one community magazine; thirdly, one commercial newspaper and magazine in each district municipality. Lastly, the agency also plans to support at least one community television channel in each province. They also plan to conduct a study on the social impact of community radio.
The MDDA plans to continue with interventions in respect of promotion of media literacy and culture of reading in all provinces using all our indigenous languages, including sign language. I hope they will also venture into that. Increasing on the focus of 2013-14, we will continue to champion the media transformation discourse. That will include media diversity ownership and control. I think other speakers have spoken about the fact that media control remains a challenge in the country.
Parliament will hear progress on these inquiries conducted on a range of issues impacting on the mandate of the MDDA. As we celebrate 20 years of democracy, let us look into the mandate of the MDDA and see whether it is about time that we reflect, review and empower it so that it accelerates delivery on its mandate.
The money that has been coming from the broadcasting partners has been spent well. However, the print media has not been doing well in terms of their contribution. They are supposed to give 0,2% of their turnover, which is also very little. As we review the mandate, we should perhaps look at whether the print media cannot contribute more. The broadcasters have merged, engaged and agreed to increase their annual contribution. The rest of the money comes from the government and yet this is supposed to be a partnership with the industry to make sure that the MDDA, indeed, is able to fulfil its objectives.
[Inaudible.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY - PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND EVALUATION, AS WELL AS ADMINISTRATION: Well, that sickness and the flu that I spoke about is still infecting you. So, you will have to see the doctor here.
The government will continue to support and uplift the work of the MDDA in order to make a meaningful impact in creating an enabling environment for media development and diversity. Transformation in the media is still a challenge, gender is an issue and very few editors are women. I think we also need to engage with and ask the media industry what they are doing about programmes that affirm senior reporters, senior journalists and editors.
We also have to look at how the media reports on issues of SADC and issues of the continent. There are SADC media awards, and South Africa struggles to get stories to enter that competition. In June, when the SADC heads of states will be meeting, you will find that we will not win any prizes because we do not have stories that talk about cross-border issues, SADC integration, SADC communities, SADC issues of economy because the media in South Africa is domestically focused. It does not look at the integration of the region and yet it ought to be also looking at those particular stories.
We also have to look at the transformation in the print media because I know there were submissions to Parliament around the issues of advertising in particular. We should follow up on those recommendations and see if advertisements cannot help the community radio stations, because the community radio stations combined have a listenership of 8 million and the commercial adverts can help. Therefore, it will not only be the government that is streaming the money, but commercial elements will also do so.
The distribution network is still a monopoly and a challenge for many newspapers. The Audit Bureau of Circulations, ABC, itself is a monopoly. So there is still a great monopoly that exists within the media space and the media industry. We need to bring those issues to the fore and ensure that we deal with them.
I want to take the opportunity to thank the MDDA partners who continue to commit their support to this particular environment. I also want to thank the board of the MDDA, which was led by Ms Gugu Msibi, who completed her five-year tenure as chairperson of the agency, and the management team led by Mr Lumko Mtimde. The agency under Ms Msibi's leadership has been able and stable, performed maximally and received unqualified audit reports. I wish the new chairperson of the agency, Ms Phelisa Nkomo, and the new board members good luck. Please maintain the standard.
In conclusion, I want to leave you with this profound quote from a Bhuddist monk:
Do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda or even education. However, through compassionate dialogue, help others renounce fanaticism and narrowness.
This is therefore a call to all community, commercial and public radio stations to promote and instill values of social cohesion and patriotism among people in our communities. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, hon Minister Collins Chabane, hon Deputy Minister Obed Bapela, hon members and distinguished guests, it is with great pleasure that I address this House on the occasion of the Government Communication and Information System Budget Vote, which will be turning 15 years old on 18 March.
I want to echo my colleague, hon Ndlazi, in congratulating the hon Minister and Government Communication and Information System, GCIS, management team led by the acting chief executive officer, CEO, Ms Phumla Williams, for the sterling work they have done in ensuring that the voice of government is heard across the length and breadth of our beautiful country. [Applause.]
