Media Development and Diversity Agency & Film and Publications Board on their 2015/16 Annual Performance & Strategic Plans, with Minister in attendance

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed the Minister of Communications to the second day of strategic plan presentations by DoC entities. She commended the presentations from the previous day as they were clear and straight forward. The amount of progress could be seen and the gelling together of the new department.

Minister of Communications opening remarks
The Minister of Communications Ms Faith Muthambi, said the strategic plans of the entities were a result of teamwork. DoC worked together with the entities in their planning sessions and she was encouraged by the commitment of the entities to working towards the President’s vision in the communications sector. However there were some issues which were felt to be critical in the MDDA strategic plan and APP presentation. One critical area was that the MDDA Board did not approve the strategic plan and APP as currently there was not a full Board to form a quorum.

The Minister said she was pleased that Parliament had completed its recommendation of three people to fill the vacancies on the MDDA Board. The National Association of Broadcasters and the Print and Digital Media South Africa representative recommendations were in place. In the previous strategic plan some of the key deliverables were not SMART and this had been improved on.

Community broadcasting and funding of community broadcasting agents was a critical aspect for the MDDA. DoC would continue working with MDDA on this aspect. In addition, part of the DoC’s work with MDDA dealt with regulating the print media which needed to be taken further to effectively create a meaningful transformation agenda of the country. MDDA also became critical in the issue of resuscitating the parliamentary inquiry as raised in the previous day’s meeting for a mobilised and acceptable regime in the transformation of the media industry. This dealt with the transformation of the advertising industry as well.

The DoC had noted that in its presentation, FPB’s was requesting additional funding for the medium term expenditure framework. The FPB had had to revise its strategic plan which the Doc was now satisfied with. Digital advances in technology had brought challenges to the FPB on how to regulate content. FPB activities would be intensified to address the adverse impacts of advertising particularly with regards to youth and children. It would also ensure securing access to online content. DoC was in the process of reviewing the FPB Act as which would be addressed by the CEO in her presentation.  The Amendments were awaiting certification from the State Laws Advisor and the DoC. She assured the Committee that the work which would be done in terms of legislation was massive and with the Committee’s support the communications sector would be transformed for the better.

The Chairperson said the Minister’s preamble was helpful in laying out the functions of the MDDA. Progress on the appointment of the MDDA Board had been indicated and the Committee had finalised its recommendations for the board. There would be approved by the National Assembly and its next sitting and thereafter the MDDA Board would be fully constituted.

MDDA on Its 2015/2016 to 2019/2020 Strategic Plan
Ms Phelisa Nkomo Chairperson, MDDA Board, said the Minister had eloquently alluded to the issues that MDDA was currently facing. She said MDDA was entrusted with the responsibility of promoting media development and diversity in South Africa. MDDA provided amongst others financial support to community non-profit and small commercial media projects. She said MDDA tried to articulate the mission and vision of the DoC. MDDA’s mandate was to encourage ownership, control of and access to media by previously disadvantaged groups and historically diminished indigenous languages and cultural groups. In addition the MDDA was mandated to raise public awareness with regard to media development and diversity issues amongst other things.

MDDA linked its strategic objectives to the DoC. Some of the linkages were broadcasting digital migration by providing information and training on broadcasting digital migration as well as infrastructure and digital equipment to all community broadcasting stations. MDDA would also link the ICT policy review to the DoC and would participate and submit input during the ICT policy reviews process.

Ms Nkomo said MDDA strategic focus for 2015 to 2018 was on provision of: grant and seed funding for community and small commercial media, capacity building interventions for beneficiary organisations and communities, advocacy and lobbying. MDDA would also focus on raising funds and mobilising resources to strengthen the community and small commercial media projects for sustainability. The entity would also focus on research and development (refer to document for details on each strategic focus).

She added that MDDA was making an impact in the sector as 75 per cent of community broadcasters were funded by MDDA. However the agency was yet to make much impact in the print media. In terms of class this was something to be considered in the next financial year to look at the type of support to be provided to cover content which was class related with a focus on rural and peri-urban areas. Exogenous factors such as volatility and mobility of people in the sector had presented challenges in the sector because community media both broadcasting and print was used as a stepping stone to better labour market opportunities. Hence MDDA was working with the National Community Radio Forum to ensure that the sector was professionalised in order to retain skills a little longer than is the current case.

MDDA was looking forward to concluding the issue of quorum for the Board because there were many things that needed to be concluded not only in terms of disbursements but also leadership ability. The agency was also looking forward to the legislative review as it guaranteed the agency to be able to review its progress over a period of ten years and how the sector had changed and understand the dynamics. Understanding the dynamics would help to review the funding models for instance as the Minister had earlier mentioned digitalisation presented a new challenge for the agency. As such there was a need to build capacity within the agency to enable adjudication of proposals containing digital content.

MDDA Annual Performance Plan 2015/2016
Ms Duduzile Nchoba, Acting CEO, MDDA, said there were five key strategic areas of focus but for operational purposes the agency functioned with two programmes. The first programme was the administration programme and the second programme actually covered the functions of the agency which was mostly operations on the ground to do with seed funding.

Programme 1: Administration
Ms Nchoba said there were six sub-programmes under the Administration Programme which were to provide overall management and support for the promotion of media development and diversity. These were, Human Resource Management, Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Financial Administration and Auxiliary Services, Risk Management and Internal Audit, Information Management & Technology and Communication, Branding and Stakeholder Management.

