Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan will present the National Budget to Parliament on 27 February 2013. Media lock-ups have been arranged in Cape Town and Pretoria, allowing access to the Budget documents before the Minister’s address in Parliament. The information contained in the documents will be under embargo until Minister Gordhan begins speaking in Parliament.
Lock-Up arrangements
Cape Town: 100 Plein Street Building for PGA journalists
Imbizo Media Centre, 120 Plein Street, for non PGA members
Time: 06h00
Pretoria: National Treasury Offices, 40 Church Street
Time: 08h00
Journalists attending the Cape Town lock up must send their details (name, media organisation, contact details and ID number) to phumza.macanda@treasury.gov.za.
Those attending the Pretoria lock-up should RSVP to xolisa.dodo@treasury.gov.za by no later than 20 February 2013.
Journalists will be expected to sign a lock-up rules document to confirm that they will comply with the conditions of the lock-up.
Requests for interviews to phumza.macanda@treasury.gov.za
Lock-up rules
- No communication, electronic or otherwise, will be allowed with those outside the lockup. We therefore recommend that Parliament PGA journalists who will not be covering the Budget work from elsewhere.
- All office doors are to remain open at all times.
- Stories can be transmitted to editors Only from 13h00 (with full observation of the embargo).
- Cellphones and any other transmitting devices must be switched off, placed in an envelope and handed over to National Treasury officials.
- Security and ICT will be monitoring the lock-ups at all times.
- Journalists are requested NOT to bring tablets such as iPads to the lock-ups.
- E-mails, faxes can therefore, not be sent or received. Landline phones must be off the hook and not be used under any circumstances.
- Any devices that have built-in modems or can transmit information including built-in 3G cards must be disabled.
- Nobody will be allowed to leave the lock-up before the embargo is lifted. The embargo will be lifted only when the Finance Minister starts his address in parliament and this could be after 14h00.
- A ministerial media briefing is scheduled for 10h30 (Imbizo media centre, 120 Plein Street, Cape Town). Journalists will be escorted to the venue.
- For those journalists in Pretoria, there will be a live streaming of the press conference from Cape Town. Journalists are requested not to take laptops to the streaming room.
- For access to Parliament for the speech and to broadcast from the Parliamentary precinct please send your details to nmagwagwa@parliament.gov.za and CC erandall@parliament.gov.za
- National Treasury officials will be available in case of any emergencies. Photographers and broadcast journalists should note:
- They will not have access to budget documents if they are not part of the lock-up
- While they can attend the media briefing in mid-morning, they will not broadcast or communicate the contents of the Budget document in any form.
Should any journalist or publication break the embargo the publication/TV station or journalist may be prevented from covering the subsequent budget and/or Medium Term Budget Policy Statement.
Refreshments will be served at 08h30 and 12h30. The lock-up will end when Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan starts his address in Parliament.
All documentation will be available on www.treasury.gov.za.