Purposeful and concise information between government and its citizens is a moral obligation and also a pragmatic practice that originates from the very principle of democracy. To this end, today we have noticed that there were communication activations that have been organised in various places across the country to market and popularise the work of the government and, in particular, this Budget Vote.
Napoleon and other great men, like Isaac Newton, Shakespeare and many others were makers of empires. I call them makers of the universe but some of them were only repairers. Newton made a universe that lasted for 300 years. Einstein has made a universe which, I suppose, you want me to say will never stop. But I don't know how long it will last.
Great men and eminent men have monuments of bronze and marble set up for them, but amongst the greatest of men ever produced in South Africa, there is a man of divine peace who became enshrined in millions and millions of hearts around the world so that all of us become some of the stuff that he is made of though to an infinitely lesser degree. That man is none other than former President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. Mandela's wisdom and action continue to inspire our people, especially his lifelong struggle for democracy and passion for service delivery.
We, the ANC, the majority party in Parliament and the oldest liberation movement on the continent, are thrilled by how GCIS is being managed and its continued achievement of clean audits year after year. Importantly, it stays consistently within its mandate, which was endorsed by this Parliament 15 years ago. To our distinguished members of staff present here today - there they are, on my left-hand side - we are saying, keep it up and sustain the momentum for we cannot postpone our people's hunger for developmental information.
Hon Chairperson, allow me to state that South Africa continues to be better than before April 1994. To my dearest hon colleague, hon Killian, you talk about the SABC's Breakfast Show. What a concept, where South African citizens, for the first time in our lifetime, can talk to their President, Ministers, premiers, including the Premier of the Western Cape, hon Hellen Zille. This shows that as a democratic government we are committed to ensure that all South Africans have access to information that will enable them to change their lives.
It is indeed fitting to indicate that the ANC-led government has made qualitative advances in transforming South Africa into a nonracial, nonsexist and democratic society.
Mutshamaxitulu, mfumo wa ANC wu ya emahlweni na ku humelela loku vonakaka xikan'we na ku khomeka hi tlhelo ra ku cinca ka vutomi bya vaakatiko. Wu cinca vutomi bya vaakatiko leswaku byi va eka xiyimo xo antswa hi tlhelo ra swilaveko swo fana na dyondzo, rihanyu, nhluvukiso wa tindhawu ta le makaya, ku nyikiwa ka misava, ku tumbuluxa mitirho na ku lwa na vugevenga. (Translation of Xitsonga paragraph follows.)
[Chairperson, the ANC government is making remarkable and tangible progress in changing the lives of the people. It changes the lives of the people for the better with regard to priorities such as education, health, the development of rural areas, land redistribution, job creation and the fight against crime.]
Visible and tangible progress in changing people's lives for the better has been achieved, particularly in the following areas of our election manifesto priorities.
In education, there are now 192 621 registered early childhood development, ECD, centres, with just under 845 000 children receiving ECD and partial care services. This is an achievement in laying the critical foundation for our future generation. The past year has also shown an increase in the number of children that passed their matriculation examinations. Universities have equally recorded an increase in the intake of students, especially from the previously marginalised communities.
In health, the life expectancy of South Africans has increased from 56 years in 2009 to 60 years in 2011. South Africa was announced by the United Nations as one of the countries with the most successful programme on HIV/Aids. Just recently, the hon Minister of Health announced a single-pill dosage for HIV/Aids patients, again further improving the quality of life of HIV patients. The South African government, led by the ANC, continues to honour its commitment to better the lives of all South Africans.
The ANC government is committed to redress the untold injustices that were brought to rural communities wherein their social settings, cultures and family structures were destroyed. Small black farming communities were destroyed. Through our land reform programme, we have managed to restore the dignity of our communities.
On the Thusong Service Centres that have been set up countrywide, as hon Ndlazi has highlighted, we have ensured that the services of government are brought closer to communities. I should hasten to say that government midterm review will assist us to take stock of some of the failures we have experienced and assist us to forge ahead in further restoring the dignity of the rural communities.
