TRC Final Report

Volume 1

Chapter 11

Part OtherDepts

Subsection 21

■ STRUCTURES AND STAFFING

41 The Media and Communications Committee was established as one of the ‘functional’ committees of the Commission. It was composed of commissioners and, initially, committee members from each of the main, statutory committees of the Commission. The chief executive officer also sat on the committee, which was responsible for overseeing the work of the Department. During 1996, the committee was chaired by Dr Fazel Randera and, thereafter, by Advocate Denzil Potgieter.

Media Liaison

42 An embryonic media liaison function was started during the week before the establishment of the Commission and was developed into a Media Liaison Department between the first meeting of the Commission on the Day of Reconciliation (16 December) 1995 and the move into the national offices in Cape Town in February 1996. A Communications Department was established later, after the chief executive officer, the financial director and human resources director had been appointed and formal Commission structures began to emerge.

43 Following the resignation of the director of communications in 1996 and reductions in the projected communications budget for 1997, the Commission decided early in 1997 to rationalise and consolidate the two departments into one, while keeping the media liaison and communications functions separate to a degree.

44 The media liaison function of the Commission was carried out under the control of the departmental director and staff for most of the life of the Commission.

45 The staff initially comprised four media liaison officers, who were all senior and experienced professional journalists, and two administrative staff.

46 The media liaison officers were attached to each of the four regional offices of the Commission. Their primary responsibilities were co-ordinating media arrangements for public hearings for the Commission and liaising between journalists on the one hand, and commissioners and senior staff members of the Commission on the other. The primary task of the administrative staff involved the control, development and operation of news distribution and monitoring systems.

47 Apart from supervising the activities of the Department, the director performed a media liaison function for the chairperson, the vice-chairperson and the chief executive officer, to the degree that this was necessary, and attended Commission and committee meetings and hearings with a view to making recommendations on media coverage.

Communications

48 Because of the size of the task of building structures and recruiting staff for the Commission, there were delays in the establishment of a Communications Department. However, a suitably qualified director was employed and began work

in May 1996. The director, assisted by a secretary in the national office, managed the relationship between the Commission and advertising and communications agencies and oversaw the work of the communications officers based in each of the Commission’s four regional offices.

49 The tasks of the communications officers were to obtain, help distribute and communicate promotional material and news of Commission events to the public. Another important function of communications officers was liaison with NGO, community-based and non-profit organisations.

50 After the resignation of the communications director in December 1996, the Communications Department was merged with the Media Liaison Department. The director of media liaison oversaw the combined departments. A communications and marketing manager was appointed to supervise the relationship with advertising and communications agencies and to liaise with regional communications officers.