The South African Parliament is poised to establish an online communications platform, accessible from anywhere in the world, serving both parliamentarians and the public.
The Internet-based portal is designed to serve as an entrance point to Parliament, enabling visitors to the site to consult policy, listen to speeches and gain an insight into the legislation process. Eventually members of the public may be able to "virtually attend" parliamentary sessions, debates and hearings as they happen - or have them played back after the event.
Software giant, Oracle, has supplied the software for the project and Siyazakha Information Technology (SIT), Oracle South Africa`s first black business partner, has implemented it.
The project is expected to be fully operational by the time Parliament resumes its sitting in 2002.
Worth around R500 000, the project has received funding from the European Union, through this body`s parliamentary support programme.
According to Neil Campsie, account manager at Oracle`s Cape Town office, Parliament made the decision to standardise on Oracle`s infrastructure and opted for Oracle`s database for its Internet platform in early 2001.
"For ordinary South Africans as well as MPs, lobbyists and other people involved in the parliamentary process, the portal will provide to an archive of legislative information, with details going back to 1994," he says.
"More importantly, minutes of meetings will be posted to the Web site immediately and the public will be invited to make comments, and contribute to the debates via the site," says Campsie.
"The project team`s goal is to enable members of the public to `virtually` attend meetings, debates and parliamentary sessions in real-time," he adds.
Rafiq Motlekar, account manager of Siyazakha is upbeat about the long-term future of the portal and its role within South African society.
"The system is designed to create live links to broadcast text, audio and images from all chambers and subcommittees. In future, virtual committees will be able to be set up to accommodate special interest groups. Web conferencing facilities are also incorporated into the Oracle software and can be activated in future," he says.
"As the system is designed to support both the electorate and the elected, there are designated levels of access to various areas," he explains.
"Everyone will have `read only` rights, but only accredited people will be entitled to add material or edit content.
"In addition, the system will be able to access `reporting levels` so that the most popular environments on the portal will be made more easily accessible," adds Motlekar.
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