On job creation, so far the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform's National Rural Youth Service Corps has enrolled 11 740 young people in various training programmes. The recently signed Youth Employment Accord by government, labour and business is again taking the challenge of unemployment facing the country, the young people in particular, to a higher level. It is heartening to note that all the parties, through the true spirit of patriotism, have committed to work with government in addressing the issue of unemployment. Government has also intensified its efforts around infrastructure development to grow our economy and, importantly, to create jobs. In support of these initiatives, GCIS has contributed by producing a booklet that offers young people information that can assist them in tapping-in opportunities available in government.
On fighting crime, the annual national crime statistics that are released by the SA Police Service continues to show the decline in certain types of crime. To address the continued challenges of gender-based violence and abuse of children, the National Council against Gender-Based Violence was established in 2012. Government has increased personnel in the Family Violence and the Child Protection and Sexual Offences units. GCIS has continued to provide communities with information around issues of gender- based violence.
The National Development Plan, the country's vision of what our country would be in the year 2030, provides priorities that seek to reduce inequalities in our society, as well as poverty and unemployment. This plan provides a framework that was collaboratively developed by government and South Africans. As this ANC government drives its implementation within the available resources, information dissemination will be central. It will be critical to take society along, working towards this 2030 vision, as spelt out in the National Development Plan. Despite all these, the battle of ideas is being waged between the theoretical and practical underpinnings of the democratic developmental state and the neoliberal paradigm.
Media continue to publish negative news on government, disregarding its good service delivery record. The media continues to distort and ignore information provided by government in a transparent and accountable manner.
The ANC, which is the majority party in Parliament, will never allow a situation where our citizens are denied information on government policies and programmes. We will ensure that the ANC-led government has proactive and co-ordinated government communications. In this regard, hon Minister, Government Communications and Information System should be strengthened for it to be able to co-ordinate information flow among different departments and among all three spheres of government.
South Africa is a developmental state, as my colleagues have indicated. The definition of this approach by Nora Quebral succinctly confirms the above, and I quote:
Development communication is the art and science of human communication applied to the speedy transformation of a country and the mass of its people from poverty to a dynamic state of economic growth that makes possible greater social equality and the larger fulfilment of the human potential.
Furthermore, the development communication approach has the following characteristics. It is responsive; relies on feedback; must be creative and innovative; is about continuity and sustainability; uses local languages that community members will understand; and fosters unmediated communication.
It is our firm belief and understanding that the use of a development communication approach will go a long way in creating an active citizenry that is capable of meaningfully participating and taking advantage of the opportunities of our democracy. As such, the negative reporting by most media houses will never find space in the minds and hearts of our people who continue to vote for us.
We, the ANC, are quite aware of the negative agenda of those who are opposed to our strategic objective of creating a nonracial, nonsexist, prosperous and democratic society. It's an objective reality that part of their strategy will be to use media to spread lies and misinformation, as they are already doing. The ANC-led government will never abdicate its responsibilities of continuing to inform and educate our citizens on our achievements and programs of our democratic government.
The izimbizo approach to public participation resonates well with what the majority of citizens in this country understand. It promotes two-way communication and interaction between the elected representatives and the citizens. It strengthens participatory democracy and accountability.
The people's movement, which is the majority party in this House -the ANC - fully supports the idea of izimbizo, which includes repeat visits. Feedback remains critical on commitments made during the previous visits. Failure to provide feedback will make our people lose trust in their democratic government, which is a situation which we, the ANC, will never allow.
We are living in a society where information technology has advanced and information flows at lightning speed. In this regard, the use of social media has increased dramatically, particularly among the young generation. We have no doubt in our minds that GCIS has the necessary capability to ensure that government communications across all spheres of government is able to interact with our citizens in the mediums of their choice, for example, Twitter, Facebook, Mxit, etc.
