The State Information Technology Agency's (SITA's) partnership with Belgian agency CIPAL* launched its first project in the Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality recently. The project, supported by the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA), will implement a financial management system for the district to enhance service delivery through effective management of costs.
The project aims to further assist the municipality to comply with the dictates of the Public Financial Management Act.
"The promulgation of the Municipal Finance Management Act makes it obligatory to upgrade information technology to reinforce key performance areas and to optimise efficiency and accountability," Executive Mayor, Her Royal Majesty Queen Mathokoana Mopeli, said in her address to the attendants.
The SITA proposed and self-funded Master Systems Plan highlighted deficiencies in the existing financial system for the municipality and gaps in relation to new legislation.
"It did not posses the capabilities to adapt to the new environment quickly due to old generation language," says SITA Regional Manager for the Free State Province, Lourens Maree, adding that local authority structures are the first contact and lowest level of service delivery to citizens.
SITA started negotiations with CIPAL to assist in creating a suitable financial system for the local authority market in SA, which is part of SITA's Local Government Strategy. The Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality Project is the pilot. Once completed and evaluated, it will be implemented in all municipalities and local authorities across the country.
"SITA and CIPAL will further promote the use of IT to improve service delivery. Both ICT centres will be working on the setting of standards and quality assurance on interoperability and security and will advice on IT. The provision of inter-urban ICT services is one of the main objectives of this project," Ludo Helsen, Vice-President, Regional Development in the Province of Antwerp in Belgium said.
The milestones achieved thus far include: connecting the Municipality to the Government Common Core Network (GCCN), which enabled e-mail and Internet connectivity as well as remote support from SITA to the municipality; the provision of training for individuals on using the system; and capturing data on the system by students from Phuthaditjaba, which subsequently also led to the transfer of skills to the local community.
This is not the end of SITA and CIPAL's relationship, said Helsen. "Together we have the ambition to create new opportunities in the public ICT sector and SITA and CIPAL are already preparing the implementation of new software applications for the local sector, namely Workflow Management and Minute Management."
* CIPAL is an acronym for the Centre of Informatics in the Province of Anwerp and Limburg, in Belgium.
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