E-government to play enabling role for people

Sita's chief executive, Blake Mosley-Lefatola, says that from putting in place policies and programmes through to the design of laws and regulations for ICT access and citizen participation, "e-government and e-governance will expand their reach in affecting the living conditions of the people in South Africa in general, and in reducing the adverse impact of the digital divide in particular".

He says that to date the state information technology agency has been involved in a number of initiatives that make e-government happen. These include the Batho Pele Gateway, the eNatis system, municipal websites, the Sita Wasp project, Department of Health e-health initiatives and the ICT blueprint that governs deployment of ICT projects to Thusong centres, clinics, schools and community radio stations, among others.

In terms of e-government preparatory initiatives, the agency has been involved in the development of e-government policy and strategy, the government ICT strategy and plan, as well as the government-wide enterprise architecture and convergence strategy.

Sita is also the main implementation partner of the integrated financial management system.

Areas targeted by Sita for further action flowing from last year's GovTech resolutions include the drafting and implementation of various strategies and frameworks to take forward the process of ICT enhancement. These include a government-wide ICT strategy and a cloud computing strategy.

The frameworks to guide future ICT implementation for local government are the electronic data, information security and Smart City ICT development frameworks.

Other initiatives under way include the implementation of the ICT Academy; the opportunities for partnerships programme; and support for SMME development through supply chain management policies and practices.

In addition, the use of social media platforms; improved connectivity; access to services through the establishment of a single view of government; and driving down ICT costs remain key priorities.

Mosley-Lefatola says: "While GovTech has always advocated that as a country and continent we share insights into successful ICT initiatives and showcase ICT solutions and innovations that enable public sector service delivery, this year we are expanding the debate to include an examination of the failures in ICT, so that we learn from the past and move forward decisively and with confidence."

Research and development initiatives will also take centre stage this year.

GovTech 2012 will showcase the latest and most relevant innovations to influence improved service delivery and modernisation.

Source: Business Day via I-Net Bridge