Indeed, South Africa still experiences backlogs in terms of broadband and other network challenges. This situation cannot be allowed to continue like that. Government Communication, working with the Department of Communications, should profile all those areas that are without broadband and connectivity.
The government's Thusong Service Centres programme, formerly known as the multi-purpose community centres, have been identified as the primary approach for the implementation of developmental communication and information. These centres offer a wide range of services that communities can use for their own empowerment.
These one-stop centres integrate communities for their Integrated Development Planning, IDPs, as the IDP is the entry point for any development initiative at local level. We have no doubt that Government Communications will double their efforts in the marketing and promotions of these centres for their maximum usage because we cannot allow them to collapse or to become white elephants. Their collapse will mean denying our people much-needed services close to where they live.
We are pleased that the Government Communications continues to find innovative and create communication platforms to showcase government achievements and successes in the implementation of the government's five priorities. The introduction of the weekly electronic newsletter, My District Today, is yet another positive step in the right direction. [Applause.]
The ANC-led government will be implementing the broadcasting digital migration programme in the not-so-distant future. The programme will, with its many benefits, ensure that the digital television technology is accessed by all, especially the poor, thereby bridging the digital divide. We are confident that Government Communications, in partnership with the lead department, the Department of Communications, DOC, will embark on sustained multifaceted and integrated communications campaigns to create awareness of the digital migration programme.
Our country will be celebrating 20 years of democracy next year. We, the ANC, the people's movement and the majority party in Parliament, are proud of the many advances we have scored in our efforts to create a better life for all. As we celebrate the success of our democracy, we should not forget to maximise the use of community media. Government Communications should continue to work with community media to profile successes of our democracy and opportunities created. Platforms should be created to showcase beneficiaries of government programmes.
The battle of ideas could only be won if enough capacity is built amongst communicators. We, the ANC and the ruling party, support Government Communications effort to train communicators across the board.
We, the ANC and the majority party in this House, regard communication as a strategic tool to speed service delivery. It is our considered view that Government Communications needs to be fully capacitated and resourced for it to achieve its mandate. The successful implementation of all the elements of the National Communications Strategy will require additional funding.
The ANC supports GCIS and Media Development and Diversity Agency, MDDA, Budget Vote.
Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon members and distinguished guests, at the outset, let me remind this House what the primary role of GCIS is. It is to co-ordinate government communication systems that ensure that the public is informed about government's policies, plans and programmes.
Purposeful, as the hon Muthambi has said, and concise communication between government and its citizens is a moral obligation - to which I agree - that originates from the first principles of democracy. Since people are affected by decisions made by governmental bodies, they have a right to know how the decisions were made. In his budget speech last year, the hon Minister said, and I quote:
It is as important for government to create tangible and practical opportunities for a better life as it is to let people know, in the first place, that these opportunities exist.
However, this should also allow for the views and opinions of the public to be heard. Therefore, let us investigate how government, through the GCIS, informs the citizens about these opportunities.
The GCIS, in addition to pamphlets printed by individual departments, as we see during budget debates, primarily attempts to do this by printing 20,4 million newspapers annually and, to their credit, just over 5 000 copies in Braille. I want to emphasise this: printing 20,4 million newspapers, the Vukuzenzele, as many people have said.
I emphasised the printing thereof because the distribution of these 20,4 million newspapers to the public is a different story. One of the methods of distribution is through an agreement with the SA Post Office to host "information stands" populated not only with the Vukuzenzele, but other government information, be it from Home Affairs on how to access the many services they offer, to Health and other social services offered by government.
I referred to this last year, and I want to repeat it today. This is a good initiative because it is well known that the SA Post Office has a huge footprint across the country, and in particular in our rural areas. Unfortunately, our oversight visits have revealed that these information stands are often not present at all in post offices, and where they are found, they are usually empty!
Unlike the comment made by the hon Schneemann when he said people have taken and read them, which is in fact not the case, because when we ask questions from the Post Office staff, they simply say that they haven't received any information. So, there was nothing for people to take to begin with. This method of communication does not allow for the views and opinions of members of the public to be heard.
