Public Service and Administration Deputy Minister, Dr Chana Pilane-Majake on Wednesday said the Government Information Technology Officers Council (GITOC) remains an important ICT support component of government.

The Deputy Minister delivered her opening remarks yesterday virtually to delegates attending the GITOC’s Annual General Meeting and strategic planning session currently underway in Cape Town.

Dr Pilane-Majake said GITOC must develop core indicators that can be used to assess its effectiveness, influence, and value to the public service digitalisation journey.

“One of the primary objectives of the GITOC is to share common problems and solutions in a manner that facilitates the adoption of common technologies and enhances government integration.

“This practice has been largely ignored and must be a core focus area in the operational plan of the GITOC. Mandatory reporting should be explored to ensure that all departmental GITO’s support the government wide integration and sharing objectives,” the Deputy Minister said.

She said: “The GITO’s must continuously seek new methods and approaches to digitalise the department’s services including promoting development of government owned software.

“This is a call for GITOC to recognize its strategic role in building capacity for the government towards a capable and ethical developmental state that manages to meet the basic needs of the people.”

The MPSA established the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) within the DPSA with the responsibility of putting in place accountability measures for management, functioning and utilisation of IT resources across government towards accelerated service delivery.

The Deputy Minister said the DPSA assumed responsibility for the State IT Agency (SITA) and its functioning as well as recommending the establishment of the position and function of a Government IT Officers (GITO) and a GITOC within public service.

“The GITOC remains an important Information and Communications Technology (ICT) support component of government. Section 3 of the Public Service Act (PSA) provides for the Minister for Public Service and Administration (MPSA) to develop norms and standards relating to: Information Management, Electronic Government, Transformation, Reform, Innovation, and any other matter for effective and efficient Public Service delivery.

“The DPSA has updated the Public Service regulations to strengthen the role of the GITOC, and the GITO to support governments digitalization efforts. The MPSA also published the Determination and Directive on Cloud computing in the public service, an enabling directive that allows departments to utilise cloud technologies while protecting government critical data assets,” she said.

GITO Council is responsible for management and utilisation of information and IT resources across government through national and provincial IT Officers (GITOS). With national and provincial IT Officers serving on the GITO Council, accountability measures need to be improved to deal with non-compliance at this level.

GITOC also has a responsibility managing all Business Agreements and government Service Level Agreements with SITA with GITOs guarding the of interests of their respective departments. GITO role is understood to be that of account manager with focus on automation towards improved business processes in government.

Insufficient integration of operational processes

According to the Deputy Minister, insufficient integration of operational processes can result in a lack of coordination and alignment amongst the various processes, procedures, and systems used by different government departments.

“This lack of coordination can lead to inefficiencies, duplication of efforts, and delays in the delivery of services to citizens.  Many government departments operate independently of one another, each having its own unique set of processes and procedures, which can place the burden of integration on citizens.

“As a result, citizens may need to navigate through multiple layers of bureaucracy to obtain a particular service, which can be time-consuming and frustrating. To improve service delivery and alleviate these challenges, it is critical for government departments to establish integrated and coordinated processes that promote collaboration and effective communication across departments,”

Identified challenges:

  • Low level of digital maturity which requires to be re-designed to promote inter-agency integration of operating processes in government to support governance and decision-making.
  • Wanting data management practices that impacts negatively on data security.   The 2020, data management practices assessment by DPSA in selected government departments, revealed that data governance, quality management, data sharing, and data security require improvement. In a nutshell, policy on data management and procedure was found to be weak leading to inefficiencies and poor decision-making,
  • Silo operation approach: Government IT systems that do not talk to each other impact negatively on access to digital information, affordability, and ability to deliver.
  • Universal Service and Access to ICT: Insufficient Connectivity to government IT system by service delivery sites like schools, police stations, health facilities and others is a subject of concern that costly duplicates government services. Network coverage and cost of data in South Africa exacerbates the situation.
  • Lack of digital leadership & Lack of capacity by departments to deliver on digital solutions is also a challenge as outlined in the recent reports of the Auditor-General.
  • The broken ICT procurement model: A coordinated and cost-effective approach to procurement and service delivery is necessary. From the cost-effective perspective, the transversal procurement system must be revisited.