A behind-the-scenes battle is raging in the government as state communication agency Sacs fights for its life, reports Gaye Davis
A battle for the heart and sole of government communications policy is underway. The first shots have been fired in a series of behind-the-scenes skirmishes between government spokespeople and the central state information agency, the South African Communication Service (Sacs).
At issue is creating the means whereby all citizens of South Africa — rather than just the educated elite — get the information they need to participate in the new
The first salvoes were fired during preparations for a major conference to be attended by all government communicators next month. Lines were drawn over what the conference was intended to achieve.
According to sources, Sacs representatives wanted the conference itself to formulate policy on communications structures and how the government talks to citizens. This was seen as a bid to ensure its continued existence in a climate where MPs and even ministers were questioning the relevance and necessity of a centralised organisation employing about 500 people and costing R53-million a year to run, when most ministries and departments had their own media sections.
The sources said this would have allowed Sacs to report on its own role and make recommendations on its own future. But this was deemed unacceptable by those who saw the debate as part of the broader issue of transforming South African society and who wanted the issue discussed outside government structures.
A corps of government spokespeople — new appointments made since the change in government — initially pushed for a commission of inquiry to audit the entire gamut of government communications, including Sacs, ministries, departments, provinces and the Constitutional Assembly.
The idea was that the commission would independently examine strengths and weaknesses of government communications, tapping local and international expert opinion as well as the public, with a view to a much broader conference later.
This move was spiked when Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, during the Sacs budget debate on May 24, announced the
After a number of meetings, the preparatory committee finally agreed this week that the conference, set for August 25 to 27 at Arniston, would be only the first step in a wide-ranging consultation process that would eventually reach all stakeholders — including the public — before any white paper was produced.
Sacs acting head David Venter conceded this week there had been political wrangles but dismissed as “malicious” suggestions that Sacswas fighting for its life “to preserve some old paradigm”.
Sacs employees had undergone “a process of change orientation” in the past four years, leaving them better prepared than other departments. The majority were “quite comfortable” with the new government, and those unable to make the transition had mostly left, he
Absorbing former Transkei and Ciskei Department of Foreign Affairs staffers meant 48 percent of about 300 regional office staffers would be black. Sacs was committed to an 80 percent black staff make-up (including management) by 1999 and was “on target”, Venter said.
But lingering suspicions about Sacs — the role it played as the apartheid government’s propaganda and disinformation arm — and doubts whether, in its “unreconstructed” state, it has entirely let go of the past, will still mark the terrain to be covered at the
Ministerial liaision officers (MLOs) canvassed this week said they only used Sacs when “absolutely necessary”, and only for “mundane tasks” such as its press clippings service, booking press conference venues and alerting the media.
“Some of us are very unhappy about the role Sacs is playing,” said one MLO. “We feel they don’t have sufficient grasp of the government’s policies, come from a murky past and are now desperate to preserve themselves. There is nothing to assure me they aren’t still working for forces on the other side.”
All government communicators — ministerial media liaison officers, heads of departmental media sections, representatives from the president and the two deputy presidents’ offices, Sacs, the Constitutional Assembly, the Speaker’s Office, the provinces and the portfolio committee on communication in the National Assembly will attend the conference and it will be open to the