Communications functions that are considered strong typically do not rely on traditional print media alone to communicate with external stakeholders. Such strong functions develop innovative initiatives and place a high priority on electronic communications. While not speaking about social media specifically, the high levels of adoption of social media require government communications functions to understand and use social media as part of the overall communications mix.
I am therefore encouraged by the acknowledgement from the GCIS in its strategic plan that the growth in digital and mobile communications presents government with the opportunity and challenge to engage interactively with citizens and stakeholders, and to join in social conversations rather than produce one-way communication.
Unfortunately, the GCIS has not indicated yet how they intend to utilise this platform to communicate with communities. The other method of two-way communication, particularly for the older generation, is face to face interaction. In this regard, and a lot of my colleagues have touched on it, the Thusong Service Centres should fill this vacuum.
I touched on this last year as well, but since there hasn't been much improvement generally, it is worth repeating again. These centres are the main vehicles that are used to provide services in predominantly rural communities and underserviced townships. The vision of the Thusong programme is to ensure access to integrated government information and services to build a better quality of life for all.
Unfortunately, the efficient and sustainable use of the vast majority of these centres remains a service that is provided on paper only. Committee oversight visits revealed the following - and I have taken this from committee reports, so some of the issues mentioned around Thusong centres by my colleagues make me wonder if we were on the same oversight visits.
However, some of the issues revealed and adopted by the committee in the committee reports are the following: There is underutilisation of centres in that many centres provide minimal services whilst some, as I mentioned in last year's debate, are in fact locked up and stand abandoned; various Thusong centres are operating without lease agreements in place, and the ownership of the building being used is often unknown or in dispute, contributing to the lack of maintenance because nobody takes responsibility. Where such ownership or authority is known, rent by service providers, including GCIS, has not been paid for many years.
In Mpumalanga, centres are owned by the provincial department of local government. In the Free State, they are owned by the department of the premier, while in North West and Gauteng, the ownership of the structures are vested in the local municipalities. In the Western Cape, the Thusong Service Centre programme was transferred from the department of social development to the department of local government.
Because of the problems described above, it is often difficult to identify the authority that must take responsibility and exercise oversight over these centres. That brings us to the all-important question: What should be done to ensure integrated service delivery through the Thusong centres? Well, I will tell you what can be done.
In the DA-controlled Western Cape province, the directorate of service delivery in the department of local government has established a Provincial Intersectoral Steering Committee, PISSC, comprising the national, provincial departments and parastatals. This committee co-ordinates the programme provincially and provides strategic and operational implementation guidelines to secure the effective programme rollout. The committee also facilitates transversal co-operation across departments in the three spheres of government and provides leadership with regard to the provincial service delivery footprint.
The directorate has also established the Thusong Service Centre Management Forum, comprising all local municipalities and the Thusong anchor departments. The purpose of the forum is to guide the operational implementation of the Thusong Service Centre programme and to share best practice and lessons learnt regarding integrated service delivery across the province. Hon Minister, we can learn from the working examples in the Western Cape. [Applause.]
Crucially, two-way communication allows citizens to monitor the state's activities; to enter into dialogue with the state on issues that matter to them; and to influence political outcomes. If GCIS can achieve this, they will succeed in their goal to be an enabler of citizen engagement, ensuring that as many people as possible have access to information. They will succeed in becoming the primary facilitator to participative government that is there to empower people, facilitate dialogue and participation, and make the information that people need easily available so that they may assert their rights and express their needs. I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Chairperson, Minister, Deputy Minister, comrades and a few hon members here, I want to start by saying that governments throughout the world, when given a mandate by the electorate, would have made specific commitments which would have persuaded citizens to elect them.
It is therefore correct that governments communicate on a regular basis the work that they are doing and have done and also listen to their citizens to hear their concerns and expectations. It would be totally incorrect if governments did not communicate on how they are implementing the commitments which they have made, and I am sure you would all agree with me on this.