Programme 2: Grant Funding and Non-Financial Support
Programme two was grant funding and non-financial support which aimed at promoting media development and diversity. The objective of the programme was to provide technical, non-financial and financial support to diverse media platforms. It was also the agency’s objective to increase community participation in ownership and control of community and small commercial media. The following were the sub-programmes under Programme 2: Community Broadcast Media, Print and Digital Media, Research, Training and Development and Monitoring and Evaluation which was very important.

Programme Key Performance Indicators for 2015/16
Each sub programme had key performance indicators under Programme 1 (Administration). Under Human Resource Management some of the performance indicators were the percentage turnaround time for filling of vacancies which depended on the availability of a full Board. Job evaluation and grading was important as MDDA had been around for the past 12 years and there was a need to relook at the positions and skills available. A skills audit would enable to position the right skills within the organisation for effective and efficient performance to move forward in light of the digital era.

Ms Nchoba said that under the Legal Department sub-programme, performance indicators would include implementation of contracts management strategy in order to ensure projects understood and adhered to the contracts which they signed. So far the agency had not had any contractual disputes and would try to maintain 100 per cent resolved contractual issues.

Under Financial Administration and Auxiliary Services the key performance indicator would be disbursing funds allocated to the agency to be used for intended purposes. As the agency worked with Small and Medium Enterprises it payment of invoices within 30 days would be a performance indicator so that the livelihoods and sustainability of SMEs were not affected. The target for this would be 100% at each quarter. Since its establishment, MDDA had enjoyed an unqualified audit and would like to maintain the record as it was a source of pride for the organisation.

Under risk management sub-programme, monitoring and evaluation would become more robust in 2015/2016 to be able to mitigate the risks which would have been identified from projects much earlier. An early warning system would ensure pro-activeness and not reactiveness to both internal and external risks.

The world was living in a digital era, with people utilising cell phones, smart phones, I Pads and laptops. Hence the MDDA needed to gear up for this new era to be agile and be able to respond to the many innovations in the sector. MDDA had refreshed its website to improve responsiveness and keep in touch with projects.

Communications, branding and stakeholder management sub-programme would be focused on in order for MDDA to be relevant. From a stakeholder’s perspective and to keep up with what was happening in the industry in terms of research and what partners were doing MDDA needed to keep up with any new developments in the sector. MDDA was rebranding and engaging with stakeholders and partners more frequently as well as publishing newsletters to update the sector. MDDA programmes would be given an opportunity to take part in national freedom day for the first time. The sub-programme would be playing an active lobbying and advocacy role for MDDA projects. This would be enacted by the Provincial Government or MDDA to ensure access to information for all in the sector. For example MDDA would be getting involved with local projects such as local government elections, in training, getting involved and reporting. MDDA was aiming to be the source of information and not waiting to hear third hand information.

Ms Nchoba said risks had been set aside for each programme. The biggest risk for MDDA was inadequate funding which limited MDDA’s ability to meet the needs of vast projects. The agency would have to be smart in allocating funds. Being in the industry for 12 years MDDA had an opportunity to get a sense of where the industry was going i.e. fund more new projects or maintain current projects. Inability to meet the need in the sector remained the biggest challenge for MDDA. Community media relied much on government funding for sustainability. MDDA needed to empower, train and capacitate the industry to reduce dependency. Nonetheless, MDDA still had a role to play as such it would assist projects on how to market and generate advertising revenue.

Lack of business continuity was also a risk set aside. In the absence of putting in place systems and processes that were void of people the organisation would suffer. In 2015/16 financial year MDDA would make sure that business systems were sound to enable continuity regardless of who was at the helm of the organisation.

Ms Nchoba said that under programme 2 there were a number of projects that MDDA was hoping to assist in the financial year. The annual target for community broadcasting was ten projects that were fully operational i.e. people were active in the sector. Emphasise would be placed on digitally active radio stations. MDDA would ensure that its web site remained active so that projects funded would be able to access the web site. Around R2 million had been set aside for print and digital media under small commercial media projects. It was hoped that at least 80 print media projects would be supported on the MDDA’s website. Also MDDA wished to implement at least one project that had come out of research and development. MDDA would target to meet stakeholders in the year at least four times to ensure everyone was aligned to the same objectives.

Research and development would be consolidated to get a sense of everything that had been done and implement the recommendations. The same would also be done under training to get a sense of what training existed in the market, who was doing what, who was accredited to train the community in the media sector and in what areas. The MDDA would fill in the gaps.

There was a lot of room for improvement under the monitoring and evaluation framework. A new and revised monitoring and evaluation framework had been developed and would be forwarded to the Board for approval. The framework would help MDDA to be pro-active and find issues early on and help to build the sector.

The risk management under programme 2 was under project management. MDDA would ensure that the new grant funding policy presented to the Board would be able to deal with the issues. There would be more capacity building initiatives this would be done at the grant orientation workshops to ensure people understood the contracts that they were getting into. For instance understanding what it took to run a community radio, the financial and training implications and issues that emanated once the project had been funded.

