PRESENTATION TO PORTFOLIO
COMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS
GCIS Annual Report for the
Financial Year 2005-2006
NOTES FOR PRESENTATION BY THE CEO
1
The opportunity
to present the Government Communications Annual Report for 2005-06 to the
Portfolio Committee is deeply appreciated. Although this is the first occasion
on which I have the honour of reporting to the Committee, the supportive – if
vigilant – relationship between the Committee and GCIS is well known. It has
played a critical role in the growth of the government communication system; in
the birth and development of the Media Development and Diversity Agency; and in
strengthening the partnership which is crucial to the work of the International
Marketing Council.
2
We trust that the account we are giving of the work
that was done with the resources of the GCIS Budget Vote for 2005-06 will sustain
and strengthen our relationship. In the debate on that vote the Minister in The
Presidency enjoined us as public servants to “measure our actions, and our use
of public resources, against the aspirations of our nation and the mandate of
the electorate”.
3
For the government communication system that means
measuring our actions by the extent to which they help expand access to
information; build communication partnership; and improve the performance of
the government communication system. In all these respects we believe there
have been advances that significantly strengthen our capacity to help see that citizens are sufficiently informed to participate
actively in improving their own lives and shaping the direction of the country.
4
A detailed account of the work of GCIS during the
year under review is contained in the Annual Report tabled by the Minister. Our
presentation will focus on broad themes in this work and some key initiatives
during the period of the report. Given the continuities in government’s
priorities of and hence those of GCIS, most of this work has continued across
the seven months since GCIS presented its strategic plan to the Committee in
March this year – our presentation will therefore also touch on this more
recent period.
5
Fundamental to the work of GCIS is the requirement
to expand access to information people can use to improve their lives and which
they need to participate effectively in public affairs. The legacy of
imbalances in access is pervasive and our response therefore has several
aspects. Common to them all is the drive to create new products and new ways of
using existing platforms in order to fill
the gaps and meet the needs.
6
One such step, was the launch of the bimonthly
popular magazine, Vuk’uzenzele, in
October last year, published in all official languages, and in Braille.
6.1
The enthusiastic public response makes clear that
it represents a significant change in the media landscape and that it is
meeting a public need for information about economic and other opportunities
that has not been reaching a considerable portion of our citizens, especially
those in the Second Economy.
6.2
The demand and interest far outstrips the 1,1
million copies we can print – there is some limited capacity to generate a bit
more income from advertising. To that end we are subscribing to the Audit
Bureau of Circulation and the All Media Products Survey so that potential
advertisers will have confidence in our circulation and readership figures.
Beyond that the emphasis must be on increasing the number of readers per copy
by encouraging sharing.
7
A focus on reaching Second Economy communities
informed the second round of the mass communication campaign on economic
opportunities. This included a new edition of the core publication and the
production and broadcast of the television series, Azishe Ke! in partnership with the public broadcaster. A second
round of workshops is just ending, including training facilitators who can
sustain the work of dissemination as well as give support and aftercare.
Continued support by the Economic Cluster will enable this campaign to be
continued, amongst others possibly using radio as a medium.
8
Imbizo is a platform both for greater access to
government as well as for the building of partnership for implementation.
During the past year imbizo became more closely integrated with municipal
processes of governance and participation, and in particular Project
Consolidate. The Municipal Imbizo Programme, jointly managed by GCIS, the
Department of Provincial and Local Government and The Presidency, covered most
of the Project Consolidate municipalities during the year under review.
9
The continuing roll-out of the MPCC programme has
long-term importance for citizens’ access to information and services.
9.1
The addition of 21 operational MPCCs during the
Financial Year 2005-06 brought the total to 86. Together they were providing
more than 800 government services to communities. The results of research
amongst communities around 66 MPCCs has
led to a change in the name of the centres – they are to become Batho Pele
Service Centres with new imagery and branding.
9.2
MPCCs, as well as Community Development Workers and
others who assist the public with gaining access to government information and
services – including the government call centre - have in the Batho Pele
Internet Gateway a back-office that provides a one-stop portal for such
information. A phased approach was taken to the translation of its content.
This allowed solutions of general application to be developed in a first phase
and then extended to all the languages. The first phase has been completed,
making seven languages available, and all eleven official languages will be
available by the end of this financial year.
