As she retires from the public service, Director-General of the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) Phumla Williams has passed the baton to those who remain in the organisation.
Williams, who will be leaving the GCIS at the end of this month, has served as Director in Finance and later as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of GCIS between 1998 and 2009. She worked in the ANC before joining government in 1995, and was based in Swaziland and Mozambique during the 1980s.
Williams said that she is happy that she leaves the GCIS with a clean audit and hopes the young people in Finance and Procurement will carry on being “honest”.
“Today I am leaving an organization that has a clean audit. I am leaving and hoping the young people who have joined Finance and Procurement units will continue with their honesty because our country is where it is today because most of the irregularities happen with the collusion of supply chain and procurement people.
“Crime does not pay. I am hoping young people will emulate me and the previous people in finance in making sure that they do not succumb to wrong things,” Williams said.
Speaking on her tenure as the Chief Financial Officer in the organisation, Williams said that she built a culture of honesty and openness when it comes to running finances in the GCIS.
Williams celebrated the previous colleagues in Finance and Supply chain for carrying a culture of honesty as not a single penny went missing at that time.
She said that it was possible for them to steal if they wanted to because during those days they were using chequebooks.
“We could have easily signed each other cheques and get away with it. But the whole mission of service to the people of South Africa was much more than just considering stealing. And to that I want to celebrate the colleagues in procurement. There was not even a sniff of theft. We had a culture that if one made a mistake they must come out and say so, so that we can quickly fix it,” she said.
Williams lauded her team for being able to pick up when someone was doing something irregular, saying these are the kind of human beings she will always cherish.
Touching on the highlights of her career, Williams took the staff down memory lane when she mentioned how the GCIS handled the Mandela Funeral, setting up the multipurpose centres (Thusong Service Centres), running a successful government news agency (www.SAnews.gov.za), coming up with a corporate identity for departments and handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Williams said that she leaves proud that the GCIS was able to deliver 127 multipurpose centers which are now known as Thusong centres.
“I leave very proud that the GCIS delivered 127 multipurpose centres. Yes, we have challenges with some of them due to lack of resources but largely they are in good condition. I leave proud of the task that was given to GCIS to come up with a corporate identity.
“Every building that you walk in, you see the work done by our graphic designers, that is the GCIS that delivers…Today we are one of the most vibrant websites to go to when one is looking for government information, our website is the most updated website with content. That’s the GCIS I have come to know,” Williams said.
Speaking about the government news agency, www.SAnews.gov.za, Williams said at some point the leadership was unhappy with how the media was capturing government news and they were asking GCIS where are you?
“When you go to our government news agency, there is a top class of journalists producing stories from a government perspective. We tell government stories and there isn’t a single government event which comes to our attention that we do not cover. That’s the GCIS we have and that’s the staff I will always cherish,” she said.
Williams further lauded the Video and Photography units which has “top class camera people” who are today supplying media with their pictures and videos.
Williams encouraged the GCIS staff to continue to help the destitute and people around them.
“I am going to continue doing good for the destitute and those people around me. This will keep me going … I just feel we have to be sensitive to the people who live around us,” she said.
