Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon members and guests, I rise in support of Budget Vote No 9. In his closing remarks to the Cabinet lekgotla in January 2011, President Zuma stated that communication should be a primary task in 2011.
The core mandate of the Government Communication and Information System, GCIS, is to meet the communication and information needs of government and the public's need to be informed about the activities of government. This mandate requires the GCIS to consistently ensure that the public has access to information on programmes, policies and opportunities created by government so that the widest number of people is adequately informed about how they can improve their lives and what government services are available to them.
The ANC believes that access to information and communication technologies improves the speed at which government delivers to the public, and generally empowers communities to interact with one another and the world at large. However, is government information accessible to the people of South Africa? That's the question I have to ask today. A survey was conducted by All Media and Products Survey with a total sample size of 25 160 adults in South Africa, aged 15 and above.
The results of the survey showed that radio has a high listenership in the rural areas, especially amongst the top five radio stations, and that the SA Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, African language stations specifically had a higher listenership compared to community radios.
The GCIS uses 65 community radio stations to broadcast at least twice a month, covering a listenership of 5,5 million, as well as 66 community radio stations to flight the state of the nation address, the Budget debate and the reply to the debate on the state of the nation address.
During the state of the nation address, which is the agenda set for government programmes, activities include 68 big screens used for this event. Viewing was done in various communities, tertiary institutions, hospitals and correctional institutions. These were all targeted as venues for the state of the nation address.
The events take the form of big screens, public viewing sites and panel discussions. Some of these events were linked to direct service delivery drives by the Department of Home Affairs, the SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
The GCIS outreach activities include briefings by districts and local municipality officials, district communication forums at taxi ranks, shopping complexes, schools, churches and flighting promotional advertisements on community radio stations. All of the above activities are to make sure that the public is informed about government policies, plans and programmes.
The GCIS currently prints about 405 copies of the Vukuzenzele black magazine in braille, which are distributed to various schools and organisations for the blind. However, I am not sure of what is provided for those who cannot read, so I am asking the GCIS to make this facility available in audiovisual media as well.
Around 2007, South Africa's parliament ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. On 3 April 2008 the 20th country signed the convention, and on 3 May 2008 this convention became an international law. Through the Office on the Status of Disabled persons, which at that time was in the Presidency, South Africa was very active in working on this convention.
The purpose of this convention is to promote, protect and ensure full and equal enjoyment of all human rights by persons with disabilities. The reason why I am mentioning this is to inform the GCIS that there are people with disabilities, for example, deaf people and people who are deaf and blind, who cannot have full access to government services if it is not made accessible.
I would like to encourage the GCIS to take note of accessibility in Article 9 of the convention and to highlight Article 21, which talks about the freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information. I am a deaf person, and I do not have full access to government information, especially via the medium of television.
When the GCIS talks about information being broadcasted via the radio, a large percentage of deaf people do not have access to this medium. When the GCIS broadcasts the state of the nation address, we are sometimes fortunate to have subtitles or sign language interpreters. But when politicians, political parties or political analysts are making comments or giving input into the state of the nation address, there is obviously no access for this minority group.
Earlier in April this year, a group of deaf people attended a Portfolio Committee on Communications, hoping to meet the SABC about their need for access to all information, including government information via television. A result of that meeting and a follow-up meeting with the SABC resulted in all election programmes being made accessible via sign language interpreters, and this is being continued on SABC 2. I would like to thank them for their continued work.
I would like to inform the GCIS that Parliament has six sign language interpreters present here. I would like to encourage them to work with Parliament and form a partnership with it, and also for Parliament to use them, especially when we have Ministers' briefings, to make that more accessible.
It is also important that we as the community be informed of what the government is doing. It is not a personal request, because people in my constituency ask me: What is government doing for us as disabled people? What is happening in government? Therefore, this is important.
While I was preparing for my speech on this debate, I watched two DVDs from the GCIS - The Use of AV Technology within Government, and Your Government 2011. It is sad to note that neither of these DVDs was accessible to me as a Member of Parliament, and when I give presentations to my constituency, I obviously cannot use your DVDs.
Hon President Zuma stated that communication should be a priority task in 2011, and it is my hope that it will be accessible communication for all. In this way, all people in South Africa can have a better life, including people with disabilities. Thank you. [Applause.]