Parliament’s portfolio committee on communication & digital technologies has come out in support of the Government Communications and Information System’s (GCIS’s) medium-term budget — with conditions.
On Friday, a budget vote debate about the GCIS’s financial allocation was held in parliament with policymakers making cases for and against the unit’s strategy and plans.
Budget vote debates are parliament’s opportunity to formally discuss and shape departmental plans and how funds are allocated. During these debates, parliamentary committees scrutinise departmental budgets and annual performance plans, ensuring that promises from the previous year were kept and taxpayer money was spent responsibly.
Minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the total budget allocation to GCIS over the 2025 medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) period, that is for the 2025/26 to 2027/28 financial years, amounted to R2.468bn.
This is broken down as R820.28m for 2025/26, R805.73m for 2026/27, and R842.17m for 2027/28.
Portfolio committee chair Khusela Diko said “we support this budget with conditions”.
“We’re calling for a communications performance management framework for executive and senior officials which ensures that government is accessible and there’s communication accountability to restore trust. Ministers and DGs [directors-general] must be held accountable for clear, co-ordinated messages.
“We have called for legislative and policy reform. GCIS can no longer depend on what they call collegiality and the goodwill of cabinet colleagues. We require coherent legislation and policy instruments to govern communication across all spheres, national, provincial and local, with the singular purpose to serve the people and not the collegiality between colleagues.
“We’re also calling for a monitoring, evaluation and results framework. This demands that communications must be research driven, evidence-based and people-centred. We must stop measuring communication in outputs: the number of press releases issued or tweets posted. We must start measuring outcome and impact.”
This follows Ntshavheni’s assertion that the government now boasts a combined following of almost 3.5-million unique users across its platforms. This includes 1.1-million on Facebook, 1.4-million on WhatsApp channels, and 854,500 on X.
“Did the people understand? Were they reached on the appropriate platforms? Was there behavioural change as a result of that communication?” Diko asked.
‘Sharpened’
The portfolio committee also wants to see reforms at Brand SA and the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA).
“These institutions must be sharpened. Brand SA must boldly tell our story on the global stage, while the MDDA must truly empower community media, the only voice in places where mainstream media sometimes rarely ventures.”
The “GCIS needs greater investment, yes, but it also needs sharper focus, digital transformation and most critically, political will. It is political will that will also ensure that the vacancy of the director-general at this vital institution is finally filled.”
Nomonde Mnukwa has been GCIS acting director-general since July 2023.
Many of the points raised by Diko were echoed in the room. Across party lines, policymakers bemoaned SA’s shrinking news media sector and took specific umbrage at government’s decision to shut down the print version of its Vuk’uzenzele publication.
In a country where many still do not have access to the internet, the decision to make a free public information publication available online only is seen as prejudicing a significant portion of the population, impeding their access to information.
The government has defended this position, saying the print edition only had a reach of 60,000, which was not “impactful”.
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