Home Affairs Minister says digitisation efforts restricted by State Information Technology Agency
In just five months, Schreiber says the Department of Home Affairs has managed a considerable clean-up and the dismissal of 18 corrupt officials.
Leon Schreiber. Picture: Facebook/HomeAffairsZA
CAPE TOWN - Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber says his department’s digitisation efforts are being hamstrung by the ineffectiveness of the State Information Technology Agency (SITA).
Schreiber says fully digitising applications for documents is the only way to limit the corruption that has dogged the department for years.
Addressing the National Council Provinces on Wednesday, Schreiber said SITA’s stranglehold on digital technology is limiting transformation across government.
In just five months, Schreiber says the Department of Home Affairs has managed a considerable clean-up and the dismissal of 18 corrupt officials.
He says removing human intervention in the application for documents remains key to rooting out the rot.
But he says Home Affairs can’t be held responsible for that which is not under its control - including regular offline systems.
“The SITA monopoly means the Home Affairs is operating with one hand tied behind our back. Even as we move with urgency to reform technological aspects under our control, our efforts will fall short for as long as we cannot maintain, procure and properly manage our own it infrastructure.”
The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party’s Sifiso Zulu slammed Schreiber for blaming SITA - saying it’s poor leadership.
Zulu questioned why if SITA is so problematic the government has up until now not done something about it.