Here in South Africa, it is no different. This ANC government does exactly that. Through the Government Communication and Information System, GCIS, and departmental spokespersons, the successes and achievements, together with the challenges, are communicated on a regular basis. Unfortunately, some opposition parties seem to think that simply because it is an ANC government, therefore there should be no communication at all. [Interjections.] They would in fact prefer that the citizens of this country only hear their voice. [Applause.] They say that the GCIS is nothing more than a propaganda machine of the ANC, speaking on behalf of Luthuli House.
Let us take ourselves forward into the very distant future. If it was remotely possible that one of them happened to win the election, guess what they would do? They would use the GCIS to communicate the work that they would be doing. Although ... [Interjections.] Listen to me! I think that a GCIS under the opposition would close down, as there would be very little to report on. [Interjections.] But let's wait for it. The DA here in the Western Cape uses the GCIS, which they describe as a propaganda machine. It confirms my long-standing belief that the DA is hypocritical, to say the least. [Applause.]
Part of the aim of the GCIS is to provide a comprehensive communication service on behalf of government. Its core vision is to achieve integrated, co-ordinated and clear communication between government and South African citizens to enable them to be involved in the country's transformation. During briefings to the portfolio committee, it was very evident that the GCIS is doing a lot of good work to inform South Africans of the work being performed by government. However, it does seem at times that there is a lack of co-ordination between the various spheres of government, and this is an area that needs more focus - probably more focus here in the Western Cape, by the way.
During visits by the portfolio committee to post offices, we often found that the GCIS stands were empty or were not being used at all. I would agree with hon Steyn from this side of the House that a lot more work needs to be done to ensure that those stands are used and proper material is kept in there at all times. Whilst one acknowledges the work being done throughout the country to inform citizens that more can be done, I want to give you a particular example. How many South Africans are aware that the informal settlement of Zevenfontein, which used to exist alongside Dainfern in the north of Johannesburg, no longer exists? The reason that it no longer exists is because the entire community of Zevenfontein are now housed in a world-class suburb called Cosmo City. [Applause.] I raise this as just one example of the countless examples of the successes of this ANC government over the last 19 years. I am raising this because it also illustrates the need for a co-ordinated and effective communication strategy across all spheres of government.
I would like to make a call to the media in South Africa to report more objectively. Report on the many success stories and how people's lives are being changed. I would also like to make a call to Parliament to move with speed to put in place broadcasting services so that the government and Members of Parliament are able to communicate effectively with citizens, particularly about the work that is happening here in Parliament. [Applause.] The GCIS also needs to make greater use of regional television stations such as Soweto TV and Bay TV to communicate with our citizens.
The Media Development and Diversity Agency, MDDA, which the Deputy Minister has already spoken about, reports to the GCIS. It is entrusted with the responsibility of promoting media development and diversity in South Africa by providing financial and other support to community and small commercial media projects. A particular area I want to focus on is the work being done around community radio stations and newspapers. Under the leadership of our ANC government, some 400 new community radio stations and newspapers have been established through the funding and support of, in the main, the MDDA since the advent of democracy. [Applause.] Today, community radio listenership stands at 28% or to put it more simply: the community radio audience stands at 8,740 million, out of a total radio audience of 31,266 million. These figures are according to the Radio Audience Measurement Survey, RAMS, figures as at February 2013.
This is a remarkable story of what the ANC is doing to create diversity in our media and to give a voice to South Africans where they live. Most of these radio stations and newspapers are in the main run by young people. They are playing an important role in communicating local news to their respective communities. Much of this news is not generally covered by the main stream media. These young men and women have become celebrities within their own communities. More important, however, is that new journalists, radio presenters and studio technicians, amongst others, are being groomed.
A complaint that we often pick up when we visit many of these community radio stations is that often their presenters are taken by bigger radio stations. Whilst this is a challenge for radio stations, it does mean that young people are being given opportunities that otherwise would not have existed. It is because of the ANC and the programmes of the ANC that this is taking place. [Applause.]
