Cape Town – Communications Minister, Faith Muthambi, says the growth in digital and mobile communications gives government a platform to interact directly with citizens.
“The growth in digital and mobile communications presents government with the opportunity and challenge of engaging interactively with citizens and stakeholders, and to join in social conversations rather than produce one-way communications.
“As a government of the people, we will listen closely and share openly but we will also attend vigorously to issues that threaten to undermine the reputation of our government or our country,” said the minister.
Going forward, government will equip government communicators to ensure that they up the ante and align their communications strategies with the priorities of government.
Minister Muthambi announced this and several interventions planned for the coming year when tabling the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) budget vote in Parliament on Tuesday night.
She said government will reach out directly to communities.
“We will leverage the communication platforms we have created ourselves, we will work with public media, we will create communication partnerships across various sectors and we will project our country with pride internationally,” Minister Muthambi said.
She said the year ahead would usher in a new era of practices in government communications.
“We have therefore set ourselves a simple goal - that of an information revolution. We must put in place an over- arching communications policy that will guide our work. All of us must answer the question: ‘How is our work contributing to the implementation of the National Development Plan’.”
Minister Muthambi said R21.8 million had been allocated to the Media Development and Diversity Agency to enable historically disadvantaged communities and individuals to gain access to the media.
Almost 63.7 percent of the department’s allocation over the medium term is spent in the Administration and Intergovernmental Coordination and Stakeholder Management programmes.
A total of 20.4 million Vuk’uzenzele copies are set to be produced in 11 official languages, including braille, and distributed monthly over the MTEF period.
“In addition, the department plans to issue 42 cluster reports on perceptions of government delivery and performance, conduct 8 250 community and stakeholder liaison visits and align 6 552 development communication projects with the government communication programme over the medium term,” said the minister.
She said, meanwhile, that the the Imbizo platform is the bedrock of government’s face-to-face engagement with citizens, which creates an opportunity for people from all walks of life to share their ideas, hopes and frustrations with national, provincial or local leadership.
The minister launched the National Imbizo Focus Week in Limpopo at the weekend, which will see various ministers engaging with communities across the country.
“At the apex of this outreach programme is the Presidential Siyahlola programme, which allows the President to monitor and give personal attention to difficulties being experienced in various parts of the country,” she said. – SAnews.gov.za
