Manyi after control of who gets state advertising money

Cabinet spokesman Jimmy Manyi is tightening his grip on the advertising of all government departments - he wants it centralised in his office.

"At national level we are trying to have a model where all departments will give their advertising to one centre - the Government Communication and Information Services. Once this model has been adopted, GCIS will then be the one to distribute adverts accordingly," said Manyi, who is the head of GCIS.

Each of the 34 government departments has its own funds for advertising, amounting to millions. Currently, each department is in charge of its own advertising and has a responsibility to appoint its own advertising agency - but this might not be for long.

Manyi was speaking at a community media indaba in Durban on Saturday.

GCIS, in conjunction with the Media Development and Diversity Agency, negotiated with community media representatives at the indaba on funding and the lack of government advertising in community media.

Community media have long complained that the government is ignoring them in the allocation of advertising and instead was choosing to place its advertising with the mainstream media at much greater cost.