Responsive communications 'key to changing world'

• Published date: 17 May 2022
• Publication title: South African Official News

Minister in the Presidency, Mondli Gungubele, says government must ensure that it adopts new ways of communicating with citizens, as what worked yesterday might not work today.

He said this when he tabled the Budget Vote for the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) during a mini-plenary of the National Assembly on Tuesday.

'I believe our key task in this period is to ensure that no South African is left behind, in line with the President's call to action in this year's State of the Nation Address.

'Our communication must touch and change lives, while also being relevant and easily understood.

'We dare not rest on our laurels by believing that what worked today will still be relevant tomorrow,' he said.

The GCIS has been allocated R719.9 million for the 2022/23 financial year. The GCIS's spending plan amounts to R2.182 billion over the next three years.

The funding provided to the GCIS over the three-year Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period (2022/23 to 2024/25) will allow the department to carry out the constitutionally mandated task of ensuring that all citizens and communities have access to information.

'We cannot allow a new divide to be created between those with access to resources and technology and those without,' he said.

Gungubele said, therefore, that government communication must be a mixture of the old and the new.

'We must blend the best of both worlds and find ways to reach people where they live, in a language or medium they understand.

'We will deploy our tried, trusted and necessary direct engagement methods of imbizo, activations, outreach activities, community dialogues and loud hailing,' he said.

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