Mr Chairman, hon Minister, the hon Kholwane's suggestion that the GCIS, as a government-run agency, can address ownership patterns in South Africa's media is a little bit short-sighted.
First of all the hon member isn't giving the Media Development and Diversity Agency, the MDDA, much credit for doing what it is actually mandated to do, which is to diversify and develop the core of the media producers, journalists and, yes, media owners in South Africa.
However, government ownership does not translate into transformation, hon Kholwane. Indeed, true transformation will never be served by the centralisation of any kind of power, be it the power to communicate or to propagate propaganda. True transformation should be about giving a voice to and situating ownership and control of the fourth estate in the hands of South African citizens in the private sphere.
Of course, the ANC would like to convince the South African people that these two concepts are the same: transformation and centralisation. And, of course, we also know that they would like us to believe this because a belief in this would suit the governing party's own political purposes.
With regard to aiding the diversification and the development of the media landscape in South Africa, the DA supports the good work of the MDDA in the areas of research, training and lobbying to achieve this outcome. We urge the National Treasury to clarify the financial position of the agency in the outer years of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF.
The absence of funding is particularly confusing given the policy direction that has been taken by the Department of Communications, as referred to earlier by the hon Kilian, which envisages a significant fund-management role for the MDDA in its drafting of the contentious draft Public Service Broadcasting Bill.
With only 57 days left until the 2010 Fifa World Cup kicks off in South Africa, the GCIS's short-term priority of leading and anchoring government communication on the preparations for the tournament will now be in top gear.
The World Cup has presented the GCIS, and the International Marketing Council of SA in particular, with its biggest challenge over the Medium- Term Strategic Framework period as far as projecting a tournament-ready South Africa to itself and also to the rest of the world is concerned.
In this regard, the GCIS's relationship with the international media has become particularly important over the past financial year, especially given recent so-called "news" headlines, some of the more egregious of which spring to mind, for example: "England fans warned of rampaging baboons in South Africa", "World Cup South Africa quake fears" and, of course, the now notorious "World Cup machete threat", all of which were recently published in one of the United Kingdom's less scrupulous tabloid newspapers.
Unfortunately, the response to these tensions from some political leaders and from the IMC, which is the custodian of the South African brand, has been to call for so-called "patriotic" reporting from the local media. Now, truly patriotic reporting and truly patriotic South Africans should always be wary of terms like "patriotic" and "positive" being bandied about by the government and by its agencies in relation to how members of the fourth estate should go about reporting on any crucial subject in the South African public sphere, whether it be the World Cup or any other significant upcoming event in our country.
Examples like the sensational UK Daily Star reports which I have just quoted, which alleged an impending "race war" in South Africa following the murder of Eugene Terre'Blanche, were obviously false and entirely fabricated, much like the mad claim that earthquakes in Cape Town and Durban are threatening to derail South Africa's hosting of the World Cup.
These examples really only serve to prove what is and has always been the DA's position on this matter: the South African government has nothing to fear from a free and independent local media, since the truth and the honest truth is the only necessary response to this kind of foolishness and hysteria.
As the custodian of Brand South Africa, the IMC is entrusted with the responsibility of looking beyond the Fifa World Cup in its interactions with South Africa's target audiences both at home and abroad. But, of course, the marketing council, while it acts as custodian, is also in the unique position of being itself one of many ambassadors for the South African brand, which is as diverse as the many people who carry stories about and experiences from this vast and beautiful country.
It is for this reason that the DA welcomes the IMC's priority in the Medium- Term Strategic Framework of solidifying the South African brand at organisational and governmental levels in all three spheres, so that these more formalised touch-points of the South African brand might begin to take on a more synergised form.
The marketing council's new corporate identity, the colours and stripes of the South African flag forming the shape of an arrow moving decisively forward, is central in this regard and we wish the IMC well in lobbying to bring some brand unity to the South African government's international presence. We also welcome the IMC's collaborative approach through their interactions with national and, crucially, with provincial governments in this regard, and we look forward to seeing the same initiatives rolled out at local government level too. I thank you. [Applause.]