Financial Resource Consideration
Mr Talifhani Khubana, Acting CFO, MDDA, said as had been stated by the Acting CEO, MDDA would be focusing on two programmes. MDDA had prepared a budget for execution of the programmes which in the main 75 per cent would be spent on the core mandate of the MDDA.  This would be supporting community media, small commercial media, research and training as well as monitoring. About 25 per cent of the budget would be spent on general administration and operational costs in terms of the support function.

MDDA revenue was comprised of 40 per cent transferred from DoC, 45 per cent came from contributions received from broadcast funders. Over the MTF period 15 per cent of the revenue would be generated from other sources of funding including interest that was likely to be generated.

MDDA was anticipating to receive R22 million from DoC, R24 million from broadcast funders and R7.7 million from other income for its 2015/2016 budget. The programme cost was estimated at R39.1 million and R15.4 million for operation costs. Less than R100 000 would be spent on replenishing inventory in terms of laptops. The budget was not planned on a deficit or a surplus as required by the Public Finance Management Act.

Ms Nchoba thanked DoC for support given to MDDA and its Board and the constant communication from the committee.

Discussion
The Chairperson thanked MDDA and said that the presentation was okay as it showed progress.

Ms V Van Dyk (DA) asked the Minister that since print media had stopped contributing to the MDDA fund, what plans the Minister had to facilitate discussions between the print media and MDDA. In a previous committee meeting it was indicated there were 13 out of 24 vacancies at MDDA she requested that a report be submitted to the committee on the vacancies and staff that had left as well as the reasons for their departure. She asked how long the CFO had been acting as well as for all the acting positions. Why was there a high turnover of staff and why weren’t the acting positions filled. She asked whether a new Board chairman or director had been appointed in terms of the 2012/13 expectations. She further asked if there were any vacant positions for directors in the Board and if so when would they be filled. Why was MDDA targeting to monitor only 30 per cent of its projects and how many had been monitored this far. Were entrepreneurs receiving grants getting training and how the managing process was being done? Comparing the 2013/14 to 2014/15 funded projects there was a decline and what was the reason for the decline.

Mr W Madisha (COPE) said he had looked at the submitted report comprehensively and was not satisfied. His dissatisfaction was further exacerbated by the presentation. The report prompted one to look back at the life of the structure as it did not indicate what had been achieved from the beginning. The report only talked about the founding principles over a period of 12 years. The report should mention achievements and the problems that MDDA had faced and what had been done to overcome the problems. He was of the opinion that the report should be re-done by the structure as it had not done its work. Repeating the founding principles was not satisfactory as the committee should rather be informed of the achievements.

Ms D Tsotetsi (ANC) said at some point the committee would have to do an oversight to confirm the provision of infrastructure and digital equipment to communities. Therefore MDDA was requested to provide the committee with a geographical breakdown of the areas where there was a provision of infrastructure and digital equipment. In relation to sub programme 2 which aimed at promoting ownership, there was a problem with transformation in South Africa. She requested for a breakdown in terms of race and gender to determine who owns what and also to assess progress in as far as transformation was concerned. From 2012 to 2015 the strategic plan of MDDA indicated there was a challenge with funding and the agency had taken it upon itself to raise revenue amounting to R46.6 million. Could MDDA guarantee that it would be able to raise that amount and to what extent had it affected the projects which were being funded? How long the CEO and CFO would be acting? Acting positions had challenges as one was not able to perform to his or her optimum due to uncertainty.

Ms N Ndongeni (ANC) asked what progress had been made with training events planned in 2013/2014 financial year. What impact did the training programmes in the communities where training was carried out? Was MDDA able to show the impact of radio operational [inaudible] and sustainable models produced by stakeholders?

The Chairperson clarified that the MDDA Board was appointed by the committee. From the Minister’s preamble the Minister had stated that DoC was working on appointing two other Board members. Three members had been filled by Parliament and members should be aware that there were vacancies for five members which meant the Board did not constitute at all. Normally the Board should appoint the CEO of MDDA and the Board had indicated to the committee to speed up the process of appointing Board members in order for the Board to function. The committee should be accountable for some of the outstanding vacancies; however members were committed as they had conducted interviews for one post when parliament was on recess. As such MDDA could not be faulted for still having an acting CEO.

The Chairperson said there was no way a structure could just go down and collapse, there should be a reason. Did MDDA look into the long term existence of the institution that created sufficient capacity? The committee had done oversight with the Board and the Executive as well as staff members. What was the reason for consistent departures? Why didn’t MDDA interact with other entities of the state as it was critical? The committee needed to panic with the MDDA current state. There was a time when the committee had to summon MDDA because reports were not submitted on time. The committee had to engage with DoC over this and the Minister promised MDDA would be reinforced and top executive would be sent to assist. The committee needed to verify if this had been done.

Ms Nkomo responded that MDDA always appreciated a robust engagement with parliament and believed that the oversight from the committee was intended to be a constructive engagement as well as building the institution. In addition the engagement would allow MDDA to reflect on itself as an institution on the strengths and weaknesses and focus on what needed to be done to move forward.

