Minister on GCIS Strategic Plan 2011-2014

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Communications and Digital Technologies

14 March 2011
Chairperson: Mr E Kholwane (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Government Communication and Information System briefed the Committee on its Strategic Plan for the Medium Term Period 2011/12-2013/14. They told Members that the GCIS provided leadership in government communication and developed communication policy guidelines as well as a guideline on the Public Participation Programme, and set up media briefings for Ministries and government departments. New platforms had to be investigated to reach larger sections of the population. The GCIS would be leading the government-wide communication drive. More effective partnerships between public and private sectors had to be harnessed for better delivery. The presentation also focused on the GCIS mandate, its performance review, feedback on parliamentary questions, its corporate strategy, core programmes and financial management. A situational analysis showed that the public perception on government performance on its mandate priorities was that the public did not have an overwhelmingly clear picture. The highest negative perceptions were on HIV and AIDS, crime and unemployment. GCIS effectiveness was governed by its relationship with departments and provinces, which meant that a more effective process needed to be put in place to respond to parliamentary questions and appearances in Parliament in a manner which would enhance rather than damage the government’s image.

The Committee’s concerns focused on the characteristics that a good government communicator needed, whether GCIS would be able to use the money that other departments had not spent on communications, how many people benefited from the Vuk’uzenzele magazine, whether the Thusong service centres were effective, what it was doing to minimise fraud within GCIS, whether more persons with disabilities would be included in GCIS senior management positions, how centralisation of responses to parliamentary questions would improve the current situation, where provincial GCIS offices were located so Members could inform their constituents, why there were no sign language interpreters for presidential statements and ministerial budget speeches, GCIS had to ensure government was accessible to all people, whether GCIS employment policy was in line with employment equity policy. GCIS was criticised for its handling of the illness of former president, Mr Nelson Mandela. The Democratic Alliance referred to the national government spokesperson’s comment on national television about coloured people in Western Cape. Everyone knew about the outcry in the media and how people had reacted to the statements. Could Mr Manyi admit that, as chief communicator for government, he should have handled the situation better or if he had learned anything from the incident. The Chairperson told Mr Manyi that he was not obligated to reply to this as it did not have any relation to the topics the Committee was at the meeting to discuss.

Meeting report

Opening Statement by the Minister
Minister for Communications, Mr Collins Chabane, noted that this was the first time the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) would brief the Committee since the appointment of its new Chief Executive Officer, Mr Jimmy Manyi. The GCIS mandate was to provide communication, leadership and support to all of government. The GCIS was expected to keep the public informed about the work of the government through different platforms. There had been a number of successes within the GCIS over the last year and they were making steady progress in all the areas that were said to be problematic. The GCIS arranged media briefings and meetings for all ministers and government departments that wished to interact with the media in order to transfer information to the public. This started off each year with the State of the Nation Address and the Budget Speech. 

The GCIS developed communication policy guidelines for communicators in various spheres of government. Live communication was also arranged through community radio stations so government could speak to the public and respond to their queries. Public participation programmes were also implemented in government departments and arranged and coordinated media interactions in relation to official state visits. The GCIS met with the SA National Editors Forum (Sanef) to discuss the relationship between the media and the government. They also discussed issues that were a common concern to both institutions such as communication for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and setting up a 24 hour operations room for the World Cup. The GCIS led an energy efficiency campaign, which was championed by the Department of Energy.

The Minister stated that the GCIS strategy going forward was to elevate the government’s priorities and to provide support to stakeholders engaged in various sectors that would contribute to the five priorities. The GCIS also wanted to contribute to rural development by ensuring that people in rural areas had more access to information.

The Chairperson congratulated Mr Manyi on his new appointment. The Committee wished him well.

Mr Jimmy Manyi, Chief Executive Officer: GCIS, thanked the Committee and said that he would not take his position for granted.

GCIS Briefing on the Strategic Plan
Mr Jimmy Manyi, GCIS CEO, noted that today’s communication had to be rapid, global, multimedia and a team effort in order to provide continual messaging and information to citizens, businesses and the international arena, to help coordinate regular media briefings, publish print and electronic platforms to help public servants liaise with government, to assess through research public perceptions in the country, to ensure Thusong service centres take government programmes to the public, and in order to convert the Vuk’uzenzele magazine into a government newspaper.

Feedback to Parliamentary questions were given through community radio stations, BuaNews and the Vuk’uzenzele magazine. GCIS supported community media, but mainly radio. Members of Parliament had complained that they had never seen Vuk’uzenzele in a constituency in the North West. Constituency offices would be used for sharing information on how to access government services. The GCIS was in the process of investigating a government-wide monitoring and reporting platform for communication. There would be increased access to e-services in rural areas as an inter-departmental team was working on the repositioning of the Thusong Service Centre Programme. This would provide people with cheap broadband access and opportunities for training.

