ANC punts Web 2.0 govt

By Siyabonga Africa, ITWeb junior journalist

Johannesburg, 08 Apr 2009

The African National Congress (ANC) wants to leverage ICT to boost skills in the country and modernise the next government.

This is according to ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa. He addressed businessmen, diplomats and members of the media at the party's Progressive Business Forum, at Gallagher Estate, this morning.

The theme of Phosa's address was “SA: The Road Ahead”. During his speech, Phosa highlighted plans to embark on initiatives to create online platforms within government departments, to enable a two-way communication stream between the state and its citizens.

“We want to create a modern government that will work for the people. All sectors in government will be targeted.”

Phosa added that increasing SA's ICT capacity forms part of its five main goals. ICT training falls within the party's goal of creating development initiatives, general infrastructure improvements, housing developments, developing rural areas and fighting against crime and corruption.

'Uninspiring content'

Yesterday, World Wide Worx released its report on the Internet strategies of the main political parties in SA's 2009 general elections. It showed the Democratic Alliance leading the race in terms of its online performance, while the ANC was a close second.

The research firm used its Webagility system to measure the parties' Web performance by looking at the usability of their Web sites, social media and content strategy.

“The ANC have clearly invested heavily in their online presence, and their YouTube site looks most impressive at first sight. But it is put to very poor use, with uninspiring content, and little opportunity for voter engagement,” said WWW Strategy MD Steven Ambrose.