Jacquie Golding-Duffy
DEPUTY President Thabo Mbeki’s Task Group on Government Communications (Comtask) this week tabled a hard-hitting report challenging government to revamp its internal communications departments, making them more flexible and less bureaucratic.
It also recommends that the government funds the SABC and Channel Africa, the external service which carries news from across Africa in several languages.
After eight months of consultations and the examination of 150 written submissions, Comtask has provided a detailed, extensive document which covers all the bases it has been briefed to review, including government communication policy at national, provincial and local levels, and existing government structures and facilities.
The report states that the new government communications and information system needs to be “better co-ordinated and more focused in its messages. It should strengthen the capability of [the] government to communicate its policies to the people, and be streamlined, credible, cost-effective and highly professional.”
>From the report it is clear that Comtask wants the government to move away from “bulky communications structures”, noting that national and provincial governments spend R380-million annually on staff, operations and publicity, without producing satisfactory results.
The South African Communication Services (SACS) employs over half the national government’s communications personnel but suffers from poor morale and the lack of a mandate – resulting in a low level of interaction with central government. Comtask has therefore recommended that a Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) with three components be established and that SACS be shutdown by the end of September 1997.
New departments in media liaison and provincial liaison, and a Communications Service Agency have been proposed.
This new information system would ensure co- ordination; it would be managed by a small unit in the president’s office and led by a head of government communications.
The proposed system, says the report, would be introduced with the assistance of Communications 2000, a professional advisory and consultative body to the presidency that has aided with this review.
On the contentious issue of whether government should fund the SABC, Comtask has found that funding for the development of the national broadcaster’s role is essential and should be prioritised by the Cabinet.
The need for Parliament to adopt a triennial arrangement for the funding of the SABC is necessary, the report states; this year, the resolution by Parliament in this regard was not complied with, forcing the SABC to seek interim funding from government.
“This is not a desirable state of affairs because the structured triennial budgeting process is designed to limit political interference in public broadcasting,” the report said.
Also, Comtask has recommended that Channel Africa be funded through the Department of Foreign Affairs in order to “reinstate the ultimate value of Channel Africa”. Funding by the department would be in line with the way similar international broadcast stations are funded in other countries, the report said.
The Comtask report also took on “entrenched anti-competitive and restrictive practices” in the print media, particularly in the area of distribution.