NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO. 3185
INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER [No. 39 of 2012]
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 09 NOVEMBER 2012
DATE REPLY SUBMITTED: 14 DECEMBER 2012
Ms P C Duncan (DA) asked the Minister of Public Works:
1) Whether his department is currently subscribed to The New Age (TNA)
newspaper; if so, (a) how many subscriptions does his department have,
(b) when was each subscription initiated, (c) what has been the annual
subscription fee for each specified subscription since it was
initiated and (d) what is the exact purpose of each subscription;
(2) whether a discount was negotiated for any of the specified
subscriptions; if so, (a) for which specified subscriptions and (b)
what discount in each case;
(3) whether his department has mass-purchased the TNA on an ad hoc basis
since the inception of the newspaper; if so, (a) on what dates, (b)
how many copies in each case and (c) why were the papers purchased in
each case;
(4) whether (a) the publishers of the TNA and (b) any other entity
donated copies of the paper to (i) his department and (ii) any entity
reporting to him; if so, in each case, (aa) which entity donated the
papers, (bb) to which entity were they donated and (cc) how many
copies were donated? NW4025E
REPLY:
The Minister of Public Works:
1) No. The Department of Public does subscribe to The New Age
publication as one whole unit. Instead, each Business Unit within the
Department allocates a budget for newspapers of their choice.
a) See above.
b) All subscriptions to newspapers and other publications are
determined by the available budget and depending on the
availability of the budget they are renewed annually.
c) One Business Unit, the Chief Directorate Communications & Marketing
is currently spending R134Â 064 in 2012/13 for subscription to all
the Gauteng-based daily newspapers, as well as all the weekend
newspapers.
d) The main purpose for the subscriptions is to enable the Unit to
carry out news monitoring and a news clippings service, in order to
track breaking stories and provide timeous responses and
interventions where necessary.
2) No. There was no negotiation for a discount.
a) All the newspapers are delivered daily by Selahla Trading
Enterprise cc, a service provider that was obtained following
supply chain management processes.
b) No discount is involved.
3) There was no mass-purchase by the Communications and Marketing
Chief Directorate; newspapers are delivered based on the
subscribed quantities.
4) (a) There were no donations that were made by the publishers of
TNA.
b) No donations by any other entity to (i) to the National
Department of Public Works.
(ii) No donations were made to the Entities.