PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND EVALUATION AS WELL AS ADMINISTRATION IN THE PRESIDENCY: Thank you, hon Chairperson. Let me thank the members for the contributions they have made. Most of the contributions that were related to the GCIS were positive contributions. Some of the issues which made the House lively were basically not GCIS issues, so I won't address those. I will just comment on a few things.
I would like to indicate that we have noted the issues which have been raised and the suggestions which have been made by the various members, both from the opposition and from the ruling party, which we think will help enhance the GCIS in doing its work. One of the issues which I would like to address is to clarify the fact that the GCIS is not a media house.
Our role is to communicate government information to citizens, and our medium to do that is through what we have listed as our media and the existing press out there. In order to execute this task, it is important for us to build a mutual relationship and respectable relationship with the press so that we are able to communicate the information which is available in government in order to enable citizens to make proper decisions wherever they have to exercise their rights.
With regard to the translation of the Constitution, you would recall that in 1996 the Constitution was presented in almost all of the languages. Unfortunately, that programme lapsed and most of the Constitution, including the amendments which have been made, might not have been distributed widely. It is an issue which, I think, together with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, we will have to look at to see if we can begin a programme through which we can update the Constitution and make it available in all the languages.
We have noted the issue of the availability of GCIS information or government information in Afrikaans. I think that will have to improve. With regard to the response of the GCIS in relation to what we call service delivery protests, I would like to indicate that the GCIS alone cannot deal with this problem. However, we need to note that there are a number of channels and institutions, both from government and in society, which should have the capacity themselves to provide information and deal with these issues on the ground. The GCIS can only provide support to what other people are doing. This is not an information problem which we face alone. I think we need to appreciate that.
The other issue that was raised is that we spend a lot of money on policy issues - on employing people from outside. I will tackle this together with the issues that were raised with regard to consultants. Currently, the information we have - referring to the issue that was raised of the R20 million - relates to the services we pay SITA, which provides the IT systems to government departments. So this is not a private company that we are paying.
Secondly, we have to do research because the world is now moving towards what is called evidence-based policy formulation. In order for you to be able to formulate policy, you need to have statistical data to assist you to get that information.
We cannot build that capacity in-house. Otherwise, we would become a research institution ourselves. We have to source it from outside and make sure that we utilise the information that is available, which is critical for us to be able to do our work.
Furthermore, there is an issue that is raised from time to time with regard to consultants. Let me answer it in a general manner. Other economies are surviving basically because of the service industry. They have no resources; they have no minerals; they have nothing. What they have is the brains of society. Now, in our attempt to try to cut government expenditure and in our criticisms of government spending money, we have to bear in mind that we are sustaining a very viable economic arm of the economy, which, if properly utilised, can be seen as a strength for the African continent as a source of capacity.
We should not destroy that very little thing which we have. In years to come we may need it. So it is important for us, as we begin to discuss these issues, that we balance the building of all the aspects of the economy and also make sure that we don't spend government resources unnecessarily on issues which we can deal with in-house.
There is an issue which has been raised about defending the ANC or talking about ANC matters. I think you will notice that the GCIS has never commented on matters of party, nor doest it wish to comment on that. Our task is to communicate government information. Those of you who want to engage the ANC outside this forum or in Parliament as you discuss matters amongst yourselves, you are able to do that, but you cannot expect the GCIS to play that role.
Another issue which was raised is that we need to put across the views of others or views contrary to those of government as we communicate. I think what we need to do - and this is my advice - is discuss this with Parliament and see how we can co-ordinate to distribute and disseminate Parliament's information to society, using the infrastructure which we have. This is because we said initially that we were going to utilise constituency offices to place information in front of members in their constituencies about what is happening in government.
I think we may be able to find the way in which we need to do that. But I need to caution that in doing so, we should not be accused of not including minority views. This is because the danger exists that once we begin to do that, we are going to bicker amongst ourselves. Therefore, the role which the GCIS is supposed to perform is likely to be drowned out by the bickering which sometimes takes place in the House.
We need to avoid that type of thing, because once you begin to draw the GCIS into your debate, you will make us respond to Members of Parliament, a thing we do not want to do. We would like to communicate government policy, not to get into arguments with Members of Parliament on any issue. We will have to put across the information which is at the disposal of government and which can assist people to take decisions.
On the issue of the Thusong Centres: We have noted - and, I think, the officials here have noted, or those which have been identified - that we need to see what type of interventions can be done quickly to address the issues which have been raised.
However, it it is important for me to raise one question. When the Thusong Centres were established, they were established as information centres for society. Over the years, and as we have begun to use them, they have been transformed into government service centres - meaning that they not only provide information, but that they also provide services from Home Affairs, from Social Development and from other areas. These issues have direct implications for the budgets of other departments in providing staff, personnel, travel costs and S & T for people who are supposed to go to work in those areas.
So there is an interdepartmental team between ourselves, the Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs and the Department of the Public Service and Administration to look at how we can refashion the Thusong Centres to become the service centres which they have already become on their own, without impacting on the programmes of other government departments. We are going to do that and try to assist in that regard.
Regarding the suggestion that was made about the distribution of the flag in Ventersdorp, I think the hon member volunteered to assist the IMC to distribute the flags in Ventersdorp. Thank you very much. [Laughter.]