10
All these different platforms for expanded access
to information have played a part in ensuring that as many citizens as possible
are informed about government’s programme of action to implement its mandate.
For example a special supplement summarising the programme was included in the
March edition of Vuk’uzenzele; a radio drama series and photo-story magazine
presenting the programme were well-received; for those with access to computers
the web site gives access to two-monthly updates on progress in implementing
the programme of action; and the Imbizo Weeks twice a year allow communities to
hold political principals accountable and to strengthen partnerships for
implementation
11
The core mandate of GCIS is to promote the
establishment of a government-wide communication system and ensure its
effective and professional performance.
12
Progress in building municipal capacity for
communication with the public made great strides during the past year.
12.1
The provincial workshops which began in 2005 and
which proposed ways of strengthening municipal communication capacity, set the
scene for the National Conference on Local Government Communication in May this
year. The Conference developed guidelines for Local Government Communications which
were in turn endorsed by the SALGA Members Assembly in June.
12.2
Provincial Local Government Communication Core
Teams have been established in all provinces to coordinate these efforts and to
strengthen intergovernmental coordination amongst communicators.
13
Several programmes enhance the capacity of
communicators on an ongoing basis.
13.1
As part of the effort to build local capacity, some
200 municipal communicators have been trained
in the basics of the government communication system and communication planning
and strategising.
13.2
The
13.3
As its contribution to government’s Learnership
programme, GCIS is taking 10 learners a year working for a Learnership National
Certificate in Communications and Marketing.
14
An essential part of the functioning of the system
is that of meeting the needs of the media, to enable them to better perform
their function of informing and educating the public.
14.1
For GCIS this means the regular coordination of
media briefings both at the beginning of the year and in line with the
two-monthly cycles of cluster reporting to Cabinet as well as other briefings
as the need arises.
14.2 Usage of Bua News Service as government’s news
agency continues to expand. Visits to the news web site is growing as is the
use of Bua News material in community and mainstream media; print, broadcast
and online; and domestic and foreign.
15
The internet is becoming increasingly prominent in
providing access to information either directly by those with computer access
or through intermediaries. The web team posted on the information portal about 2000
documents, 5038 speeches and 1290 government and national events, special days,
press and other conferences were posted on the government information portal.
Prominent postings include Governments Program of Action and cluster reports,
imbizo focus weeks, the State of the Nation Address, Parliamentary Briefings,
the Budget Speech and departmental budget votes.
16
Promoting more effective government expenditure
on advertising is an area where there has been progress, though there is still
much more to do. Analysis of the expenditure that makes use of the GCIS media
bulk buying facility – about 23% during the past year of national government
advertising shows that the shift from print to broadcast media with greater
reach amongst the population, previously reported to the Committee, has been
sustained over the past year.. This kind of shift has taken place in government
as a whole, though to a somewhat greater extent in the adspend by departments
using the GCIS bulk buying facility.
17
Progress across all these fronts requires constant
attention to the less visible but no less critical organisational tasks in
which professionalism and excellence are essential.
18
That the Auditor-General has again made an
unqualified report on such a complex range of activities is testimony to work
of the staff of GCIS.
19
The budget for the financial year 2005/06 of R249 130
million included allocations to the MDDA and IMC of R7,420m and R68,9m respectively.
The MDDA allocation, with the agreement of National Treasury, was as in
previous years transferred in a single tranche at the beginning of the
financial year - quarterly reports to GCIS gave regular accounts of how the
funds were being used. Given the size of the IMC allocation it was transferred
in quarterly tranches.
20
Of the allocated budget 98,1% was spent as intended.
The R4,7 million saving arose from the fact that the allocation of funds to
cover a year’s production of Vuk’uzenzele was made at a relatively late stage, giving
us insufficient lead time to establish the magazine and also print six copies
in the first year. National Treasury was requested to roll this saving over and
did so up to the maximum R4,4 million allowed.
21
In 2004 allocations for the MTEF period from 2005/6 – 2007/8 the following additions were made to the
baseline: R40,0 million, R28,5 million and R28,0 million for the respective years.
|
MTEF Period |
2005/06 |
2006/07 |
2007/08 |
|
TOTAL |
249 130 |
251 053 |
261 681 |
22
The additional funds for 2005/06 went towards the
learnership programme (R0.860m); publication in the national telephone
directory of contact details of Information Officers under the Public Access to
Information Act; (R2,140m) the Gateway service portal (R7m); additional
personnel and operational costs of communication officers particularly in local
offices (R5,m); the 16 Days of Activism campaign (R2m); and Vuk’uzenzele (R23m) .
