The newly-appointed CEO of the State IT Agency (SITA), Llewellyn Jones, says the organisation will be under considerable pressure in the next few years to deliver on its mandate.
In his first media interview since taking the job at the beginning of the month, Jones reveals SITA's biggest challenges lie in implementing government's transversal systems, delivering on departmental initiatives in a short space of time, and addressing gaps within its organisation.
"Fundamentally, I have taken over a healthy organisation. It has suffered some disruption in the last few months, but we have to turn our focus to getting the job done as effectively and efficiently as possible," he comments.
E-government push
Jones says the organisation is grappling with several projects, which impact on all levels of government. However, he says, these are proceeding well.
"The Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) is still occupying a large part of our and National Treasury's attention. But good progress is being made. One of the most important aspects of this project, the system architecture design, is nearing the review process. Meanwhile, we are getting close to awarding the HR portion of the system and readying the remainder of the IFMS requirements for decision," he reveals.
At the same time, SITA is supporting the new push and impetus behind e-government. This initiative is likely to cost as much, "if not more", than National Treasury's IFMS. IFMS is believed to hold a R4 billion price tag.
"We have implemented a few small pieces of the e-government spectrum, but you can expect to see a lot more happening on this front over the next two years. SITA's board has already visited Canada and Brazil as part of our investigation into how other countries have implemented e-government. We expect to do similar trips to India and a European country shortly," he says.
Jones - who helped to establish the Meraka Institute - will also be at the helm as government looks to grow its use of open source and standards software.
"These are issues very close to my heart. However, I don't believe that open source software is universally applicable. We need to approach government's commitment sensibly; but we do need to see definite steps being taken," he explains.
Finally, Jones reveals that the organisation is focusing on proving to SA's municipalities that it has value to offer.
"At the moment, we only deal with central and provincial government. This has got to grow to municipalities for the simple reason that improved scales of economy and best use of knowledge resources benefit the whole of SA. We won't muscle in on the area; we need to prove we have value to offer," he says.
In addition to the transversal systems under its eye, SITA has several high-profile departmental projects that require its attention. These include several Home Affairs' IT projects; the Department of Health's eHealth Record; and the Transport's electronic National Traffic Information System (eNatis).
"These are serious priorities for SITA. In some cases, we have severely tight deadlines due to the 2010 Soccer World Cup; in others, we need to ensure they are done properly and efficiently. At the same time we continue to work closely with the SA Police Service and Department of Defence. At these, most of the systems are delivered by way of SITA. We cannot fail any of our customers or our partners - it's as simple as that," he says.
Internal upheaval
As for challenges within the agency, Jones is quick to admit that keeping everyone on board is not easy.
"We have had a very talented executive team that was incredibly attractive to industry. And I have been personally very sorry to see each person depart. When you consider that these people have moved on to top posts in the private sector - and the remuneration these companies can offer - then you begin to understand how difficult it is for SITA to compete. Further down the organisation we have lost some people to government. Again, it's very difficult to compete," he reveals.
All the same, Jones says the departures give him the opportunity to "appoint his own team".
"We are actively looking for replacements for those that have left. I also intend to broaden SITA's executive team - four is just not enough. We are probably going to finish with around six to seven executives."
As for those who feel a black person should have got the top job, Jones says these people should take up their concerns with Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moloketi.
"However, I must point out that we have made some great strides in transforming our organisation. We remain committed to building on what we have done and are very close to meeting our transformation targets and profiles. I see no reason why I cannot drive transformation just because I am a white male," he concludes.
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