A lot of work has been done by the MDDA to train and capacitate the management and staff of these radio stations and newspapers. One of the key challenges is their financial sustainability. It is in this regard that we would need to ask the MDDA to do a lot more work to ensure that their dependence on funding from the MDDA is reduced where possible. However, we do accept that in many areas where community radio stations exist, there is a low level of economic activity, and we need to take that into account as well. We would want to applaud the fact that over the past years, as the Minister has raised earlier, through the efforts of the GCIS, more than R30 million worth of advertising has been placed in the community media sector, and we want to acknowledge that.
The ANC, at its 53rd national conference, said that all spheres of government should advertise in community and small commercial media to assist with media transformation and diversity and the sustenance and growth of these media, and that is exactly what we are seeing happening now. What we now need to see is for local businesses to follow suit and support these radio stations and newspapers by booking advertising space. The Advertising Media Association of South Africa also needs to play a role in encouraging advertising houses to redirect some of their advertising towards community media.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, Icasa, needs to play an improved role in monitoring the content of what is being broadcast by community radio stations. [Interjections.] I just want to say that these radio stations are meant to broadcast community news. They are not funded by the MDDA to broadcast party political objectives. Before the DA shouts too loud, I think we need to ask Icasa to actually go and have a look in the area of Gauteng, particularly in Johannesburg, where there is a radio station that focuses exclusively on broadcasting the DA. Before you shout too loud, there are things that you need to be investigated for as well. [Interjections.]
Most of the community radio stations have told us that they would want to see a greater use of their facilities and services by local and provincial government to inform residents and also to communicate with them. Here we would need to ask GCIS to play a greater role in encouraging this to happen. Both the MDDA and the Department of Communications need to be commended on the work they are doing to support radio stations.
A lot more focus, though, needs to be given to working with the community newspapers. They face major challenges, because of some of the obstacles which are placed in their way by the larger media houses and printing houses. Very often their print runs are delayed, they get their publications late, the printing costs that they are charged is exorbitant, highly expensive, and often the quality of production is poor. We would want to call on these media and printing houses to play a constructive role in working with community newspapers to enable them to succeed and to remind them that at one stage they were also starting out, that they were also struggling, and that they were given a chance to succeed. We think it is only fair that they play their role now.
I just want to mention one last thing before I start to come to a conclusion. I think that a key achievement, and it was mentioned by Deputy Minister Bapela earlier on, that has been reached through community radio is that in the Northern Cape, the Khoi-San now, for the first time, have their own community radio station which broadcasts in their own language. [Applause.] I want to just say that this has been brought about because of the programmes of the ANC. [Applause.]
I want to just respond to a few things as I come to an end. I want to respond to a few things that had been raised by some of the opposition parties. Firstly, I am quite surprised at the amount of publicity they have given to certain publications here today, and it actually makes me wonder whether they have been paid to do that, and I certainly hope that they will declare that if, in fact, they have been paid. [Interjections.]
I also want to say to hon Shinn that GCIS material is widely read. We don't need the Audit Bureau of Circulations, ABC, to tell us whether it is widely read. What we go by and what we judge are the results in every election that has taken place since 1994. [Interjections.] In every election that has taken place, the voters have voted overwhelmingly for the ANC and that tells us that that message is reaching the electorate. [Applause.] I also just want to say something, and I think we need to correct something here. The New Age has never asked the MDDA for funds. In fact, it is the DA that actually asked somebody for funds, and they got them. [Applause.]
I also want to say that the DA stands here and talks glowingly about supposed work that they are doing in the Western Cape but, in fact, Thusong Service Centres in the Western Cape are being closed down - totally the opposite of what they told us here today.
As I come to Cope, what I have wondered sitting here is why they have spent so much time talking about one publication and the adverts that are placed in that publication when, in fact, if you look at all other publications, there are just as many adverts that are placed in these publications. [Interjections.] It actually starts to make me wonder whether this is not perhaps about race. [Interjections.]
I would like to congratulate the IFP and welcome the constructive inputs that they have made on how we should be focusing on improving GCIS publications. [Applause.]
