DA backs Malatsi’s new regulations allowing govt depts to seek IT services outside State

CAPE TOWN - The Democratic Alliance (DA) has come out in support of new regulations by Communications and Digital Technologies Minister, Solly Malatsi, which will allow departments to seek IT services from outside the State.

The DA says after consultation with the National Treasury, government departments will be allowed to procure IT services of their choosing, and will no longer be mandated to rely on the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), which has been unable to deliver effectively.

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This is despite opposition from its Government of National Unity (GNU) partner, the ANC, which is opposed to the move.

The DA's Communications and Digital Technologies spokesperson, Tsholofelo Bodlani, says the move by the minister to gazette the new regulations is a step toward greater government efficiency.

She says for far too long, vital government services like home affairs and social development have continuously been "offline" due to IT inefficiencies, leading to massive backlogs.

The ANC said before the regulations were gazetted that decentralising procurement to individual departments could lead to the job losses of nearly half of SITA’s 3,200 employees, threatening economic transformation.

But Bodlani says government departments that still wish to use SITA remain free to do so, and those who are able to present a business case, “including delivery at a faster pace and at a lower cost than sita,” can procure from the private sector.