Question NW1200 to the Minister of Communications
05 June 2017 - NW1200
King, Ms C to ask the Minister of Communications
(1)Whether the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) has outsourced its stakeholder engagement function; if so, (a) what is/are the name(s) of the companies to which this function was outsourced, (b) when was this function outsourced, (c) at what cost and (d) who signed off on these contracts; (2) whether the specified company(ies) has/have done any previous work for the MDDA; if so, (a) what are the relevant details, (b) what were the contract amounts and (c) who signed off on the contracts in each case; (3) whether any staff members of the specified company(ies) use (a) facilities and/or (b) office space of the MDDA; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details in each case?
Reply:
(1) No, the MDDA has not outsourced its stakeholder engagement function. However, when specialist skills or in-house capacity limitations require the services of an external service provider, specific activities may be outsourced with a defined scope of activities and time period. The only activity that falls within the stakeholder engagement function that has been outsourced is a pilot outreach/media literacy campaign that will be held in two provinces which has been awarded to Hummingbird Media.
(a) The contract to Hummingbird Media was awarded in April 2017.
(b) The cost of the pilot campaign is R485 000.00
(c) The Chairperson of the Board signed the approval memorandum requesting the services of Hummingbird for the pilot campaign as, in the absence of a CEO, the Board was overseeing activities in the Agency in a caretaker role until the Ministry of Communications seconded an Acting CEO to the MDDA.
(2) Yes, Hummingbird Media has been previously awarded one contract from the MDDA.
(a) The previous contract awarded to Hummingbird Media covered facilitation of the MDDA strategic planning in September 2016 and input into the Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan for 2017/2018 – 2019/2020.
(b) The contract amount was R325 400.00.
(c) The contract was approved by the Acting CEO, Ms Thembelihle Sibeko.
(3) Yes, Hummingbird Media has used limited MDDA office facilities for the current pilot outreach/media literacy campaign.
(a) While a member of Hummingbird Media worked for a total of four days from the MDDA offices contacting stakeholders for the outreach planning process, she did not use MDDA facilities as phone calls to stakeholders were made using her cellphone.
(b) The same member of Hummingbird Media worked for a total of four days from the MDDA offices contacting stakeholders for the outreach planning process as the close liaison with the MDDA ensured that all stakeholders were covered.