Johannesburg, 19 Aug 2003
The Gateway project, which can be described as the future of government service delivery, is fast taking shape. The first phase of the programme is expected to be launched in September 2003.
Established in 2002, e-Government Gateway is about the development of a single online system that will provide South Africans with access to government services any time, anywhere.
When completed, e-Government Gateway will facilitate access to all information about, and services provided by the government.
The Gateway project office is at the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) head office in Erasmuskloof, and it is from there that most of the work is done, using SITA project methodology.
The e-Government Gateway project has established a secretariat, whose task is to:
* Coordinate the activities of the programme;
* Identify the inter-dependency of the various activities;
* Coordinate tasks and deliverables of the whole programme;
* Create a manual and an electronic filing for the project; and
* Spontaneously communicate issues and risks to the rest of the team.
Members of the secretariat, which comprises SITA employees entirely, are Mpumi Nkabinde (Program director), Khanyisa Qangule, Thembile Hlati, Mandisa File, Dudu Mogale and Nokuthula Mbonambi.
Says Mandisa File, Project Manager at Gateway Secretariat: "The secretariat, which is the governing body of the programme, was established at the same time as the project was launched last year."
The secretariat reports to a SITA Steering Committee, which comprises the acting CEO, divisional chief executives, divisional general managers and corporate communications.
"Phase one of e-Government Gateway will see the successful development of an informational portal and the call centre, which will be simultaneously launched in September, says Mandisa. "Both these projects are core to the programme. The call centre, which will have the capacity of about 70 seats, will launch in four languages: English, Tshivenda, Sesotho and Nguni.
"The portal will include interactive functionality that will allow the citizen to transact with government institutions."
Already, the branding for the project has been established, and a proposed Gateway company organisational structure submitted to the Department of Public Services and Administration.
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