As I conclude, hon Minister, I would like to say that I think the GCIS needs to play a far greater role in communicating with citizens in our country. There are far too many untold successful stories of this government over the last 19 years, and I think as we move into the last year of this particular administration, let's intensify our communication. Let's ensure that citizens are fully aware of what their government has been doing and will continue to do in the next 15, 20, 25, or 30 years after that, because the rule of the ANC is not about to end. In fact, I think what is about to happen is the disappearance of many opposition parties. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Chairperson, as usual, I avoid getting into confrontations with members who speak on behalf of their parties, even if they are wrong. [Interjections.] However, allow me to acknowledge and thank members for their input, particularly the hon Mr Steyn from the DA and the hon Van der Merwe from the IFP, who will definitely look at the Hansard to have a look at the suggestions we are making so that we can see how we help each other to improve when we need to do so. I would also like to thank the hon Steyn for quoting me. I am really quoted! [Laughter.] [Interjections.]
Allow me also to express my disappointment in the hon Shinn and hon Kilian.
HON MEMBERS: Ah, no!
The MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY - PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND EVALUATION, AS WELL AS ADMINISTRATION: My disappointment is on two aspects. The first is that we are being asked to defend The New Age, and we will never do that, because it is not our job. The New Age will defend themselves. [Applause.] [Interjections.] Unfortunately, they are not here in Parliament, but if you go and contact them, they can defend themselves. [Interjections.]
The second is my disappointment in the hon Shinn, who completely misunderstood what we said in the statement about the SA Democratic Teachers' Union, Sadtu. Let me repeat it so that members may understand and know why we issued the statement. Our point was that we cannot allow strikes that are not legal, strikes that are violent, and behaviour that will undermine our democracy. It was not in defence of the Minister; it was in defence of the principle. Whatever action we take in exercising our rights as citizens, we should not end up with unintended consequences, such that generations to come will think that this is the type of democracy we wanted. It is not. [Applause.] [Interjections.] Alright. They are the same. [Interjections.] Whoever. [Laughter.]
So, it is important for society as a whole, whether you like the ANC or not, it is important for us to understand that the actions we take today should not, in themselves, end up undermining the democracy that we want, in the form of us exercising our rights. We have to continue making that statement. Anybody who acts in a manner that undermines our democracy whether you are from the ANC, the PAC, Cope, the DA, wherever, all of us have to speak in a similar voice to ensure that we build a democracy and a society that our future generations will be proud of. [Interjections.] [Applause.]
The second point I wanted to address is this. In our quest to fight our own battles, we should not undermine the principles of our democracy and shift from what we think we believe in only to expose ourselves to show that we actually do not. Freedom of expression, freedom of movement, freedom of choice and to allow people to trade and to do business wherever they want to ... [Interjections.] If you want to fight another battle, at least be consistent. If you think there is something wrong with any action we take, take us to court or to the Public Protector. We will oblige if we are found wanting. If we are doing something wrong, take us to the committee. We are here. We subject ourselves to the accountability of Parliament. It does not help us to stand up and shout, to the extent that we undermine the very same principles we want to explain to our people so that they may understand them.
I would like to thank the members for the contributions they have made. I think we are going to assist each other to build this society. I confirm that, yes, we run the Government Communication and Information Service, GCIS, in the Western Cape jointly with the government of the Western Cape. We have not experienced any problems with them. We are working together properly, like any other part of the country. [Interjections.]
Let me explain to you the complication with regard to the Thusong Service Centres. They were established initially as information centres. They were then transformed into service centres. What does that mean? It means that before one puts up a Thusong Service Centre in a particular place, one must first budget to put computers and other stuff, as well as all the other departments, there. That is the complication. We are working together with all the departments, municipalities and other stakeholders to try and resolve that issue. The issue is, to what extent, and how, can we extend the services to the community as a whole without expanding and ballooning the budgets and the organisational structures of other departments. Thank you very much.
Debate concluded.