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.]