The first edition of government magazine Vuk’uzenzele was unveiled today at an event at the Constitutional Court, Johannesburg. Published by the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS), one million copies of the title will be freely distributed to readers in the LSM 1 to 6 categories, with the stated aim of creating ‘greater dialogue between government and the citizens of South Africa.”
Vuk’uzenzele’s inaugural issue runs the cover headline ‘Local government: getting it right”, and includes a message from President Thabo Mbeki on the importance of information to the delivery of basic services. At 32 pages, the magazine contains a series of articles highlighting, amongst other topics, the ‘great strides [that] have been made in providing clean water”, the ‘more than 220,000 jobs” created by the Expanded Public Works Programme, and the relative success of ‘poverty alleviation community projects” in rural KwaZulu-Natal.
The magazine also contains advice pieces on accessing small business finance, budgeting of household income, and baby care. There are five advertising pages, including full pages from Vodacom and Absa – in May GCIS deputy CEO Tony Trew informed eMedia that ‘running ads will be purely an experiment, and the GCIS will fully fund the publication, to the tune of around R20-million in this financial year.”
Speaking at today’s event, Minister Essop Pahad stated that he initially opposed the initiative – first suggested by GCIS chief Joel Netshitenzhe three years ago – as he was ‘not sure a magazine that would be regarded as government propaganda would fly.” Pahad’s second concern at the time was the ‘huge” cost. ‘The treasury officials scrutinised it closely and the Minister of Finance agreed to make the budget available,” he said.
Vuk’uzenzele editor Rafiq Rohan, former editor of the Independent on Saturday, likewise acknowledged the concerns of critics. ‘If the perception out there is that the magazine is meant to forward government propaganda at the taxpayer’s cost, I want to dispel that. This magazine appears at a time when the demand for government services is at a peak.”
Rohan continued that Vuk’uzenzele is ‘helping to push the boundaries of the distribution of print media” in South Africa. After a tender process, government chose NLD24, a division of Media24, as distribution partners.
‘NLD24 have extended their infrastructure to accommodate our needs,” says distribution manager Jaco Billing. ‘Their empowerment partner, Mavutani, is distributing in the deep rural areas, delivering on foot to the areas they can’t reach by truck.”
Distribution of the first issue of Vuk’uzenzele will commence on Monday, October 3rd. Thereafter the magazine will be distributed every two months.
Referring to similar initiatives on the African continent, Professor Tawana Kupe, head of the school of literature, languages and media studies at Wits University, cautions: ‘The challenge of this magazine is to avoid what the late Zimbabwean journalist Willie Musarurwa called ‘minister and sunshine journalism’. It must focus critically and analytically on government performance issues.”
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