Government encouraged to award tender locally

Selvin Kristnen, Corporate Director of Sahara Systems, has issued a statement supporting local government for opening the Golaganang tender to South African manufacturers.

Golaganang, a joint initiative between the government and the private sector, seeks to make PC ownership and Internet connection more accessible to public service employees and their families. Almost a year after the announcement of the initiative by public service and administration minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi in her budget speech last May, it has gone to tender.

"This is a good project and an excellent way for the government to play its part in bridging the digital divide," Kristnen commented. "If this tender is awarded to local industry it will go a long way towards creating employment and boosting the country's economic growth."

The initiative has three basic aims: to create jobs and skills, to give a larger number of people access to e-services and to foster a culture of computer literacy in SA. It seeks to provide public services employees with access to an affordable package of basic information technology tools and services including access to the Internet.

The project seeks to instigate broader distribution of IT tools creating a culture of digital learning and help the country along the path of transition towards an information-driven economy.

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It is encouraging that there are no exclusions to any local brand in this tender process. This allows the local industry to compete on an equal basis and with international brands, to which the result can only have positive returns for local empowerment.

"The products produced locally are of the same high quality and measured against the same standards as international brands."