Chairperson, hon colleagues, it is as if the Department of Government Communication and Information Services is empire-building on steroids. The taxpayer is going to have to pay close to half a billion rand this year for what promises to become an unwieldy propaganda octopus, fastening its suckers onto every sphere of government communications around the country. With eyes everywhere, it will make sure every government representative and office sings from the same hymn sheet. Good luck with that!
With a whopping 17,8% budget increase over last year's allocation, Treasury's handout to the GCIS will also cover one of the highest staff bills I have seen - 43,5% of the allocation will be spent on salaries.
When asked about this in its budget presentation to the portfolio committee, the GCIS CEO was unapologetic. He replied that he had been unable to persuade Treasury to pay even more to what he described as the best creative and media talent money could buy. He wanted their salaries to be a reflection of their worth. In fact, he told us that the GCIS had requested a budget increase of 28,7% above last year's, but that the tight- fisted lot at Treasury had declined. Good for them!
What arrogance is this that when the taxpayer is overstretched to fund education, health care, building homes, etc, etc, the nation's media team - in comfortable new offices, driving smart cars and hob-nobbing with power - can command such high salaries?
I will tell you who they are. These are government's front-line troops in the battle of illusions, of smoke and mirrors. These are the people who will tell povertystricken citizens, who step over rivers of sewage each day, that they have never had it so good. They will tell them that the muck on their streets and the failed health system is because apartheid structures and attitudes have not been properly dismantled - or some other lame excuse for the ANC's inability to get its hands dirty, work hard and make government work. No amount of glossy magazines and full-page adverts in newspapers can paper over the cracks of service delivery failures where the ANC governs.
I acknowledge the many professionals in the GCIS who work hard to publish valuable and credible information about government. This appears on websites, in directories, yearbooks and magazines. They have provided a worthwhile service for years. I also acknowledge the value of the work done by the GCIS entity, the Media Development and Diversity Agency, which seeks to promote media diversity and development, particularly in rural areas.
There is much to be uneasy about when it comes to what the MDDA does in seeking to transform the print media, which, in its eyes, is controlled by four mammoth companies that indulge in anticompetitive behaviour and reflect the power blocks that supported apartheid. So, like rugby, it hurts to witness its survival.
Later this month our committee is expecting to preside over a two-day indaba on the transformation of the print media. Why such energy and angst have to be invested in this is beyond me. The print media is battling worldwide to survive in the face of technology that offers a myriad publication platforms. Technology will transform the print media much faster than any bureaucratic process government can come up with. So leave it alone!
However, what the MDDA does that is valuable is that it supports, through grants and subsidies, small community and commercial newspapers and radio and television stations. This is a valuable source to create a diversity of media voices, and as long as government does not use its financial clout to influence editorial content, we will support this endeavour to help budding publishers and broadcasters find their feet.
Many of these media outlets are run by passionate people. They have invested their pensions from previous jobs or have managed to borrow money from friends and others to get going. Some of them are the kind of mavericks that newspapers need. They are driven by the need to communicate relevant information about their communities, often in indigenous languages.
There are some who will fail because they are freeloading on what seems to them an easy, government-funded job. They must be made to realise that this is not a social grant and they must be weeded out of the system as soon as their lack of talent becomes evident.
The department should allocate more of its share of taxpayers' money to the MDDA, which needs to help promising publishers and broadcasters become financially independent.
To get back to the spin doctors: There is the matter of the secrecy Bill adverts. When the government faced exceptional opposition to this legislation, it embarked on a countrywide public participation process in the hopes of demonstrating that the majority of people outside the metros supported it. They were proved wrong.
Then an advertising campaign, masterminded by the department, was launched to tell South Africans that they had been misinformed and that the main intent of the law is to protect citizens against identity theft. What rubbish. The adverts were a blatant attempt by the government to subvert the democratic legislative process by deceiving the public.
Now, if the Department of State Security, in whose name the adverts were placed, published its deceitful message in a newspaper, the ANC would say this would justify taking it to the Press Ombudsman or to a media tribunal, but the adverts fall outside of any editorial intervention. There is no press code applicable here. The correct channel is to take the complaint about government's lying adverts to the Advertising Standards Authority, which is what the DA did.
If the adverts were about a fast-food outlet claiming its deep-fried meals were the answer to eternal youth, the ASA would have acted in a flash to get the adverts withdrawn. Yet when it comes to the government blatantly lying to its citizens, courtesy of the GCIS, the advertising watchdog leaves its dentures at home. It wimped out and said it couldn't act because the adverts expressed an opinion.
The DA strongly disagrees and has asked the ASA to reconsider its decision. We believe the government adverts have abused the trust of the consumers - who in this case are the nation's citizens. We believe the adverts also exploited citizens' lack of experience, knowledge or credulity, which should be cause for ASA action.
We also believe that the adverts sparked fear in our citizens by saying that their ID numbers and birth certificates would be vulnerable to theft if this legislation was not passed. Also, let's remember that the Minister of State Security claimed there were spies out there wanting to steal government information. There are already laws in place to safeguard us from both these issues.
The protection of our democracy is the responsibility of every citizen, particularly of those who form organisations to safeguard the innocent and uninformed from exploitation and manipulation. I suggest the ASA do its job properly before it is obliged by the courts to do so.
One of the DA's main disputes with the ANC is its inability to comprehend the separation between party and state. Let me dispel any lingering doubts that the nation might have about taxpayers' money being used, via the endeavours of the GCIS, to fight the ANC's 2014 general election campaign. The ANC's communication policy document for discussion at its upcoming conference in Mangaung clearly demonstrate this conflation. The relevant words are found in paragraphs 143 to 148.
Let me read some of the discussion points: The ANC's communication machinery and effectiveness as the ruling party is as strong as the ANC government's machinery and effectiveness. There is weakness in co-ordinated and streamlined government communications which has resurfaced in recent times which has had bearing on how the ANC communicates and performs on matters related to governance and service delivery.
Paragraph 144 states:
For instance, the ANC government service delivery records are not readily communicated to influence and set the media agenda, and thus do not form the basis of dinner table and general media discussions. This is clearer during service delivery protests when in some instances people burned recently built schools, clinics and libraries in their protest against lack of service delivery.
Paragraph 145 states:
The lack of government communication was also clearly evident during the recent national and local elections when it was left solely to the ANC campaign to highlight the ANC government achievements, contextualise the nondeliveries where they existed and still continue to battle for re- election in order to continue pursuing the ANC transformation agenda.
I make no apologies for the grammar in the next paragraph. I will read it as it appears, and then offer an interpretation. Paragraph 146 states:
In a pro-active campaign and co-ordinated government communication, issues of service delivery would not form part of contest, but what the future holds and which political party is best positioned to take our country forward.
I think this should read: "In a pro-active ANC campaign with co-ordinated government communications, issues of service delivery would not form part of the contest - between political parties - but that the campaign should focus on what the future holds and which political party is best positioned to take our country forward."
This last paragraph - seemingly innocuous in its wording - finds a home in a political party policy document because the ANC sees the taxpayer-funded GCIS as an essential component of its election arsenal.
Experienced journalists understand to the core of their being that readers are not stupid and they know when they are being lied to. No amount of smooth talking is going to convince them that that's not sewage they're dodging on their way to catching trains that are not running on time. I caution the GCIS against using taxpayers' money to promote political party agendas. Do not do so, as it imperils us all.