Malatsi shares vision for SA's digital turnaround

The digital technologies minister has laid out his plans for improving the services delivered to citizens by departments such as Home Affairs. By Lindsey Schutters

- By Lindsey Schutters

South Africans don't usually look to information and communications technology (ICT) policy for revelation.

But at the annual GovTech conference that took place in Durban from 8 to 10 September, Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi preached like a reformist prophet.

Malatsi isn't just conducting the state IT choir, he's rewriting the gospel of government technology, one policy at a time. His sermon has three verses: competition, efficiency and trust.

At its centre is a vision aligned with the goals of the State Information Technology Agency (Sita), “One data, one citizen, one service delivery journey”, which was the theme of GovTech 2025 and the salvation chorus for a state trying to digitise itself out of dysfunction.

No congregation at GovTech needed reminding of Sita's sins. Established in 1999 to centralise ICT procurement, Sita soon became synonymous with inflated tenders, corruption scandals and the dreaded “system offline” sign at Home Affairs. Police procurement was delayed by years and service delivery collapsed under its watch, not to mention the dire cybersecurity situation.

Malatsi doesn't deny the failures. “The ultimate approach is to ensure that Sita delivers to the satisfaction of its clients. That’s what will make Sita a success,” he said in an interview at the conference.