The importance of communication as a strategic function in the overall achievement of municipalities’ service delivery goals was the key objective of a progamme presented on 19 August in Kuruman.
This Government Communication Induction and Training programme was hosted by the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) and the South African Local Government Association (Salga).
It was attended by amongst other mayors, speakers, municipal managers and municipal communicators in the John Taolo Gaetsewe (JTG) District Municipality, and by a delegation of the Kgatelopele Local Municipality from Daniëlskuil in the ZF Mgcawu District.
The executive mayor of JTG, Queen Mogatle, acknowledged communication gaps between government and communities, to be addressed as a matter of urgency. She urged all All municipalities were urged to support the communication function at municipalities to ensure informed citizenry in line with the developmental communication paradigm adopted by government.
‘Our communities must be able to receive information from us as government, as providing them with information empowers them as citizens,” Mogatle said. The programme was facilitated by Tiisetso Ramotse, GCIS director for training and development. He encouraged those present to make communication with citizens an important aspect of daily activities. Ramotse said often communities protest and show dissatisfaction with government because sometimes government is not providing sufficient or timely responses on service delivery issues.
This programme will continue in other districts to ensure that new councils are able to understand the importance of communication as a strategic function of service delivery.
