GCIS gets the thumbs up

The Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) has been commended for delivering on its mandate in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications said this when the GCIS presented its special adjustment budget for the 2020/21 financial year.

The adjustment budget presented on Wednesday is in line with the 2020 Revised Fiscal Framework and the Adjustments Appropriation Bill, tabled by Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni, to the hybrid sitting of the National Assembly on 24 June 2020.

“The committee believes that GCIS is doing good work with regard to delivering on its mandate during this pandemic, and that it is doing so while ensuring good governance,” said committee chairperson Boyce Maneli in a statement.

The adjustment budget is presented in line with the 2020 Revised Fiscal Framework and the Adjustments Appropriation Bill, tabled by the Finance Minister on 24 June.

In May, the GCIS presented the annual performance plan (APP) and budget of R720.5 million for the current financial year.

However, through the special adjustment budget, National Treasury has appropriated to the GCIS an additional R60 million to strengthen government communication, and to raise awareness about the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of Wednesday, South Africa’s confirmed COVID-19 cases stood at 224 665.

The GCIS undertook to spend the additional budget as follows: R50.1 million on electronic and print media, R3.9 million on print products and distributions, and R6 million on advertising.

The committee encouraged the entity to channel an equitable share of the additional budget to community media.

It further welcomed the GCIS’s idea to procure a Sentech line for community radio broadcasts.

In May, the GCIS presented the annual performance plan (APP) and budget of R720.5 million for the current financial year.

Additionally, the committee agreed with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s determination to freeze at 0%, an increase on salaries of the chairperson and councillors of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).