Mr Vusi Mona, GCIS Deputy CEO: Communication and Content Management, spoke on some of the challenges the GCIS faced. He stated that the public perception on government performance on priorities of the mandate did not have an overwhelming, clear picture. The FIFA World Cup improved international perceptions of the country, especially its ability to deliver on service and the pace of its development. The highest negative perceptions were on HIV and AIDS, crime and unemployment. GCIS effectiveness was governed by its relationship with departments and provinces. A more effective process needed to be put in place to respond to parliamentary questions and appearances in Parliament in a manner which would enhance rather than damage the government’s image. In order to ensure prompt and adequate responses, the communication system in general needed to develop the ability to respond promptly to negative and potentially damaging stories in the environment.

International exposure to South Africa had to be leveraged to reposition the country. The World Cup initiated high levels of volunteerism, tolerance and willingness to partner with the government. New platforms had to be investigated in order for media to reach larger sections of the population. The GCIS would be leading the government-wide communication drive. More effective partnerships between public and private sectors had to be harnessed for better delivery of the communication strategy.

In terms of the GCIS performance review, the Department provided leadership in government communication. The GCIS developed communication policy guidelines as well as a guideline on the Public Participation Programme, and set up media briefings for the Ministry and government departments. GCIS also held engagements with Sanef, and was in the process of finalising a Memorandum of Understanding with the SABC. The GCIS was in the process of training more than 300 government messengers.

Ms Nebo Legoabe, GCIS Deputy CEO: Government Stakeholder Engagements, spoke on corporate strategy for 2011/12. The vision was to have government communication that empowers and encourages the public to participate in democracy and improve the lives of all. The strategy would lead the strategic communication of government, ensure coherence of the message, and open and extend the channels of communication between government and the people. The GCIS was a strategic communication organisation. It would provide communication support to the implementation of government’s 12 outcomes. The strategy aimed at continually supporting communication to inform the public on the policies and programmes of government, providing strategic leadership in government communication, strengthening and managing the government-wide communication system for effectiveness and proper alignment, exploring communication methods and practices to enhance communication, leading and guiding the international and domestic marketing of the country, and focusing on media diversity. It also aimed at operating communication platforms that would keep public servants informed, building partnerships with strategic stakeholders in pursuit of its vision, and operating an efficient and effective government communication organisation.

The GCIS’ Communication and Content Management programme focused on providing strategic leadership in government communication for the purpose of ensuring coherence, coordination, consistency, quality and responsiveness. The programmes also focused on policy and research, media engagement, international marketing, and content and writing. The Government and Stakeholder Engagement programme in the GCIS provided leadership and strategic advice to the government communication system. The programme focused on provincial coordination and programme support and media development. The Administration programme provided an efficient and effective support service to the GCIS. The programme focused on finance and supply chain management, human resources, information technology and management, strategic planning and programme management and internal auditing. The budget was split between the three programmes over the next three financial years. The Communication and Content Management programme received the highest allocations, followed by the Administration programme and then the Government and Stakeholder Engagement programme. The Administration programme would receive R113 186 000 for 2011/12, R119 975 000 for 2012/13, and R127 038 000 for 2013/14. The Communication and Content management programme received R290 969 000 for 2011/12, R308 098 000 for 2012/13, and R323 567 000 for 2013/14. The Government and Stakeholder Engagement programme was allocated R92 238 000 for 2011/12, R96 334 000 for 2012/13, and R101 372 000 for 2013/14.

Discussion
Mr N van den Berg (DA) noted that Mr Manyi had not had a pleasant start as the CEO of the GCIS; however, he wished him well in his new position. He thought that the government had to communicate more regularly and consistently, as well as set “agendas” instead of responding to the media all the time. There were a lot of issues within the public. The government knew that the public was unhappy with its service delivery, the unemployment rates and the high rate of crime. It was difficult to communicate with restless communities or people. People wanted to see results; they wanted to see service delivery. He asked if “setting the communications” meant that the GCIS would be telling the SABC what to say to the public or to say what the government wanted the public to know. He asked for two or three ideas of what a good communicator working for the government had to be able to do. The government spent a lot of money on adverts, for the radio and in print media. He asked who decided what the content and quality of the adverts would be. In his experience, some of the government adverts, specifically the Afrikaans ones, were unprofessional and of bad quality.

Mr Manyi replied that it was the duty of GCIS to communicate to the public what the government was doing and the progress it was making in executing its responsibilities. The GCIS held imbizos where they listened to people and what they wanted. The government had a very effective way of communicating with the public.

