Despite spending R16 billion on ICT every year, government does not see the desired reduction in poverty levels it wants to achieve.
This is according to public service and administration minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, who was speaking this morning at GovTech 2008.
She says greater collaboration between all stakeholders, specifically government and industry, is needed for the billions spent by the state to start paying off.
"We cannot justify incremental spend just to maintain the status quo," said Fraser-Moleketi, quoting high poverty, homelessness, and unemployment rates.
According to her, government spent R303 million on software in the 2007/8 financial year, R 9.4 billion on hardware, and R6.2 billion on ICT services.
Fraser-Moleketi says government is the single biggest spender in the ICT industry domestically and, therefore, needs to make sure the silo approach that has dominated it thus far is eliminated and replaced by a culture of teamwork.
She was quick to stress that it is not a case of the current government not having achieved anything with the cash at its disposal.
"We've come a long was, but we are dealing with an incredible deficit, and we have an even longer way to go," she said.
SITA's role
State IT Agency (SITA) CEO Llewellyn Jones said the organisation is embarking on a process of aligning itself closer with government's needs.
"We need a shift in our strategic focus towards an outwards focus," he says, adding that the role of SITA is to assist the SA government to be better at delivering services.
Referring to historical troubles within SITA, Jones says: "We have gone from a four out of 10 to a six and a half out of 10, so there is still quite a lot of work to do. This is the year to make a change."
According to Jones, SITA will be focusing on infrastructure optimisation, modernising public service operations, reducing costs, extending its service footprint, developing its people, achieving operational excellence, and improving its financial stability.
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