Ms Nkomo responded that the impact of not having a collating Board meant that executive appointments could not be made. Vacant Board posts meant the existing Board was merely holding things together to prevent the organisation from falling. Print media had contributed to initiating a legislative review. The DoC in a previous meeting had indicated that it was working on a position paper for both print media and broadcasting. The position paper was also looking at all the dynamics that were mentioned on the ground in all sectors and what were the new challenges presented by digitalisation. The legislative framework should be responsive to such dynamics. The print media had a concern over financial contributions particularly to reflect on the journey that the print media had supported with their own funding. Print media also raised issues about a shrinking balance sheet amidst current economic conditions for instance digital media was side tracking print media. This was an engagement that had to be undertaken and the APP did highlight that R2 million had been allocated but by comparison that was very low for broadcasting. Much more was allocated to print media.

Ms Nkomo responded that MDDA had reflected on its achievement when it had presented its annual report. In her opening remarks she had stated that MDDA supported 75 per cent of community radios. It had also been mentioned that there were exogenous factors which were beyond the agency’s control in terms of stability of the sector in terms of mobility and volatility. Furthermore the sector was not professionalised and people were getting stipends which made it easy for people to be mobile once they had obtained skills to join established media houses. Community broadcasting launched careers for many people which should also be seen as an achievement. The MDDA should be able to quantify mobility.

Leadership challenges in the form of vacant Board posts meant was affecting ability to appoint the executive.

Ms Nkomo said she was quiet happy to share the reasons as to why people left MDDA. About four weeks ago a skills audit was carried out which also looked at the reasons why people left MDDA. Some of the reasons were career mobility, change of interest and so forth. Positions which were within the control of management had been filled out.

She highlighted that when an organisation changes and there was new leadership, it was common for some people to depart an organisation. Particularly if the person felt it was a misfit or wanted to pursue something else in their life.

MDDA would be quiet happy to provide the figures on provision of digital infrastructure. A map of where MDDA was in terms of a footprint for both rural and urban as well as provincial spread. The intent was to demonstrate to the committee that MDDA’s resource allocation strategy was balanced. MDDA would present the information on digital infrastructure in terms of race and gender to the committee. MDDA was entrusted with the role of media diversification what was not coming out strongly and needed to be elevated was issues of class. Class presentation on content as well as class orientation was also something that MDDA intended to take up.

Ms Nchoba responded that whilst compiling the presentation management had to make a decision on what to present to the committee. There was a report that had to be submitted to the Board for approval, but still a presentation had to be prepared to the committee. As such management took a middle ground to present the five proposed new projects based on knowledge of what the organisation needed to do. Once the APP was audited and approved the five new programmes would be aligned with the strategic key areas.

Mr Khubana responded that the MDDA could guarantee that it would be able to raise R7 million through fund raising. He emphasised that the absence of a quorum for the Board had an impact on fund raising. Had it not been for the meeting, some of the activities that could lead to finding resources from different sectors could have been taking place. The Board was working hard to ensure fund raising took place. The Minister should be commended for efforts in re-activating that discussion. MDDA was confident that based on the agreements already in place and based on interactions with various sectors in terms of broadcasters and print funders it would be able to achieve the fund raising target.

Mr Lindinkosi Ndibongo, Acting Programme Director, MDDA, responded that on the issue of training at an earlier engagement with the committee in March the Issue of training had been reflected on. However, he added that in the past financial year, MDDA had trained 535 beneficiaries in both print and broadcast sector. Some of the trainings were aligned to some of the risks that had been identified concerning project management and financial management. Out of the trained beneficiaries, 194 were females and 341 were males. A summative report had been prepared by the monitoring and evaluation unit which was awaiting Board consideration. The report draws on monitoring and evaluation reports from 2012 to 2014. It also summarises the challenges faced by the sector some of which were issues of corporate governance, financial management, conflicts in various stations and dependency in government as well as the lack of support by government as well. These issues affected sustainability as such some of the planned trainings were focusing on addressing these issues.

Recently a performance appraisal had been conducted in all the units to put together the portfolios of evidence. In regards to monitoring and evaluation, 109 sight visits had been conducted by the unit and reports were on the table to that effect. Also 75 projects had been monitored to desk top as only a sample can be monitored per annum due to capacity needs. Therefore reports were available for all monitoring and trainings conducted.

Ms Tsotetsi said everyone present had a mandate to transform society in many forms such as training particularly for young people. She advised MDDA that in future information such as had been provided by the Acting Director for programmes should be included in the reports. When such information was omitted in the report it seemed as if the agency was wasting money for nothing. She appreciated the challenges MDDA was undergoing to function in the absence of a Board but still apart from the transfers and the grants anticipated in terms of fund raising were there any other options for fund raising. She commended the agency for doing a good job.

Ms Nkomo apologised for the omitted information. She said MDDA would provide the information for the training agenda for the committee to get a comprehensive picture.  She added that when the Board adjudicated over the proposals one of the key conditions emphasised on the stations was on transferring of skills, job creation so that MDDA could review that comprehensive picture. On resource mobilisation MDDA was exploring partnerships with MITISA on issues of training, USSASA on how they could resource some of the projects particularly those linked to sustainability i.e. print media which was focusing on SMME development. A lot of public sector entities had been established which could provide support for fund raising. For instance MDDA had engaged with National Community Radio Forum and EAIP to hold SAGA accountable for the 30 per cent spent on advertising for municipalities. MDDA wished to take this further and establish a policy which would help to hold entities accountable. At the moment it was the government which was sustaining the community radio sector as there was minimal participation from other partners.

