Jimmy Manyi is assembling a propaganda machine
Reports today indicate that Jimmy Manyi is attempting to centralize all government spending on advertising under his control at the Government Communication and Information Services (GCIS) (see here).
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Parliament will be submitting a series of parliamentary questions to ask the Minister in the Presidency, Collins Chabane, whether:
- The Presidency intends to centralize all advertising expenditure under the GCIS;
- there will be any oversight mechanisms put in place to allow members of Parliament to interrogate spending by the GCIS;
- any formal rules and regulations will be put in place to ensure that the government advertising budget is not abused for party-political purposes.
These reports are deeply troubling for several reasons.
Firstly, Mr Manyi has been quoted in the past as saying that he would use advertising revenue to reward those newspapers that report favourably on government activities, and punish those newspapers that do not. If all advertising resources across government are centralized in Mr Manyi's hands, it will significantly strengthen his ability to bully those media outlets he perceives not to be sympathetic to his agenda.