23
The GCIS current establishment amounted at the end
of the reporting period to a total staff
complement of 392 distributed as follows:
|
Indian |
African |
Coloured |
White |
Total |
African |
||
|
|
|
|
|
Male |
Female |
Male |
Female |
|
10 |
293 |
34 |
55 |
190 |
202 |
172 |
165 |
|
2.6% |
74.7% |
8.7% |
14.0% |
48.5% |
51.5% |
51.0% |
49.0% |
|
3% |
70.5% |
7.8% |
18,7% |
<<TARGETS |
|||
The employment equity
targets of 2% for the recruitment of disabled staff was met and by the end of
the reporting period, the equity level stood at 2.8%.
24
The establishment a Virtual Private Network which
allows GCIS officials wherever they are to connect to the organisation’s
network and systems, has contributed to the efficiency of the organisation,
together with security and performance on our data network. This includes
officials based at most of the MPCCs.
25
Various sections of the organisation have been
actively engaged in providing institutional support to the two agencies, the
IMC and MDDA. This includes Internal Audit; Finance; Human Resources; Policy
and Research.
26
Effectiveness in organisational matters is a
necessity for GCIS to meet its obligation to promote partnership. In a period
when government communication was informed first by the theme of “Building a
country that truly belongs to all” and then by the call for “A national effort
for faster and shared growth”, GCIS sustained its emphasis on communication
partnership.
27
Apart from those involved in our continuing work
with the International Marketing Council, the Media Development Agency and the
28
Transformation of the marketing, advertising and
communication industry passed through a series of milestones.
28.1
These include the signing in November last year of
a charter and scorecard, which have put the industry on the brink of submitting
the charter for approval as a precursor to the formation of a charter council.
What remains is to align the score card with the second phase of the
empowerment Codes of Good Practice when they are finalised.
28.2
In collaboration with National Treasury and the
Association for Communication and Advertising, Best Practice Guidelines for the
Procurement of Advertising to facilitate participation by emerging BEE
companies in government contracts have been developed. The guidelines are being
introduced to government communicators, counterparts in parastatals and
industry members through workshops.
29
The launch of the 2010 National Communication
Partnership in November last year was made possible by the resolve of our
country’s communicators to make the most of the communication opportunity of a
lifetime brought by our being given the right to host the first African Soccer
World Cup. The period before the 2006 final was used to develop a common strategic
framework for communication shared by the government and the partnership.
29.1
The conclusion of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in
29.2
The 2010 National Communication Partnership Conference
organised by the IMC in August ushered in this new phase, bringing together
over 400 communicators from all sectors. Its focus was on promoting
coordination and alignment with the message for this period that “
30
GCIS continues to contribute to major communication
campaigns in which active partnership of all of society is critical to success.
30.1
The 16 days of activism
campaign made new advances during 2005 expanding the reach and impact of the
message to act against women abuse and child-directed violence. Preparations
are well-advanced for this year’s campaign, now in the context of the 365 Days National
Action Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children
30.2
GCIS has been involved
in the development of a communication approach in the context of the
interaction between organised business and government as part of the
intensification of the fight against crime. The basis is being laid within
government for a mass communication campaign to mobilise communities across all
sectors to work with government in this fight.
30.3
Communication to popularise the institutions of our
region and continent included during the period under review the campaign to
promote participation in the Nepad Peer Review of
South Africa, which is nearing its conclusion. The annual SADC Media Awards,
whose South African chapter is led by a joint committee of which GCIS is a part
along with representative of media and civil society, are helping to build
media interest in regional development issues.
30.4
In support of the drive for faster and shared
growth, GCIS has worked with The Presidency to develop and implement
communication to explain AsgiSA and promote partnership – in
31
In these ways GCIS has acted to meet its mandate to
meet the information and communication needs of government and the public. In
the current climate of confidence and growing unity, there is a positive
response to the call for partnership to promote the achievement of shared
development goals.
32
In particular the strengthening of communication
partnerships that has taken place during the period of review finds positive
response, reflects the entrenchment in our society of a commitment to build a country
of informed citizens actively participating
in improving their own lives; shaping the direction of their country; and contributing
to the shaping of better Africa and a better world.