Ms M Nkadimeng (ANC) said MDDA had assured the committee that it would be able to raise the R46.6 million. She asked if there were plans in place to deal with a possible deficit. She commended MDDA for the unqualified audit and asked MDDA to strive for a clean audit which would be highly appreciated by the committee.

Ms Van Dyk asked about the vacancy rate at MDDA and insisted for a document with departures and staff turnovers with specific reasons. She wanted the information before she could act further.

The Chairperson said the document should be sent to the attention of Ms Van Dyk.

Ms Nkomo responded that MDDA had earlier on committed to providing the report which was linked to the skills audit report.

Mr Khubana responded that the MDDA took a conservative budgeting approach when preparing the budget. The Board only approves funding to community media houses when resources were available. In the event that there were no finances then the Board would not approve funding for community media houses. This helped to manage the relationship between spending and the budget.

The Chairperson thanked MDDA for the presentation and took note of the issues that had been raised. She hoped gaps in the Board would be closed for MDDA to become fully functional as the Minister had stated the APP was not able to go through the normal process because of this challenge. 

FPB Strategic Plan for 2015-2020 and Annual Performance Plan 2015/16
The Chairperson said the committee had noted some of the things said by the Minister in her preamble. These related to request for additional funding as were most entities as well as the revised strategic plans. The Committee was pleased that FPB’s revised plan tallied so well with working with the Minister which meant FPB was relevant. The committee would be more interested with the DTT inclusion and how it would be dealt with. Other issues such as securing online content, legislation revival, and involvement of State Laws Advisor on amendments were issues which would be reoccurring and would be continuously dealt with by the committee. The committee’s oversight visit to FPB was fruitful as members learned a lot about FPB and understood better how things were done and how much work went behind the scenes.

The Chairperson invited FPB to present its strategic plan and APP.

Ms Thoko Mpumlwana, Chairperson, FPB thanked the committee for the opportunity. She said FPB was pleased to be engaging with the committee even though it was at a strenuous time when there were challenges facing Brand South Africa.

The FPB was established in terms of the FP Act of 65 and it was hoped this would be amended soon. FPB mandate was to promote Constitutional values of accountability, fairness, transparency and professionalism. FPB also used the Bill of rights which was chapter 2 of the Constitution. Furthermore the Bill of rights called upon the FPB to uphold the rights of children as well as balancing other fundamental rights such as freedom of expression, trade, freedom of occupation and professionalism.

She shared cases which would help to ponder the realities faced by FPB. One such case was a new law passed by the British parliament called revenge porn which had hit the market. Such cases were also appearing in South Africa, for example, the Pulane case where the woman involved eventually ended up committing suicide, the naked pastor and the most recent one being pictures of a couple in Big Brother having sex. These were realities that FPB was facing.

More recently the front page picture of the murder of Emmanuel Sithole in the Sunday Times was also worth pondering on. Many Rights such as the right to human dignity, the right of freedom of expression, the right to privacy, freedom of religion and the rights of a child were all intersecting in that single picture. Question of how these rights should be raised considering that section 36 also limits rights. The FPB had to deal with these issues; other countries like the UK have made Tweeter laws where laws now governed the tweeter space where people tweet and insult each other. In the current xenophobia attacks this had also happened a lot. These were challenges facing FPB.

The key focus areas for 2015-2020 were to strengthen FPB and grow it into a leading and cutting edge classification authority. To intensify efforts and take initiatives in protecting children which was fundamental and also let children be children through content classification. FPB was going to focus on strengthening ICT as an institution and the regulatory framework to effectively address online distribution and formalise the sector within the FPB’s capabilities. Furthermore, FPB would implement a cutting age and modern technologies to classify content distributed online in South Africa. In addition FPB would focus on moving towards a single content classification system.

FPB would continue to reach and grow across the country. It would ensure public education and awareness campaigns. FPB would also ensure that there was no child pornography and would ensure that children were not exposed to pornography. FPB would also educate against piracy which was rife. The entity had worked hard to ensure that FPB was embedded in the hearts and minds of South Africans to ensure people understood the importance of age appropriate classifications in materials.

Ms Mpumlwana said FPB was currently working with UNISA to help professionalise classification and the course would be launched in January 2016. An online regulatory policy had been launched and public consultations were being hosted. Some public consultations had already taken place in KZN. The programme was being launched in the Western Cape. FPB was grateful to CGIS which had been working with FPB on this as well as the support of the Minister and DoC on the collaborations.

Ms Mpumlwana sent a notice that FPB was hoping to host a SADC Conference in September 2015 on Child Protection and Cyber Safety. The committee was invited to attend.

Mr Themba Wakashe, CEO, FPB said the strategic plan presented to the committee was a product of a planning workshop that FPB held with DoC, where it engaged with institutions and executive authority. He informed the committee that in 2016 FPB would be celebrating its 20th anniversary. Activities were being planned for the celebration to highlight the role that FPB had played in the last 20 years and also its vision for the next 20 years. It was hoped FPB would be different in the next 20 years due to digital migration and advances in technology.  This should be borne in mind when members looked at the 1996 Act amendments which would be tabled later in the year.

