Johannesburg, 18 Nov 2004
The previously strained relationship between the State IT Agency (SITA) and the Government IT Officers (GITO) Council has improved significantly, says SITA CIO Vusi Magagula.
"One of the primary functions of the GITO Council when it was established in 2000 was to manage the relationship between government and SITA, which was meant to be a client/service provider relationship," he says.
"However, from the start, relationships became strained," says Magagula.
The Ministry of Public Service and Administration said at the formation of the GITO Council that the council would lead the co-ordination and consolidation of government IT initiatives, with a view to enhance service delivery.
SITA would serve as the implementing arm of the GITO Council, and would be led by the council.
Magagula says one of the factors behind the troubled relationship was the fact that CIOs on the council were protective of their territory and were not eager to talk to each other.
"For example, police would look for criminals who were already in a correctional services facility because their databases did not talk to each other," he says.
The other problem was that SITA believed it knew what government needed, even though its assumptions were often incorrect.
"Imagine walking into a grocery store and someone walks up to you with a full basket telling you that these are the things you need from the shop. This kind of attitude caused frustration between government and SITA," he says.
But this is changing under SITA CEO Mavuso Msimang, appointed in October last year. Mismang has a customer-focused vision and is transforming the agency accordingly.
"SITA has been able to work with government to reduce duplication within the various government departments," Magagula says. "Because of the economies of scale, SITA has been able to secure the best prices for government for goods and IT services, and the improved relationship between SITA and GITO has seen more departments using SITA for this.
"SITA has achieved a partial system integration between some government departments and created a common core network that will enable government to fully utilise voice over IP technology when it is legalised next year."
Magagula was the winner in the Top Public Sector CIO category at the recent African ICT Achievers awards.
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