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.