Honourable House Chairperson,
The ACDP notes that with a final appropriation of some R743 million, this Department’s Revised Strategic Plan for the medium-term, is “To empower South Africans through communication excellence.” With that said, neither the Department, nor the Agency can achieve communication excellence, with a lack of internal controls, a lack of monitoring of contracts and tracking contract payments, all of which has resulted in irregular expenditure, as identified by the AGSA.
Issues such as limited resources, skills shortages, and the rapid evolution of cyber threats pose ongoing challenges to this Department and the country as a whole.
The ACDP calls for continuous collaboration with private sector partners and international bodies to effectively counter cybersecurity threats and ensure robust protection for South Africa’s digital landscape.
The ACDP cautions this Department to be unambiguous and uncompromising in the implementation and rolling out of its mandate to ensure that citizens are informed about governments policies, programmes and projects in a manner that enables informed decisions to improve the quality of life of all South Africans. The integrated, coordinated, and clear communication between government and South African citizens to enable the public’s involvement in transformation, particularly through the public participation processes, must never be seen as a tick box exercise.