FPB had been engaging with the South African public and if members could recall during a sight visit members had raised an issue as to whether FPB was actually consulting with broad online policy strategy. FPB had been to Mpumalanga, KZN and was currently in the Western Cape and also meetings with crucial stakeholders such as the National Editors Forum and an Association of Network Providers had been held. The policy would be well informed with inputs from across all classes as there was a perception that issues about internet and cyber space concerned the middle class. Issues of cell phones concern all social classes.

FPB had classified a movie titled Khaya of love which was dealing with issues of xenophobia with South African, Nigerian and Malawian actors. The Movie was a good product which would be taken across the country as part of FPB’s effort to assist with social cohesion in the fight against xenophobia. Currently FPB was planning on how to conduct the road shows with this movie in parts of KZN and proceed to Gauteng.

The mandate of FPB would be ready at the end of September and it was a matter which was engaging with the executive authority. A meeting had been held with the Acting DG of DoC and meetings with the Minister would be held to ensure continuous oversight and stability.

Ms Palesa Kadi, Shared Services Executive, FPB had been integrated into DoC as such the strategic plan focus areas had been aligned with the DoC priorities. Whilst DoC priority was broadcasting and digital migration, FPB’s priority within this realm was to look at single content classification system and content labelling on digital platform which included SABC. This would ensure uniformity in standards. Whilst DoC overarched on communications policy in reference to how the public was communicated, FPB remained committed to informing consumers in terms of choices that they made in society. FPB also liaised with industry in so far as the mandate of the FPB and strengthen relationships with the industry to create a positive image.

Media transformation, through online regulation looked at how new online content was received which was digital nowadays. Cases of complaints were also received online. FPB featured in the Broadcasting Policy Review through single content classification system and content labelling on digital platform. Online space was difficult to regulate as no one really owned it but an initiative had to be taken as far as online regulation was concerned. For instance the current recruitment of a young woman in Cape Town by ISIS reflected the need to regulate the online space as adverse institutions were utilising and using young people for such elements. Improvement of capacity of entity had ensured a change in FPB’s ICT capacity to better regulate the sector and develop online regulation otherwise the institution would become irrelevant.

FPB had five strategic objectives which were reflected in the strategic initiatives and influenced the framing and development of the APP. The first strategic objectives was industry compliance and how FPB was engaging with it, the strategic initiatives were content classification and labelling, following guidelines and at the same time upholding Constitutional matters. Some projects were continuously evaluating the convergence of societal norms and values to ensure guidelines and classifications were understood. Most importantly was to understand the implications of not understanding a 16 and 18 SNL classification and what it did to children and those who were under aged. The review of Films and Publications Act would strengthen the operations of the organisation including compliance issues. Currently FPB compliance officers did not have powers of arrest for illegal film traders and distributors in Johannesburg or Cape Town. The Act and its review referred to the compliance issue and how best to safe guard and closely monitor the FPB’s existence.

Industry compliance was affected by the fact that the FPB was working in a very commercialised and advanced industry in so far as online was concerned in terms of day to day work and distribution of materials. The FPB had an online submission system as it had forecasted that this would be a requirement in the future. Online submission system had also increased efficiency.

Cyber safety and child online protection were some of the campaigns the FPB worked on. Maintaining national and international partnerships was vital. Kenya in all its capacity in broad band, it was still looking up to South Africa for content classification as they did not have formal structures. So many other countries in the African continent were looking up to South Africa for content classification. SADC partnerships had been established to ensure regulatory alignment. FPB continued with public awareness and education to inform and remain visible on the ground.

The second strategic objective referred to how consumers and the general public were informed about the mandate of the FPB. This reflected on how the brand was perceived and understood through its corporate identity. FPB interacted with the media through various structures and movements which kept an eye on the FPB. These included the right to know campaign which was always critical of how FPB responded to policy issues. In addition FPB conducted community outreach which enabled monitoring and evaluating effectiveness of such campaigns through operational systems. There has been a digital move in element of engaging i.e. Facebook was now used and other means of social network so that FPB was found where people were. FPB was looking at the currently legislated British law in so far as how to prosecute online non-compliance, racial issues and revenge porn.

The third strategic objective was how FPB planned to build its capacity, capability and sustainability in the next five years. A lot of research and interaction had been conducted to enhance regulation but also looked at trends in the industry. Research also looked at tariff structures and systems as well as models on how to generate more revenue. Administration and governance was also part of the strategic objective. Internally it looked at pursuing and mitigating risks as well as the legal support. Each received case required legal input so that the entity was able to administer those cases and refer such cases to the Minister’s office if there was a need. Legal compliance was required to apply and implement FPB’s work.

The fourth strategic objective was online and mobile content regulation which was pre-occupying FPB at the moment. This regulation needed innovative regulation systems needed all staff to be skilled and re-skilled to embark on the online path which was constantly changing.

The fifth strategic objective was partnership collaboration. Within the country FPB was closely related to the Film Industry, Film Commissions and other entities under the Department of Arts and Culture. FPB also looked at the industry’s self-regulatory bodies. FPB worked with these partners both formally and informally through partnerships and MOUs. International Association of Hotlines (INAH) was a critical body and FPB held a Board seat in the structure. FPB was able to set a footpath in terms of Africa’s representation in INAH and worked according to INAH’s standards such as the receipts of concerns and complaints through call centres. This raised South African standards to international levels of standards in the sector. In addition FPB conducted impact assessment from 20 years ago from censorship to classification and assessed the gains in so far as the observations to the Constitution were concerned particularly regarding creative freedoms and freedoms of expression and also individual freedoms. Protecting the African Child was a key area in policy and law. In addition FPB wanted to work better with industry as the industry was highly commercialised hence was working on incentivising for compliance. Also the industry had to understand that there were laws which had to be applied when there was noncompliance.

