SITA admits e-govt failure

By Bandile Sikwane for SITA
Johannesburg, 01 Nov 2006

The State IT Agency (SITA) has not delivered on implementing an e-government strategy, chief of strategic services Jonas Bogoshi told delegates at the GovTech conference, at Sun City this week.

"If we assume that e-government is about transforming and rethinking government, then we have not done a good job. We have to rethink how we approach e-government," he said.

"Local government has a different view of e-government than that of the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) - the owner of e-government. What we do not have yet is a clear offering of where we are at as a country, where are we going and how are we going to get there."

Bogoshi said unless the governance of e-government is right, e-government will never happen. He noted that e-government must have clear executive leadership at the highest level possible.

"I'm of a personal view that e-government is not about ICT, but about transforming government. E-government must be with the department that deals with transforming the public sector and government - that department is the DPSA.

"The minister [of public services and administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi] has come to a stage where she is adamant about the progression of e-government. She has raised her frustrations and wants one consolidated programme to run e-government. She states she will take personal responsibility for driving e-government."

He noted that SITA needs a clear vision of where it is going, which of the areas it wants to transform, and how it is going to measure progress and identify what the citizenry wants.