Public service and administration minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi has outlined the next steps in the e-government strategy. These include an interactive community relationships portal, and providing community development workers with cellular phones and mobile Internet access.
She spoke yesterday during the media briefing for the public service cluster of ministries, which includes her department and those of Home Affairs and provincial and local government.
Fraser-Moleketi said the projects are an extension of e-government strategies that are already running, such as the gateway portal.
"We want to make e-government more interactive so that people can ask specific questions."
Fraser-Moleketi acknowledged that content on government portals was a problem. She noted that a task team had been established to ensure departments update their information regularly.
She said community development workers within the Eastern Cape's OR Tambo municipality would be involved in a pilot project that includes giving them cellphones and laptops with Internet connectivity.
Government's community development workers programme is aimed at developing and improving service delivery approaches in municipal wards around the country.
"These community development workers need to be mobile and have the requirement to access government information from wherever they are."
She said the Department of Communications has been involved in approaching network operators for their co-operation. However, Fraser-Moleketi did not provide any other details on the project.
Home Affairs cancels briefing
At the same briefing, Home Affairs minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said she was happy with the progress being made with her department's turnaround and the implementation of its IT projects.
Mapisa-Nqakula would not elaborate on these issues, as new Home Affairs director-general Mavuso Msimang was due to hold a press conference in Johannesburg on his 100 days in office later this week. However, the Department of Home Affairs later cancelled the press conference.
She noted the track and trace systems that allow citizens to track their identity document and passport applications have proven to be successful.
"Track and trace was originally put in as a management performance measure, but it has proven to be useful for cutting down on corruption and ensuring improved service delivery," she said.
Other IT projects touched on by Mapisa-Nqakula included "Who I am", which seeks to create user authentication for online service transactions, a pilot of receipt printers, and the passport system computer hardware upgrade.
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