Mr Tebogo Matabane, Acting CFO, FPB said over the years FPB’s financial performance was good and had managed to sustain an unqualified audit which the entity planned to maintain in the coming years. For the 2015/16 financial year, FPB had budgeted expenditure of R88.4 million of which R82.3 million would be allocated funding and R6.1 million would be generated revenue. The entity’s budget had been reduced by R500000 when it was under the Department of Home Affairs and this had created problems in allocating resources and implement projects. Budget allocation for 2016/17 was R93.4 million and 2017/18 allocation was R98.1 million. The budget included strategy targets for revenue which was mainly revenue generated from licencing. Tariffs were reviewed in the last quarter of the last financial year, and a pilot study of the tariff structure would be carried to review the tariff structure and thereafter the new tariff would be implemented in the next financial year.

Most of the budget expense was allocated to compensation of employees and it was difficult to keep it within the annual 5 per cent increase allowed by treasury. Increased expenditure on staff compensation meant limiting expenditure on the mandate thus the request for additional funding which would assist in realising the fourth strategic objective.

The chairperson asked how compensation to employees was done.

Mr Matabane responded that compensation to staff was actually for employee cost. Part of it was paid to classifiers who were appointed by the Minister to classify movies.

The chairperson asked if classifiers were full time employees.

Mr Matabane responded that classifiers were paid an hourly rate. They normally clocked hours worked and received payment at the end of the month.

Processes and controls which would assist in reducing costs had been implemented. For instance use of consultants had reducing thus reducing consultant fees by 15 to 20 per cent. Expenditure on meetings and workshops had also been reduced by holding the meetings at FPB offices.

Implementation of controls relating to irregular expenditure was in place. For instance R1 million had been to a company to develop a system but failed to do so. FPB had been able to recover part of the payment and had engaged on how the balance would be paid over a period of three months. If the company fail to repay the money it would be reported to Treasury and blacklisted.

Ms Mpumlwana emphasised that when FPB performed its function to classify as the Moto said “We Inform You Choose”. When classification didn’t please people who had submitted materials then FPB became censors. If classification was done right then FPB became a regulatory body.

Discussion
Ms M Nkadimeng (ANC) welcomed the presentation but said she could not see timeframes for the programmes.

Ms Kadi responded that the timeframes were included in the APP which was submitted and tabled in parliament. The presentation had looked at annual targets to be able to reflect at high level but timeframes were in the quarterly milestones.

Mr M Ndlozi (EFF) said the Editors Forum had argued that they were not consulted for the draft for the regulation of digital content. He was interested in the FPB’s response as a key stakeholder. Was the Editors Forum speaking the truth and what was the consultation process for the draft regulation?

The Chairperson said there would always be wasteful expenditure and most institutions did not have a way for dealing with such. She commended FPB for taking the extra mile in order to recover costs and most institutions should follow suit to reduce wastage of resources.

She appreciated FPB’s initiation of legislation review. This would not be engaged much as the process was due soon.

Mr Madisha thought FPB should be the richest amongst the groupings and did not understand why the entity said it did not have enough. FPB should do a historical operational realm of where the entity was, where it concentrated in terms of operations. He raised an issue which was raised in the previous meeting when dealing with SABC. FPB was talking about children and education as such it should therefore provide information as to how many children were acting. This was a problem that one needed to be clarified on.

Ms Tsotetsi said that it was difficult to follow the numbers as members had received another copy of the presentation. She agreed with Mr Madisha that there should be information about the targeted groups in terms of (inaudible) and the awareness campaigns which were undertaken. Which areas had been covered both rural and urban and what was the response.

Mr Wakashe apologised for the numbers, he said there was just confusion with the presentations that had been sent earlier. He said he had met with South African National Editors Forum (SANEF). It was delegation of about ten people who were concerned because SANEF was working on a framework which was a code for the industry. SANEF wanted the code to be integrated with policy. This could not be done because the code was still being drafted. A 15th July deadline had been set prior to which FPB and SANEF would engage to see the proposals coming from the code and see whether the proposals enabled FPB to move forward. There did not seem to be any opposition from SANEF towards regulation of the sector but a question of how to regulate still remained. SANEF also proposed a self-regulating system because they were the press and freedom of expression should not be regulated. However, all countries had laws which had to be respected.

Ms Mpumlwana added that the discourse was about to what extent government should interfere with freedom of expression. Should it interfere at all or should people be free to express themselves without boundaries? For example one had the freedom to produce porn but did not have the right to expose children to porn. Such intersecting discourse always played against each other in the regulatory confinement. As such there was a need to find a balance within the Constitution and have a clear coherent regulatory framework.

