Pretoria – Communications Minister Faith Muthambi says effective communication with citizens is one of the keystones of successful modern governance.
“A key aspect of governance is how citizens, leaders and public institutions relate to each other in order to make change happen,” the Minister said on Wednesday at the 3rd Joint Annual Public State Owned Enterprises Procurement Forum (SOEPF) and State-Owned Enterprises Communicators Association (SOECA) Awards in Midrand.
This year, the awards coincide with National Public Service Month, which is being marked under the theme, ‘Moving the Public Service Forward: We Belong, We Care, We Serve’.
Categories in the awards include Best Cross-functional Team Work, Best Contribution to the Reputation of the Profession, Best Public Sector Project, Best Supplier and Enterprise Development Project and Best People Development Initiative.
According to the organisers, the awards are aimed at honouring remarkable men and women, who have made a commitment to make worthy contributions towards redefining government entities. The Gauteng Department of Health and Transnet scooped most of the awards.
Minister Muthambi said the awards are important to recognise the importance of communication and how it adds value to the work of government.
“To this effect, South Africa continues to intensify measures aimed at accelerating economic growth and resolving the triple challenge of unemployment, poverty and inequality, as projected by the National Development Plan (NDP).
“The Nine-Point Plan sets out the specific interventions for growing and transforming the economy, creating job opportunities and attracting investment,” the Minister said.
She urged SOEs to play their part to ensure that the Nine-Point Plan is actualised.
“Many governments of large and emerging economies have depended on the performance of the SOEs to drive their economic agenda and enhance competitiveness of their countries… There is a growing need for the SOECA to play an active role in communicating and creating public awareness around the role of State-owned entities,” Minister Muthambi said.
Minister Muthambi said in its two years of existence, SOECA has achieved a lot but there is a need to up communication around the role that SOEs play in the economy and social upliftment within society.
“Society needs to know the trade-offs between the commercial and non-commercial objectives of the 715 State-owned entities that operate as implementing arms of national government.
“Governments all over the world are faced with similar questions as those facing South Africa. They constantly have to answer questions around how State-owned enterprises should be harnessed in order to promote economic development, good governance and the need to serve and balance both its commercial and developmental mandates at the same time,” she said. – SAnews.gov.za
