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Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni briefed the media after Cabinet's first ordinary meeting on Wednesday. (Supplied/GCIS)
- Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni say ministers and their deputies will be inducted on the correct communication protocols, standards and etiquette expected.
- She briefed the media after the first ordinary Cabinet meeting in the seventh administration on Wednesday.
- Ntshavheni also said Cabinet congratulated Justice Mandisa Maya on her appointment as the first South African female chief justice.
The government of national unity (GNU) ministers and their deputies will soon undergo training on the dos and don'ts of communication, particularly on social media.
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said this was by no means an attempt to gag or regulate how ministers communicate or engage with South Africans.
She said:
We don't intend to necessarily regulate the communication and use of social media by ministers, but we are going to induct them on the correct communication protocol, standards and decorum expected of ministers and deputy ministers.
Ntshavheni was briefing the media after the first ordinary Cabinet meeting in the seventh administration on Wednesday.
She said South Africans would start to see more ministers and deputy ministers communicating more about their government programmes rather than their personal views.
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Shortly after President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed his Cabinet, some ministers, including Minister of Public Works Dean McPherson, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber, and Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie, took to social media to claim easy victories for their political parties.
The ministers used X (formerly known as Twitter) to communicate and announce drastic decisions for their departments, raising the ire of some critics.
News24 recently reported that concerns were raised during a recent ANC national working committee (NWC) meeting that some party leaders were fearful of engaging with the media.
The situation was further exacerbated by the failure of the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) to employ competent communicators. NWC members expressed concern that DA ministers were outperforming their ANC counterparts.
In its assessment of the GNU, the NWC found that the ANC needed to invest in competent communicators to compete with the DA's "strategic" communications.
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On Thursday, Ntshavheni was quizzed on whether the government intended to introduce a social media policy for the new ministers and their deputies.
She said the government had a media and communication policy and protocols for government communicators, including ministers and deputies.
Ntshavheni added:
There will be an induction, hopefully next week, of ministers and deputy ministers so that they will come to understand what are the dos and don'ts. We continue to work with them, the new ones in particular, on what has to be done in terms of Cabinet communication policies. Social media will fall within that realm.
She said communication was not static and that government needed to keep up with the latest communication trends.
The minister added: "As more platforms come to be, we will have to innovate and come up with best practices, but we do not intend, as the GCIS, to unnecessarily hinder the ability of ministers and deputy ministers to communicate the messages of their departments in the best platforms. We are currently working with the departments to finalise their own communication plans, which will also be aggregated to a cluster plan."
She said work was being done to formulate a government communication plan.
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Ntshavheni also expressed the Cabinet's congratulations to Justice Mandisa Maya on her appointment as the first South African female chief justice.
Cabinet also congratulated Team SA, which is representing the country at the Paris Olympics.
She said the Cabinet frowned upon religious leader Paseka "Pastor Mboro" Motsoeneng's alleged violent intrusion of Matshidiso Primary School in Katlehong on Monday.
"Cabinet has taken a dim view of actions by some community leaders that amounted to threatening of learners and teachers at their school. The Department of Basic Education will continue to work with the South African Police Service to ensure that schools remain safe spaces for learning and teaching," she said.
On matters of international relations, the minister said the Cabinet was also briefed about a formal dispute the country initiated with the World Trade Organisation against the EU's "stringent and unnecessary" plant health requirements regarding citrus black spot and false codling moth regulations on the export of South Africa's citrus products to the EU.
She said: "The measures imposed by the EU, while not a ban, result in significant costs for the South African citrus industry, which are estimated at R2 billion per year. The EU has decided to impose stringent measures against South Africa while not requiring the same from countries with similar situations, such as Israel."
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Cabinet also welcomed the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in occupied Palestine, which unanimously affirmed that Israel's continued presence in the occupied territories is unlawful under international law.
Ntshavheni said: "The judgment creates an additional legal obligation for all states to end complicity in Israel's illegal actions and to act to ensure respect for international law. South Africa was among 49 UN member states that delivered a statement on the matter to the ICJ in February 2024."
She also said Cabinet had raised concerns about the continuing unrest in Kenya and Nigeria and urged all parties to find urgent solutions to the plight of citizens.
On the election of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ntshavheni said South Africa was ready to increase trade and partnership with the UK.
On South Africa hosting the G20 Summit next year, she said an interministerial committee had been assigned the responsibility to organise the event.