He said that it was very important for a good communicator, such as the GCIS, to communicate with integrity. It was important to communicate the facts, not just the government’s agenda. All communications had to be accompanied by the proper context. Communicators always had to be available and had to give the proper responses.

Ms N Magazi (ANC) noted that the GCIS had captured all of the Polokwane resolutions regarding communications in their Strategic Plan. She wanted to address the issue of the budget. She was aware that the GCIS co-ordinated the government’s communications as well as some of the department communication units. There were some departments that under-spent on their budgets. She understood that there would be a time when the GCIS would ask the National Treasury for an increment in their budget. What was the possibility of GCIS utilising the funds that other departments had not spent? She understood that 1.6 million issues of the Vuk’uzenzele magazine were printed every second month. The GCIS wanted to convert it into a newspaper. She asked how many people were benefiting from the magazine.

Ms Williams answered that the GCIS wanted to ask Cabinet to allow them to access, through the normal budget processes, 15% of the communications budget from the departments because some of the GCIS programmes would be addressing the communication that cut across government departments. It was difficult for the GCIS to access departments’ savings, as savings usually only became available in February or March.

Mr Mona added that the GCIS had a document showing what the distribution footprint for Vuk'uzenzele looked like. They could make this information available to the public to show to where the magazines were distributed. GCIS was conscious of the fact that the majority of the recipients should be rural, as rural people were the ones that were disadvantaged when it came to accessing information.

Ms T Ndabeni (ANC) noted that an analysis was done on South Africa’s media coverage domestically and internationally. She asked what the GCIS did with the findings after the analysis was completed. She wanted to know if the Thusong Centres were effective and efficient. Did they do what was required or expected of them? If so, what was the impact on the ground? Many cases of fraud had been reported in government departments. Supply chain management processes had been put in place but this did not seem to help. What was GCIS doing to minimise fraud?

Mr Mona addressed the query on media coverage of South Africa. He said GCIS had regular meetings to discuss what has been in the media and what the implications were on communications sector.

Ms Legoabe answered that the programme for the Thusong centres was over ten years old. Over the years, there had been some evaluation of the programme. The last study was conducted by the Public Service Commission. The study stated that the issues of access, co-ordinated information, disabilities and marketing had been well addressed. However, one of the challenges was that of having issues “with integrated ICTs”. This was regrettable because the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) has implemented the ICT “blueprint” in most of the Thusong centres over the last two years. However, the DPSA was not going into the centres to ensure they had appropriate infrastructure and properly trained people.

Ms Williams addressed fraud, saying it was a problematic matter that forced the GCIS to be on its toes at all times. This was why the GCIS was grateful for its relationship with the Auditor-General (AG), who assisted them with their fraud prevention plan that was monitored on an annual basis. The GCIS also segregated duties, which helped to minimise damage from fraudulent activities.

Rev K Zondi (IFP) stated that his question related to the proposal to centralise the responses to parliamentary questions. He asked them to elaborate on this. How would this improve the current situation and would the President be tracking the response times of departments?

Mr Mona replied that the GCIS had the responsibility to coordinate communication within government. Centralisation of the answers to parliamentary questions was a response to the Executive's plea to the GCIS for help on this matter. GCIS would be supporting the Leader of Government Business in tracking and monitoring replies to parliamentary questions.

Ms S Tsebe (ANC) asked what the GCIS was doing to include more disabled persons in senior management positions. She referred to the GCIS budget for administration and asked if the amount for office accommodation under the administration budget included the cost for GCIS provincial offices. She noted that the Vuk’uzenzele magazine was distributed to municipalities but that it did not reach many of the rural areas. She asked why the magazines could not be evenly distributed.

Ms Williams replied that disabled persons made up 2% of the management staff in the GCIS. This was on target. The GCIS said that they were concerned that they did not have more people with disabilities at senior management level.

Ms Williams addressed the question on the allocation for office accommodation, saying the figure included the provincial offices and the satellite offices in the Thusong centres.

Ms W Newhoudt-Druchen (ANC) asked for information on where provincial GCIS offices were located so Members could inform their constituencies where the offices were located. The GCIS was mandated to send information to the public, but some of it was not accessible to the public. When there were budget speeches or the President made a statement to the public, there were no sign language interpreters for the deaf. The GCIS had to make sure the government was accessible to all people. She asked if the Vuk’uzenzele magazine would be printed in Braille as well once it was converted to a newspaper.

Ms Williams answered that the GCIS would provide Members with the information on where GCIS offices were located.

The Chairperson noted that the GCIS was in the process of filling in its vacancies. He asked if GCIS was in line with the country’s policy for employment equity.

