While the Department of Home Affairs' (DHA) turnaround strategy is ongoing, IT remains one the major stumbling blocks in the process.
This is according to director-general Mavuso Msimang, who was one of the speakers this week at the third annual GovTech conference, held in Durban.
Msimang says among the challenges he faces at the department are numerous IT issues, and they will still take a number of years to resolve.
The department has not received a clean audit report since 2000 and, according to Msimang, the report due for the end of the 2007/8 financial year, "is not looking very good; I'm just preparing you for it".
Msimang spoke frankly about the problems he faces at the department, even teasing that "people have said there have been so many turnaround strategies at Home Affairs now that they don't know which way to look, but we will turn this around and look forward".
He said the current turnaround strategy at the department will need three years in total to be completed, giving it two more years to go.
He says some of the IT-specific challenges he has encountered in the department relate to:
* An IT environment that is not stable, and architecture that is silo-based;
* A lack of skilled resources;
* Legacy systems that will remain in place for the next two to three years;
* Migration from the old systems to new systems;
* Complexity of the department's technology landscape will increase;
* Current network solution is outdated;
* Management of service providers.
Smart technology
Part of Msimang's strategy to address this is the much-touted "Who am I" online initiative, done in partnership with GijimaAST, with a price-tag of R2.5 billion.
Under the project, smart identity cards are to be rolled out across the country, based on geometrics, and linked to the national population register and the Home Affairs National Information System.
"Who am I" is supposed to be at least partially in place by 2010, when it is to assist border officials in simplifying the visa application process of foreign visitors.
GijimaAST, event sponsor of GovTech, has a stand at the conference where it is printing sample ID cards for delegates. Featuring a photograph, fingerprint, and signature of the individual, as well as their name and surname, it is meant to give them a feel of what the future identity cads may eventually look like.
The project, however, faces some challenges and has been referred for investigation to the auditor-general by home affairs minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, after politicians raised concerns about the deal in Parliament.
Since taking up the post of DHA DG, Msimang has been touting IT as a way to turn around the department, even though he described it as being in a "shambles" when he first started at the department.
Msimang says his turnaround plans will, however, not only pay dividends in future, but are doing so already.
According to him, a track and trace facility on ID books has already been implemented, with the dispatch time of ID books having been cut down from 137 days in January 2008, to less than 60.
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