Minister of public service and administration Richard Baloyi says he is delivering on his 2009 promise to turn around the much-maligned State IT Agency (SITA).
Speaking at the opening of the annual GovTech conference in Durban, Baloyi referred to his commitment last year to decisively deal with the challenges facing the organisation.
“I am delighted to report, without any form of equivocation, that I have kept to that promise. Early this year, an inter-ministerial committee of key portfolios approved a turnaround strategy framework developed by a task team led by the chairperson of the GITO Council.
“Key among the recommendations contained in that strategy was the need to urgently address some of the systemic problems of the agency consistent with the desire to urgently address the leadership vacuum and contradictions, especially at the board and executive level,” he said.
New members
As a result, the department - led by the task team - re-constituted SITA's board, adding new members to replace those who had resigned. The new members are Febe Potgieter-Gubule (deputy chairperson), Professor Maredi Mphahlele, Ronnie Mabena, Peter Kgame, Nontobeko Ntsinde (acting-CEO), Solani Bvuma, Kuki Mdlulwa, Kgomotso Mthimunye, Brenda Malongete, Jacqueline Shibambu, Tumelo Moloko and Ms Mhlakaza.
“The profiles of the new members reflect a high degree of independence, coupled with appropriate knowledge and experience required to turn the organisation around.
Baloyi continued: “In the few months the new board had been in place, they have taken to their task with the prudence necessary to turn the organisation around. Among the immediate actions taken by the board was to appoint one of their own as the acting CEO to nip in the bud the escalating challenges in the management of the agency, while they go on with the most important task of preparing space for the appointment of the CEO.”
Turnaround strategy
Additionally, the board applied itself to translating the turnaround strategy framework into a detailed repositioning/turnaround strategy and plan, Baloyi said.
“This detailed and internal strategy was presented to me in July and we are in the process of doing further consultation with key stakeholders, in particular GITO Council members, the government and industry players. This conference will also be used as a forum of engagement and sharing experience in dealing with matters like this,” he revealed.
“It is safe for me to allude to the fact that the strategy aims to reposition SITA as an effective public sector ICT agency and 'thought' leader. It covers issues of pricing to achieve lower costs through economies of scale, strengthening of the supply chain management and improvement of the quality of service provided by the agency.”
With SITA's turnaround strategy in good hands, Baloyi says he has turned the attention of the task team towards e-government.
“The development of a government-wide ICT strategy is the next most important task necessary to facilitate the transformation [of government]. The government-wide ICT strategy will focus on the areas of ICT, which must enable this government and its partners deliver the value our citizens have, deserve and need. This shall include issues of IT governance and broader e-government and e-governance. I have placed my faith in the GITO Council-led Task Team to undertake this next challenge,” he announced.
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