National Conference on Local Government Communication
8 May 2006
Introduction
The Landmark Communication Conference on Local Government Communication
hosted by South African Local Government Association (SALGA) in June 2002 with
the support of Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) and the
Department of Local Government (DPLG) did two things. It provided a solid
foundation for institutional arrangements for communication at municipal level.
And it galvanised key communication stakeholders across the three spheres of
government in an effort to ensure that government communication contributes to
local delivery of services and implementation programmes.
That conference in 2002 was an integral if early part of the key element of
governmentâs programme, namely the strengthening of local government as the
coalface of service delivery.
Interventions such as Project Consolidate and the imbizo programme have
provided platforms for regular interaction of communities with government. The
local election mandate for governmentâs plan to make local government work
better, confirms that communities are ready to work with government to bring
about improvements in how local government delivers on its core mandate.
The conference in 2002 placed firmly on governmentâs agenda the task of
bringing to a logical conclusion the vision of the 1998 Communication Task Team
Report on Government Communication, the vision of a comprehensive government
wide system of communication.
Such a system would give coherence to governmentâs communication about its
mandate. It allows communication to serve as a strategic tool in the
implementation of people centred social policy. As such government
communication ensures that governmentâs message is heard while providing the
citizenry with ample opportunity to express their views and opinions through a
range of communication platforms.
There is still more to be done and hopefully this conference will play a
leading role in that. But platforms such as the MPCCs, the Izimbizo, the
VukâUzenzele magazine, to mention but a few are shared by government and local
government is playing an ever greater role.
A system of government communication
The use of these shared platforms is just the beginning. Progress in
finalising the Intergovernmental Relations Act creates the opportunity for the
Comtask vision of a comprehensive system of government communication across
three spheres to become a reality.
The Comtask report was not silent on municipalities. There are a series of
Comtask recommendations which sound the importance of communication at the
third sphere. They add up to an approach which says:
* GCIS should be geared to the optimisation of relationships and
partnerships within and between the structures of government, as well as
between government and civil society. It should develop an infrastructure to
ensure co-ordination between national departments (horizontally) between the
three spheres of government (vertically) and between other government bodies
and parastatals (laterally).
* GCIS should emphasise co-ordination from the centre and communication at
the point of delivery and from the level of government closest to the consumer
or user of that information.
* The principles involved in the national communications structure, i.e.,
co-ordination from the President's office with a mechanism involving ministries
should also be applied to provincial and local government communication.
* This means meant that at provincial level, communication should be
co-ordinated from the Premier's office, which should co-ordinate the activities
of the communicators in the various Executive Council (ExCo) portfolios in the
same way as at national level.
* The same principles should apply to the larger cities and towns with their
own information departments which should be centred on the mayor's or other
appropriate elected representatives.
In short there are key elements of a system of government communication
which are standardised across government and which should feature in developing
municipal communication: central co-ordination with localised communication and
information programmes; message coherence; appropriate and customised
institutional arrangements; communication as the strategic support to policy
implementation and professionalism of government communicators.
Why a âcomprehensiveâ system?
The silo operations that characterised government a decade ago are fast
becoming something of the past. Over the past five years the functioning of
clusters in government has led to more integrated policy development and the
implementation. Integrated Development Plans of municipalities inform
Provincial Growth and Development Strategies (PGDS) which in turn inform
national development priorities, a process strengthened by the participation of
provincial Premiers and Director Generals in Cabinet Lekgotla.
This is evident in Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa
(AsgiSA). Many of the AsgiSA projects that are promoting the achievement of the
growth target of at least six percent by 2010, will require intensive local
communication about how they feature as cornerstone projects in specific
municipalities or as key projects of the Provincial Growth and Development Plan
(PGDP).
To speak of a comprehensive system of government communication is to speak
of a system that ensures coherence in the communication of all parts and that
ensures that all citizens and communities have access to information that
adequately allows them to take advantage of the opportunities to improve their
lives and to take part as citizens in public affairs.
Key issues and challenges for the conference
There are some particular matters this conference should attend to help
ensure that the emerging comprehensive government communication system takes
root.
1. While the third sphere of government is independent and a
constitutionally unique sphere, there needs to be a better interface between
municipalities and national and provincial government. At present the flow of
information to municipalities from other parts of the communication system is
largely random or even by chance. The same goes for their representation at
national coordination structures such as the Government Communication Forum
(GCF) and equivalent coordination structures in provinces.
2. Consequently, in the absence of co-ordination mechanisms, little progress
has been made in developing an integrated communication programme where the
communication activities of the three spheres of government can be effectively
co-ordinated in ways that are essential to better informing citizens. Key
co-ordination moments in the communication cycles of national and provincial
government are not adequately presented to local government and in turn
communication planning cycles in municipalities do not link with those of other
spheres in ways that allow us to jointly agree on shared communication
initiatives.
A co-ordinated communication calendar driven by key annual communication
pillars and nodal events is a hallmark of a well functioning communication
system, the efforts being made currently to popularise a communication cycle
and calendar for local government interfaced with provincial and national
government should be intensified.
3. The absence of proper integration structures at local sphere inhibits the
ability of national and provincial communicators to adequately provide
government communication information to municipalities.
It is therefore critical that the efforts to establish District and Local
Municipal Communication Forums be completed during this financial year. It is
similarly important to ensure that a way is found of provincial communication
structures and those co-ordinated by the GCIS nationally have mechanisms for
participation of local government in structures aimed at intergovernmental
communication co-ordination. While this may be happening to an extent it needs
to be consolidated and formalised.
Such a system, if it functions well, will help address a concern on the part
of municipalities that national and provincial communicators sometimes pass
unfunded communication mandates onto them as they embark on communication
campaigns.
4. Finally, there are many programmes, services, products and systems which
provincial and national communicators have been able to develop as the system
of government communication has grown over the past eight years. It would be
critical to ensure that they assist municipalities in developing similar
services.
One case in point is the matter of communication strategising where with a
greater degree of success, government both nationally and provincially is
proving able to effectively conduct annual and ongoing communication
strategies. In many municipalities this service is currently outsourced in most
cases at extremely high cost whereas this could ideally be handled differently
and collaboratively.
Conclusion
At the municipal level and across the system of local government, ideal
platforms for the strategic alignment of the communication function are in
place. What remains is for us to ensure that the communication system is put in
place.
Oversight, monitoring and reporting of all processes associated with this
emerging system of local government communication, should be done through the
various IGR structures including provincial Premier/Mayors Forum meetings and
in the relevant Political Working Group of SALGA.
It would also be prudent for stakeholders in this conference across all
three spheres of government immediately after conference, with leadership from
SALGA to embark on intensive awareness raising road shows amongst political
principals in municipalities to share the resolutions of this conference.
At an operational level, it might be prudent for the GCIS, DPLG and SALGA to
assess how the current provincial communication core teams which were
established through our mutual collaborative ventures should be strengthened in
order to execute their co-ordination tasks more adequately.
One factor contributing to the current mood of optimism that makes us speak
of the âage of hopeâ is the realisation that much of the investment made in
systems and programmes of government over the past decade are bearing fruit.
This includes the contribution of government communication to enabling two way
communications between government and the people.
This conference is ideally situated to building on that progress to ensure
that municipal communication efforts are strengthened so that all of our people
are enabled to become fully active agents in improving their communities and
their own lives.
We wish you every success in realising this vision!
Issued by: The Presidency
8 May 2006
