Chairperson, hon Minister, the DA broadly supports the work of the Government Communication and Information System, which exists to ensure that the citizens of this country are afforded access to information about the extent to which the government of the day has been effective in implementing its delivery mandate.
The question of extent, however, is the key to this. Our people need to be informed about the good news and the challenges which the government faces. We should not allow situations to arise wherein we, as a Parliament of the people, allocate funds to the department so that it can spend these funds on loving advertorials and paid-for broadcasting of government successes, while neglecting the provision of information about the challenges the government faces, and how they will be addressed, and while information for citizens to access government services is given second billing.
The GCIS is in the unfortunate position where it is possible for the government of the day to conflate the issues of the party versus the issues of the state with regard to its mandate, particularly when it comes to informing the public about policy and programming implementation. This can very easily deteriorate into a situation where a state department is then roped in to market, the IMC in this case, at the expense of the South African taxpayer. [Interjections.]
This is a tension that was brought into very stark relief during our recent election campaigns when the DA raised concerns about what appeared to be a spike in expensive state advertising campaigns, highlighting the successes of the ANC government, and thus affording the government and the governing party an opportunity to deepen their already expensive campaign pockets.
So, while we support the department's resolve, as was highlighted in the Chief Executive Officer's presentation to this portfolio committee, to make a difference in the lives of the people by providing information on programmes that will develop and strengthen partnerships to build the country and alleviate poverty; and while, for the same reasons, we also support initiatives such as the goal of having Thusong Service Centres in every municipality by 2014, in order to broaden access to government information and services to communities throughout South Africa, as well as the department's commitment to addressing some of the challenges facing this programme, it remains of deep concern to the DA that this department shouldn't become a state-funded mouthpiece for the ANC. [Interjections.]
This raises questions around the GCIS's stated commitment in the medium- term strategic plan to: "strengthen unmediated communication." The hon Minister has referred to this as ensuring that government messages are rendered unpolluted. The DA would contend that an effective government has nothing to fear from a critical and free media. It is, therefore, of concern to us that the department would see this as one of its priority areas in the medium term.
During the portfolio committee presentation by the GCIS, hon Kilian rightly made the point that the need for the GCIS to advertise, particularly in the broadcast media, which is very expensive, is tenuous, given that it is advertising a service for which it has no competitors. Indeed, the CEO, Mr Maseko, has indicated that media briefings and press conferences are often enough to convey government messages to the public. This would then indicate that we need to pay attention to the extent to which the GCIS relies on paid-for platforms, at the taxpayer's expense, to communicate the government's message.
Similarly, we welcome the GCIS's commitment to improved interaction with the free media in order to ensure that the press have adequate access to the executive. This is a very healthy approach to the government relationship with the fourth estate, but the emphasis on the need to use this interaction to "ensure proper media coverage" brings to mind decidedly unhealthy images of the recent fiasco in which news editors and journalist from the public broadcaster, the SABC, were summoned by the governing party to Luthuli House to account for their portrayal of the then-presidential candidate, Mr Jacob Zuma. We sincerely hope that this is not the spirit in which the GCIS plans to engage with the media.
Broadly, what the DA would hope is that the GCIS will, in the implementation of its mandate, ensure that a critical balance is struck to prevent the dissemination of government information from becoming the dissemination of party propaganda. I thank you. [Applause.]