Zuma fails ICT

President Jacob Zuma has been in office for a year and, during his term so far, government IT projects have deteriorated, says an analyst.

Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, says government IT projects have gone backward, because several major initiatives have been cancelled and several important tenders have simply not happened.

He points to the failure of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) identification system to be initiated and the failure to award tenders for the social security payments system.

“But the greatest disappointment of all is that ICT was not even mentioned in finance minister Pravin Gordhan's budget,” says Goldstuck.

Dennis Smit, MD of BMI-TechKnowledge, says the approval of a national broadband strategy in March or April would have given a good indication of the government's position in terms of ICT, but the approval of the policy has now been delayed.

Also, irregular procurement processes and poor financial management by the State IT Agency (SITA) have delayed IT projects and cost the DHA millions more than it originally budgeted for.

The recent closure of the 112 emergency call centre has also left SA without a national emergency number, after R80 million was put into the centre, according to Emergency Medical Services director Dr Cleeve Robertson.

Smit also echoes Goldstuck's low expectations for ICT focus. “ICT is not a priority. We can expect the broadband strategy to move it up a few points, but it's still right at the bottom.”

“Many changes have occurred despite government, rather than because of government, such as the arrival of the first undersea cable to compete with Telkom's control of international connectivity. Other major pending projects, such as the WACS undersea cable, were initiated before president Zuma took over the reins of power,” says Goldstuck.

Earlier this year, ICASA announced decreased interconnect fees.

“The South African public can look forward to an even further reduction of broadband, cellphone, landline and public phone rates. We will work to increase broadband speed and ensure a high standard of Internet service, in line with international norms,” said Zuma during his state of the nation address, in February.

Gordhan did not provide any clarity as to how government will cut the cost of communication, and improve the speed and accessibility of the Internet, despite Zuma's statement that this would happen.

Frost & Sullivan ICT industry analyst Spiwe Chireka says competition in the marketplace has been the main driver behind lower costs. “The extent to which government is directly involved... has been minimal,” she notes. “We've seen here and there the example of how government is getting involved, but it could get involved to a greater extent.”

Chireka points out that government needs to exercise the aggression shown when getting the interconnect ball rolling, in all other areas of communication.

Among the items that need to be tackled is quality of service, tariffs and making communication more accessible to rural areas, Chireka adds. “I hope the interconnect aggression is the beginning of the department [of communications] showing some kind of backbone.”

She mentions that one of the positive points is that the local loop is set to be unbundled next year. This would allow telecommunications companies other than Telkom access to the last mile connection between the home or office and the exchange.

Goldstuck says there is some hope for ICT and IT in government in the future, but this depends on some conditions being met.

“There is a promising future if the commitment of the minister of science and technology and the muscle of the minister of communications can be leveraged along with more than just verbal commitment from Cabinet.

“There is a promising future if Cabinet goes beyond paying lip service to the importance of ICT, and we see it treated as a national strategic, business, educational and financial priority.”