Mr Manyi thought that the theme of “context” was very important. As he responded to the question, he would set the proper context for the question. He said that the context was that South Africa was a member of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). A convention of the ILO required member states to put measures in place to redress past imbalances. This was an internationally acclaimed concept. The Bill of Rights was very clear on this matter. It said that legislation had to be put into place to address historical imbalances. This gave rise to the Employment Equity Act, which was very clear. It said that the country needed to achieve equitable representation. The Commission for Employment Equity tracked progress on how the country was doing in achieving the objectives of the Act. The Commission tracked the progress of all South Africans. The challenge in the country was usually at the top three management levels, specifically senior management level. In terms of the law, employment had to reflect the “economic equity population”. Nationally, Indian people constituted approximately 3% of the population. Approximately, 15.5% of GCIS employees were Indian. This meant there was an over-representation of Indian people in GCIS. Nationally, 76% of the economic equity population was black. However, approximately 56% of the GCIS employees were black. Nationally, the coloured community was approximately 11% of the economic equity population. 10.9% of the GCIS employees were coloured. Nationally, the economic equity population for white people was approximately 12%. 17.4% of GCIS employees were white. There was an over-representation of white people in the GCIS.

Mr van den Berg referred to the comment made by Mr Manyi on national television about coloured people in Western Cape. Everyone knew about the outcry in the media and how people had reacted to his statement. He asked if Mr Manyi could admit that he, as the chief communicator for government, should have handled the situation better. If he did not want to answer this question, could he tell the Committee what he had learned from the incident? Was it possible for Mr Manyi as the chief communicator to “kill the story” quickly, as it had lingered in the media for quite some time? Now there were a few other little stories attached to this incident, which meant that Mr Manyi would have to “kill” all these stories as well as the main one. It was Mr Mona that had to issue a statement to kill the story and to give the GCIS’ official viewpoint. He asked if it should have been Mr Manyi's job to handle the situation from the beginning, as he was the chief communicator for government.

The Chairperson told Mr Manyi that he could reply to the question if he wanted to. However, he was not obligated to as it did not have any relation to the topics that the Committee was at the meeting to discuss.

Ms Ndabeni stated that she assumed Mr van den Berg knew why Mr Manyi was at the meeting. She expected him to ask those kinds of questions privately.

Rev Zondi noted that the manner in which the GCIS had handled former president, Mr Nelson Mandela's illness, was not satisfactory. He asked the Minister to elaborate on this.

The Minister answered that the current President, Deputy President, and other political office bearers had made some announcements concerning Mr Mandela's condition at the time. However, the focus had to be on the manner in which people reacted to the news. The manner in which the media handled the matter created more problems. The GCIS had learnt a lot from this incident and realised it could handle these situations better.

Ms Tsebe asked if there were any provincial newspapers and what their relationships were with the national newspaper that the GCIS was trying to set up.

The Minister replied that the idea for the Vuk'uzenzele newspaper was that it would “create a space and the reach” into all areas of the provinces. It would contain all the government information that it was required to put out in the public. It would also be able to cover important provincial matters, even though the newspaper was there to provide the public with information about what was happening in government. Most provinces and municipalities had newsletters to inform people of what was happening locally. The government did not want to “disturb” this. However, they had to use every avenue to communicate with the public.

The Chairperson noted that the Committee generally agreed with the GCIS’ Strategic Plan in terms of what it sought to do and where it was going. He thought that the GCIS should have more power and authority within the communication spheres of government. He realised that this was a difficult matter to deal with; however, the GCIS needed the powers to intervene where necessary. It was the Committee's view that the GCIS had to find a way of persuading departments to allow “communicators” to sit in on strategic planning meetings. This would allow the GCIS to get the information first hand. He hoped the GCIS would be able to engage with departments on this matter. When the GCIS returned later this year to present its Annual Report, it should be able to tell the Committee how many departments had acceded to the suggestion that a spokesperson or communicator should sit in on strategic meetings.

The Minister stated that he welcomed the comments and suggestions made by the Committee, as he knew that it would only stand to improve the GCIS.

Mr van den Berg wanted to put it on the record that he was saddened by the fact that the GCIS and especially Mr Manyi missed a wonderful opportunity to put the “coloured people” incident to rest.

The Chairperson commented that he was not sure what the problem was as Mr Manyi, as the chief communicator for government and the CEO for GCIS, had come to the meeting to account for the GCIS’ Strategic Plan. He chose not to respond to the matter as it was not necessary for him to respond on this platform. He appreciated that Mr Many had chosen this route. He thanked the Minister and the GCIS for their presentation and contribution to the meeting.

Meeting adjourned.

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