Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister of Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Administration, Collins Chabane and Obed Bapela, hon members of the House and members of the Cabinet who might be present here, members of the Portfolio Committee on Communications, acting CEO of Government Communication Information System, GCIS, Ms Phumla Williams, the Chairperson and CEO of Media Development and Diversity Agency, MDDA, Ms Phelisa Nkomo and Lumko Mtimde, senior government officials who might be present, members of the media and distinguished guests, it is my privilege and honour to deliver today this Budget Vote debate on behalf of the Portfolio Committee on Communications.
Indeed, the capacity to communicate effectively with constituents is a fundamental function of modern governance. A key aspect of governance is how citizens, leaders and public institutions relate to one another in order to make change happen. Without communication structures and processes which enable the two-way exchange of information between the state and its citizens, it is difficult to imagine how the state can be responsive to public needs and expectation.
Consultation and involvement of the public in the work of the government through opening up communication channels can be considered as a basic prerequisite in government transparency. Communication represents an important function of government responsible for improving three principal elements, namely effectiveness, responsiveness and accountability.
Communication is not a one-way tool, but a participative engagement between government and its citizens. Hon Chairperson, enhanced citizen participation, which is enabled by effective public communication, is a key indicator of effective government communication. Therefore, government communication is more than just developing effective spokespersons, it also involves provision of customer-oriented services, building capacity for the citizens to provide government with feedback in respect of these services, fostering a collaborative approach and optimally using technological platforms as catalysts for engaging citizens in a knowledge economy, which we are striving to achieve as a country.
On this day in 1754, a journalist, Benjamin Franklin, printed the first political cartoon in American history - a woodcut of a severed snake, entitled: "Join or Die." Franklin's cartoon in the Pennsylvanian Gazette depicted the British North American as a snake cut into eight segments, each segment designated with an initial of a separate colony or region, as in the case of New England.
An editorial discussing the disunited state of the colonies accompanied the cartoon, clearly suggesting that in the light of the clear and present danger posed by the French and Native Americans to their security, the colonies faced a critical decision: to unite as a collective unit and repulse the enemy or remain disunited and suffer an inevitable death.
Today we are faced with the same situation of a disjointed government communication system. It is my conviction that if this status quo remains, it will result in the ultimate demise of effective government communication.
The Comstock Report of 1996 noted the disconnection between the communication practitioners and the required level of skills needed in the profession, and recommended that a qualification for government communications be introduced.
I am pleased to note that the GCIS and the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy, Palama, are busy dealing with this matter. We hope to get a positive report in due course.
Drawing on the principles of Franklin's depiction, it is therefore high time that government unite to shape a collective message and a way of doing things that spans national, provincial and local governments.
This also gives us an opportunity to check to what extent all South Africans are enjoying the freedom of expression and media freedom provisions enshrined in section 16 and 32 of our Constitution.
The importance of preserving media freedom in South Africa can be emphasised by describing the regrettable history during which media freedom was nonexistent, as well as the long struggle towards the current state of affairs.
From colonisation to the apartheid regime, South Africa has a long history of oppression and censorship. As David Wigston points out: "... locally produced newspapers did not appear in South Africa until a century and a half after the occupation of the Cape by Van Riebeeck in 1652, simply because the Dutch East Indian Company ... perceived the press as potentially revolutionary instruments."
Once the first nongovernmental newspaper, the South African Commercial Advertiser, was published in 1824, the 22 year monopoly of the government press was broken. However, the then governor of the Cape Colony, Lord Charles Somerset, soon closed it down as he feared reports of his spurious activities.
Government censorship during the apartheid era severely hampered the media industry ensuring that it towed the line. In terms of the apartheid government policies, newspapers had to apply for registration if they were to have publication more than 11 times a year. An arbitrary amount was also required before the registration was approved. Government also enforced the regulations controlling what newspapers could publish, especially with regards to articles and comments on activities deemed to be against the apartheid system. Our Constitution currently guarantees the right of freedom of expression and the right to a free press.
We also acknowledge that the MDDA, under the leadership of Ms Khanyi Mkhonza from 2003 till 2007, then under the leadership of Ms Gugu Msibi from 2007 to 2012, and their respective boards, and also the first CEO of the MDDA, Ms Libby Lloyd from 2003 to 2006 and, lately, Mr Lumko Mtimde as the CEO from 2006 - I am told his contract comes to an end in 2014 - indeed, with their respective management teams, had been stable, reporting their performance information in accordance with expectation and receiving unqualified audit reports. These 10 years of agency reflects the correctness of the position of the ANC to establish the MDDA.
The agreement reached between the MDDA and Print and Digital Media South Africa, PDMSA, to recognise the MDDA Act definition for a local media, will indeed go a long way in resolving the matter that had been going on between the big companies in the print media and the local print media in ensuring that they indeed all comply with the definition of the legislation, which clearly indicates that a community media can only be a community media of that community if it benefits the people of that particular area, not those big companies.
In responding to the 2011 state of the nation address by His Excellency President Jacob Zuma, which focused on job creation, as well as government's National Policy Framework, such as Industrial Policy Action Plan, Ipap, and the National Growth Path, NGP, MDDA managed - though not that much - to create direct and indirect jobs amounting to around 310. If you know the size of the MDDA, this is more than 100 times their size. But they have contributed to the programme of government of job creation.
To this end, South Africans, young people in particular, have been able to gain skills and jobs through the MDDA programme.
This is 10 years worth celebrating. Happy 10 years, MDDA! You have done this country proud. This is also 20 years after the broadcast by the first SA community radio, Bush Radio, which started to broadcast from 25 April 1993. Similarly it's 20 years of the National Community Radio Forum, NCRF, since its establishment. This is therefore a year of celebration for the