The beleaguered Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is unlikely to successfully address its IT challenges unless staffing, management and budgetary constraints are addressed.
So says the State IT Agency (SITA), echoing the thoughts of Public Service Commission director-general Odette Ramsingh and industry players.
A task team was appointed by Home Affairs minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula last year to investigate the department. The task team was made up of representatives from National Treasury, the Department of Public Service and Administration and the Office of the Public Service Commission.
Last month, the task team presented the long-awaited summary report to Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs. In it, the task team noted its intention to focus on quick wins had become sidetracked by "deeper systematic problems and crises situations".
It went on to say the department lacks a coherent strategy for implementing ICT solutions over the short- to long-term, even though "ICT is a key lever for turning around service delivery".
However, the DHA's IT budget for the year now under way is R100 million - a figure regarded as laughable by some industry players.
"It's not just a joke, it's an insult. The DHA touches the lives of all citizens from birth to death, and the systems that require approval and implementation cannot be put on a backburner," says one industry player who prefers to remain unnamed.
Jonas Bogoshi, SITA's executive of client services, agrees. Reporting to the portfolio committee on the assistance provided by SITA to the department, Bogoshi said the IT budget was inadequate and ought to be re-examined.
The Parliament Monitoring Group notes Bogoshi informed the committee SITA was involved in mandatory services with the DHA and also in the areas of network upgrade, disaster recovery for the Home Affairs National Identity System, and a track-and-trace system.
In an earlier presentation to the public service and administration portfolio committee, Bogoshi revealed DHA had spent more than R110 million in the financial year ended March 2006.
Looking at management
However, the department's minimalist budget may be the least of its IT worries if its management and administration problems are not addressed, observers say.
The department has been without a CIO since Kgabo Hlahla left in October. This situation, says SITA, must be addressed as a matter of urgency.
Industry players say the post will be difficult for the department to fill, as its IT department is perceived to face insurmountable challenges. Its lack of budgetary support adds to the unattractiveness of the position.
However, one source says SITA's outgoing CEO Mavuso Msimang has been rumoured as taking the job as early as next month. The agency's general manager of communications Elton Fortuin says this information is incorrect.
"Msimang will not be taking up the position of CIO at the Department of Home Affairs," he said this morning.
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