SA's national and provincial government department ICT expenditure reached R14 billion for the 2015/2016 financial year.
This is according to a new report published by BMI-TechKnowledge (BMI-T), which shows how much money government dedicated to ICT for the year in question.
This year's BMI-T report reveals a slight increase in government ICT spend compared to the R13.6 billion in 2014/2015.
The ICT research and consulting firm breaks down ICT expenditure into three categories, namely computer services - which can include various ICT services - and communications and software.
The report shows R11 billion, more than three-quarters of the total national and provincial government ICT spend, went towards computer services for the 2015/2016 financial year.
It further states communications makes up less than one-quarter of spend, at R3.4 billion, and R344 million was spent on software.
"These categories, as reported in departmental budgets, should not be taken too literally, as 'computer services' can include all kinds of things bundled in," say the authors of the government ICT spend report.
Curb spending
While National Treasury has implemented strict measures to minimise government spending, the report notes there are still many challenges in respect of just 'keeping the lights on'.
According to BMI-T, there is inadequate funding available for the national broadband roll-out, e-government in general, and more specifically for health and education initiatives.
This means further cost-cutting measures, renewed effort at belt-tightening and initiatives aimed at centralising procurement of basic services such as cellphones for public servants.
The process of cutting down on spend towards communications services started in 2015 when Treasury issued a call for expressions of interest and requests for information from interested service providers for fixed and mobile communication, respectively.
Flowing from this, reports on the frame agreement reached with Vodacom suggest the state could save R25 billion a year through belt tightening, including R500 million from changing cellphone policies, according to the report.
"Details are not yet available on the outworking of this contract in terms of actual uptake. But to the extent that it pans out, it has to be good for the fiscus and taxpayers. For some industry players, however, it simply means a chunk of revenue just disappeared," says Brian Neilson, co-author of the report.
The report also notes the justice cluster is government's biggest ICT spender, with 72% of the total national ICT budget dedicated to it.
The justice cluster is described as a cluster that deals with crime prevention and the transformation of SA's judicial system.
According to Neilson, as part of belt-tightening initiatives "there have also been strong moves to harmonise disparate systems, notably the Integrated Justice Project, which also happens to relate to the single biggest ICT spender in the entire government, the justice cluster".
Better days
Government has also made strides in corporate governance in general, going some way to addressing the lack of coordination between departments, states the report.
This has resulted in a long string of required planning initiatives flowing from departmental ICT policies: ICT strategic plans, enterprise and ICT architectures, migration plans, procurement strategies, and implementation plans.
These are backed up by operational plans aligned with the departmental strategic plans and an ICT annual performance plan. This all sounds like quite a lot of work is happening, and no doubt there are many hard-working civil servants out there, doing their best to make a difference as far as they can, according to the report.
"As always, there are some good stories to tell, like the recent launch of the g-commerce portal, described as a major step forward in government procurement.
"This, along with the promise of cross-cluster integration and harmonisation, such as the new justice system and a massive revamp of SA Police Services ICT on the ground, and a well-respected, competent SITA CEO, effectively promise to carry SA into the 21st century and offer hope of better times to come," says Neilson.
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