Parliament, Sunday, 23 February 2025 – The Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies will from tomorrow, 24 February 2025, begin a week-long programme as part of its oversight visit to Gauteng.
On Monday, 24 February 2025, the committee will visit the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) building in Auckland Park where the committee will, among other things, receive presentations from the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) National Association of Broadcasters, Broadcasting Research Council, SABC and National Treasury, as well as eMedia, Primedia, Multichoice and Netflix. It will also engage with the organised labour and staff of the SABC, the engagement will be followed by an inspection in loco of the public broadcaster’s infrastructure.
On Tuesday, the committee will be in Pretoria to interact with the Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs) of the South African Post Office (SAPO), Joint Steering Committee led by the DCDT, organised labour and National Treasury. Some of the meetings may be closed. One of the closed meetings will be engagement with the BRPs on the turnaround strategy document as well as the long-anticipated partnerships strategy. During the course of the visit, the committee will receive an update on the business rescue process and interact with the SAPO executive team and organised labour. National Treasury has also been invited by the committee for engagement on the sustainability of SAPO.
On Wednesday, the committee will visit the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) to engage on its value chain across all spheres of government and work being done together with the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) to support community media including oversight on government’s compliance with the commitment to allocate 30% of government’s advertising spend on community media. The MDDA will also lead engagement on the sustainability of community print media and online media in a digital age as well as a panel discussion on advertising in community newspapers and online media, involving GCIS and Business Unity South Africa, Media Mix, Primedia and Capro (Pty) Ltd.
On Thursday, the committee will focus on the Postbank, to conduct oversight on several Postbank service points in relation to the SASSA/Post Bank card swop. The committee will then proceed to conduct an inspection of Sentech’s Brixton Tower and the entity’s Technology Pak offices in Honeydew.
The week-long programme will then conclude on Friday in Sedibeng District Municipality where the committee will visit Thetha FM and Sedibeng FM community radio stations; Sasolburg News and Bua Sedibeng community print media and SA Connect project sites, including households. Members of the media are invited to join the committee.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES.
For media inquiries, please contact the committee’s Media Officer:
Name: Justice Molafo (Mr)
Parliamentary Communication Services
Cell: 081 424 7481
Email: jmolafo@parliament.gov.za
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