Mr Wakashe responded that the actual operational realm of FPB was in classification. This was also where FPB was generating a bit of revenue by classifying movies for Nu Metro and Ster Kinekor, amongst others. The shift to digital migration had multiplied stakeholders, for instance FPB was now dealing with Google, Apple and so forth. Google had apps and unfortunately the tariff structure of FPB did not hold water as the sector was just moving into a new digital space with its own possible tariff structures. FPB was working with Wits and the University of Johannesburg to review the tariff structure which would change the actual potential for revenue. This should happen in the next two years as such the medium term expenditure would remain the same. Increased expenditure should be expected if there was a blanket tariff which would be classified per app, then the volumes would increase. Solid resistance should be anticipated from people with money. FPB had started engaging with Google and Facebook and these were ongoing conversations. The online policy was critical for FPB and it would be a game changer for regulatory framework in South Africa. Additional funding that had been requested was not for staff. It was for upgrading of ICT structure otherwise FPB would not be equipped to handle the digital migration.

Ms Kadi spoke about protecting children and informing the public. She referred to a case of what was known as imitative acts which children could follow. For instance there was a case of a pastor who drank petrol with his congregation saying it was juice. That was an act which children could imitate however the effects of diarrhoea were not communicated only the spiritual aspect of the act. FPB had worked with UNISA on a study to assess the impact of content on children. The study was ready for publication and one of the findings was that South African children were more comfortable watching violent scenes than sexual scenes and how did it translate into societal norms and scenes of children attacking each other in schools.

FPB was implementing back to school programmes annually where rural and urban schools were visited. Plotting was related to problematic areas in which FPB had received and attracted cases of child pornography, sexting and nude pictures. Emphasis was put on what could be done within the law and what was age appropriate for learners. FPB also conducted convergence studies which was a large study to see how South Africans understood classification guidelines. The study required a lot of resources and expertise, fortunately FPB was working with targeted universities. Long term relations had been established with UNISA which was running a certification programme of classification using the Schools of Law, Education and Market Bureau to work on the trends and analyses of the impact of the law.

Mr Madisha said he was happy with the responses and the point that was further raised was FPB’s interaction with Wits and other Universities looking at revision of tariff structures. It was further indicated that there might be resistance in so far as the required change was concerned. What should the committee ask the Minister to look into?

Ms Tsotetsi requested that members should submit further questions in writing regarding the document that had just been received. She added that there was confusion regarding FPB’s mandate to preserve the norms and values of society and on the other hand film producers were looking for maximum profits and would do whatever to get money. She asked if the justice system did what it was supposed to do for example with cases that had been taken to the police or was the FPB doing everything alone.

Ms Mpumlwana said that in addition to what Ms Tsotetsi had said individuals who were making money did not like anything that could affect ability to make more money. Government interference in the sector was not welcomed as it would affect profit margins. Furthermore FPB was not yet sure how the new tariff structures would go yet.

In order for FPB’s work to have impact, there should also be impact in surrounding countries. Trafficking issues were online. Piracy crossed borders with people producing counterfeits which were sold in the country or exported out of the country. There was a need for countries in the region to apply the same standards on piracy. It was hoped that the SADC conference in September would help to address the issue of piracy.

Ms Mpumlwana thanked the committee for the opportunity to present. She said written questions would be responded to as soon as they were received.

In her closing remarks the Minister said she was pleased to work with FPB. The entity did not have problems like the other entities in the DoC. The leadership was also effective and was steering the entity in the right direction. On the issues raised by the AG there was only one thing that needed to be done. The AG reported there were no matters to be reported as there was no follow up yet done. FPB was able to implement what the Public Finance Management Act prescribed to be done when service providers failed to deliver.

The Minister said she was encouraged by the entities ability to work together as the entities complimented each other. DoC had noted with interest the AG’s report with regards to other entities and would be making a follow up with SABC to ensure all the Auditor General’s qualification areas were addressed timeously. DoC would also ensure that all entities were complying and exercising correct measures to redress all the audit queries. The presentations by GCI and DoC had tried to capture the mandate of all the entities. For the first time ICASA had managed to streamline strategic objectives by reducing the objectives from eight to three as well as aligning the strategic objective to the National Development objectives imperatives. This would also allow DoC to measure ICASA’s performance. She added that SABC was also trying to ensure compliance and trying for a qualified audit. The DoC would be watching closely to ensure there was full compliance at SABC.

With digital migration there was a need for ability to invest in local content and this could be possible with entities working together. The DoC would sign a charter with entities which would ensure accountability and compliance. The charter would be signed upon approval of the budget and strategic plans and would be submitted to the committee thereafter so that the committee could also assist in monitoring non-compliance.

The Minister said DoC was on course and would rely on the committee for support and guidance to make sure the mandate was delivered. She thanked members for a robust engagement and said DoC was available to account to the committee at any time.

The Chairperson appreciated the Minister’s presence for the presentations. It was helpful as it assisted with some of the responses and identified how other matters would be handled. Since the division of telecoms and communication there had been some progress things were looking up and entities had started working together. There was a lot of work ahead as such all parties should utilise the division to go deep in dealing with their mandate. She thanked members for their commitment as the APPs and strategic plans were lengthy documents. Now entities were tangible and it was up to the committee to make the Minister run. The Minister understood the committee’s role and if things happened it was for the good of the country not individuals. It was everyone’s responsibility to ensure that South Africans benefitted from the existence of entities.

The meeting was adjourned.

[Apologies were received from Mr M Kekana (ANC), Mr R Tseli (ANC), Ms S Van Schalkwyk (ANC) and Mr G Davies (DA)]