Private and public sector representatives who attended the State IT Agency (SITA) GovTech conference, in Durban, this week, agree SITA should fully disclose the corruption which plagues the body.
SITA, however, notes the risk assessment report - at the centre of the controversy - was an internal study and emphasises previous statements that the public services and administration minister will respond at the “appropriate time”.
Following a report by ITWeb earlier this week, on the contents of the risk assessment report on the agency, delegates who spoke to ITWeb at GovTech noted SITA should have been more transparent and addressed the report.
The 613-page report points to widespread irregularities within the organisation. It details evidence of apparent corruption, conflicts of interest, duplicate payments, and invalid identities of suppliers and employees - all of which is conservatively estimated to have cost the agency R355.3 million.
“It was an internal report, which looked at the issues which need to be addressed. It was not to check or expose maladministration within SITA, it was meant to take a look at the things which are currently making SITA not work,” said Sefako Nyaka, spokesperson for the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA).
While both SITA CEO Moses Mthimunye and the minister of public service and administration, Richard Baloyi, addressed audiences at the conference, no mention of the report was ever made. Both Baloyi and Mthimunye touched on corruption, with the minister saying the practice would not be tolerated.
Mthimunye's address focused on corruption in SITA's government ICT acquisition, but his insistence that these were largely just allegations, was seen as questionable by some delegates.
“The SITA CEO admits to corruption. That was no surprise. What he should have done is address the conference on what was written [by ITWeb]. This report is clearly damning and shouldn't be ignored the way it has been,” said one delegate from government.
Poor delivery
Several delegates who spoke to ITWeb noted that, while SITA in general had good intentions for ICT development in the country, this still needed to be implemented across the board.
“The conference has value. But should we really be talking so much about ICT and not doing very much about it? That needs to change; the way in which SITA does things really needs to change,” a delegate explained.
The 2009 GovTech conference was attended by 2 000 delegates from all sectors. The conference is in its fourth year and has set itself up as a critical public sector technology learning event. The theme for this year, “Doing ICT for the Citizens”, addressed the citizen-centric paradigm of governance.
”The chairperson said that recommendations made in the previous years had been included in SITA's projects. I'm still not sure what she is talking about. I've yet to see any tangible results from the sessions at the conference as a small business owner - and this is my third year here,” the delegate added.
Nyaka notes that changes have already been made to SITA with the view of making it more effective. He cites the three-person CEO team and the deployment of the minister's advisor to monitor the agency, as some of the positive changes.
“We are trying to strengthen the SITA executive and board to make sure they can carry out their mandate.”
Protecting big names?
The report only touched on problems within SITA, delegates believed. The report highlights irregular procurement practices, which involve several of the agency's employees and other high-profile figures.
“The report only reveals what most people have known for a very long time. While I do think something should have been said about it, I think we were maybe expecting too much from SITA,” said one delegate, who identified himself as a former SITA employee.
ITWeb initially exposed the existence of the report in July. The report was confirmed to have been submitted to Baloyi. The DPSA declined to comment at the time, saying the minister was studying the report and would, at a later stage, decide whether it would be released to the public.
“This is a sign that whatever is in the report, is not pretty. If the minister is still deciding after all this time whether it should be released or not, it's a sign that it's something he doesn't want people to find out about,” another delegate noted.
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