Issued by: Gauteng Provincial Government
JOHANNESBURG 5 NOVEMBER 1999
Gathered in this room is a very critical component of opinion makers in our country. Knowing the rigorousness of the characters that I see around, I am certain that this event offers us the best platform to engage with some of the paradoxes of our political time, bearing in mind the various roles we derive therefrom.
I therefore thought it appropriate to begin with the words of TS Eliot who may have been standing right here when he says, "Those who aim to give the public what the public wants begin by underestimating the public taste and end by debauching it." I am honoured to be with you this evening. This invitation shows your appreciation of the distinctive but complimentary roles that we all play.
The media, mass media in particular, is indisputably a necessary component of any democracy. Public opinion on the complexities of our socio-political discourse is largely dependent on the media. At the beginning of this term of office the Gauteng Provincial Government identified the following broad priorities for the next five years, based on the overwhelming mandate that the people of Gauteng gave us:
We are convinced that unless the provincial economy grows, our vision will be reduced to a dream, which cannot be lived. Furthermore, we have no doubt about the dire consequences for both country and individual that will flow from such a failure.
We cannot and must not fail, hence our decision to adopt a strategy that combines short, medium and long term plans to breathe life into the provincial economy and create jobs. The development of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises is a key aspect of this strategy because it seeks to transform our people from job seekers into creators of employment opportunities.
In order to expand economic activity and enhance our competitive edge, we plan to increase the provincial agricultural output for the export market, develop the information technology and telecommunications sectors and increase our focus on the financial services sector.
We also have plans that will attract local and international citizens into Gauteng by turning this province into a tourist destination. Our attention will also be focused on the domestic and continental markets because more and more people from other parts of our country and continent need to see Gauteng as a viable holiday destination.
Concrete plans are now in place to strengthen accelerated service delivery through co-ordinated and integrated planning, geographical social service integration, targeting of vulnerable and under served groups, development and marketing of quality initiatives, partnerships with civil society, effective management and inter-governmental co-ordination, monitoring and evaluation. We will soon finalise our budget plans, reflecting our priorities. These plans will see resources set aside for infrastructure development to identified industrial areas to ensure that industries work more efficiently.
We are committed to eliminate our deficit by the end of this financial year in order to release resources for economic and social development. Our long-term objective is to eliminate our debt overhang.
While we aim to improve quality service delivery in all areas, our focus will be on health, education, social welfare, crime and housing. We are mindful of the scourge of Aids and our health department has responded quite speedily to put in place strategies for dealing with the epidemic. On Monday, 08th November, we will be having our first inter-ministerial committee to focus on HIV/AIDS. The safety of our people remains our priority. Together with the South African National Defence Force, the police have been able to stabilise the taxi violence in Soshanguve. Criminals, some of whom have been on the wanted list for more than two years, have been arrested. We however still have a long way to go. Together with communities, we are convinced that we can break the back of criminal syndicates as well as rapists.
The Provincial government is pursuing a new approach to providing essential support services to line departments, which will culminate in the formation of a shared service centre. These services could cover financial and personnel administration, information technology and procurement services to departments, the aim being to achieve economies of scale and the pooling of scarce resources.
The ability of the Government to take forward the process of accelerated transformation and service delivery depends on good governance, a concept at the very heart of any successful nation. Central to good governance are the principles of accountability, transparency and zero tolerance for corruption. It is also about capacity and political will to detect bad and corrupt practices.
Our obligation and accountability to the public are at the centre of this ethic and promise. We reiterate our commitment and pledge to act ruthlessly and expeditiously against the criminal elements that use the positions the people have put them in to serve them, to defraud the state. We are however aware that the ethos of service excellence will remain but a dream if we cannot persuade every employee that each one of them goes to work every morning to pursue an agenda which will deliver the better life we have promised ourselves. This compels us to deal with issues of morale, job satisfaction and the creation of service coditions, which will result in higher levels of job satisfaction. Staff development is therefore critical if these have to be achieved. This must result from a careful and rigorous process of identifying the skills that are available to our government.
Ladies and gentlemen, a lot has been achieved since the inauguration of the current Provincial Government. These will be revealed on 23 November 1999 when I address the legislature on work done since my policy speech on 28 June 1999. In addition, MEC Moleketi is also presenting the budget adjustment on 18 November 1999 which will indicate a clear bias towards broad priority areas outlined above. I can however assure you that where we talk of job creation, we will indicate what our role as government is going to be in this regard. We also intend to set benchmarks that will need to be met by all department as part of our commitment to accelerated change.
Since occasions such as this do not happen as often as we may wish, I think we should use this rare opportunity to share views on how together we can ensure effective communication between the government and the populace.
Open debate and transparency in government and society are crucial in guaranteeing active exchange of information and opinion among all members of society.
The new legislation and democratic institutions we have created have created the possibility for the people to participate in the process of governance.
Without the free flow of accurate, reliable and comprehensive information, the process we are all engaged in will lack the mass input necessary for its success.
It is our belief in government that the media has an important role in facilitating exchange of information within and among communities and between the democratic government and society as a two-way process. The question you should be asking yourselves as the media is whether you are doing anything to expand the possibility for the people to play a meaningful role in the process of governance.
My observation of the coverage of government and legislative programmes is that much more could be done to disseminate the information the people of Gauteng need to participate in the process of governance and engage actively with their public representatives.
Some of the media institutions pay little or no attention to specialised training of journalists. The upshot of this is that most of the journalists especially the up and coming who are still fresh from their studies find themselves reporting on a subject about which they have no depth.
I may not be an expert on media, nor do I have as much experience in communication as many of you do, but I think many of you would agree that for any one to report accurately and informatively on a subject such a reporter must have incisive knowledge of the subject. I cannot imagine an editor of a business publication assigning a journalist with no economic or business background to report on the subject.
I am not casting an aspersion upon any journalist. I am raising it with you so that those of you who have the power to effect change to improve the quality of political reporting for the benefit of society will do something.
I am however convinced that if the media were to invest resources in the training of political journalists, this would result in more informed, accurate, reliable and comprehensive coverage of what is happening in the political arena. This would empower the people to engage government on a more informed basis.
As government we also have a role to play in facilitating the flow of reliable, accurate and comprehensive information which would contribute towards a more effective communication between the people and government. In this regard, I commit my office and the entire Gauteng Provincial Government to do all that is expected of us as government to ensure that the people of Gauteng have access to the information they need to play a meaningful role in the reconstruction and development of the country. Some of you have read about the restructuring process taking place in my office. One of the objectives of the restructuring process is to create capacity for the office to facilitate effective communication between the people of Gauteng and the provincial government.
I am convinced that resulting from our responsibility as government to communicate with the people and the responsibility of the media to provide reliable, accurate and balanced information to the people there is reason for both of us to co-operate.
This co-operation should not turn the media into a lapdog. The media should and must continue to be the watchdog of government, but at the same time, it must empower the public with accurate and balanced information.
I think it is appropriate for me to go back to the wise words of TS Eliot and say with more confidence that, "Those who aim to give the public what the public wants begin by underestimating the public taste and end by debauching it."
The promise government and the media must jointly make to the people of this country and province is to say with one voice that we shall not be guilty of this!
Issued by Thabo Masebe Spokesperson for the Premier Gauteng Provincial Government Tel: 082 632 6476