Call for ICT minister to be appointed

By Damaria Senne, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 10 May 2006

Respondents to a recent study by ForgeAhead have called for the urgent appointment of an ICT minister.

ForgeAhead says several government officials stated in interviews during its research on "IT in government" that SA needs an ICT minister.

Jane Mosebi, MD of ForgeAhead, says having an ICT minister would force department heads to implement projects that have been approved and authorised by the national government, which means the State IT Agency (SITA) will spend less time trying to convince municipalities to buy into the concepts, she says.

Neo Mokhathi, a director of the national Government Information Technology Officers Council Secretariat, says the position of a minister responsible for ICT in government is already adequately filled by Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, minister of public service administration.

"There are people who hope that such [an appointment of an ICT minister] can happen, but the question is: are the ministers we have sufficient for the job?" he says.

Richard Hurst, an analyst with BMI-TechKnowledge, says such an appointment would be a duplication of services and waste of resources.

Vusumuzi Magagula, CIO of SITA, which is responsible for the implementation of government ICT projects, says while he does not discount that people can make suggestions, the protocol is that such discussions originate from Cabinet.