Question NW104 to the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies
21 February 2024 - NW104
Bodlani, Ms T to ask the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies
1.With reference to various government departments which were recently interrupted by the system of the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) that was offline, what (a) were the reasons for the system interruptions at SITA and (b) plans have been put in place to address the specified interruptions; 2. Whether there is a risk of more frequent, more severe system interruptions at SITA this year; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
I have been informed by the SITA as follows:
1. (a) The following are the key reasons for the system interruptions at SITA:
(i) A change in configuration resulted in blocked communication between systems. This resulted in service disruptions and as a consequence impacted email, internet, intranet, VPN and Applications to a key national department.
(ii) The SITA Core Network links are provided by both Private Sector Operators (PSO) and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). The service disruptions occasionally impact on connectivity to some of SITA’s Switching Centres and Data Centres, which impacts government services to key national and provincial departments.
Notwithstanding the fact that there is redundancy in place, the fibre breaks still impact both primary and secondary links at times. The key contributing factors are vandalism, veld fires and construction work. There are also single points of failure in the Network that have been identified, that contributed to service outages.
(iii) Persistent loadshedding has also put pressure on backup power infrastructure that occasionally fail to kick in, resulting in disruption in network connectivity.
(b) The following interventions have been put in place to address the specified interruptions:
(i) SITA made investments to address single points of failure and modernised the network through a Software Defined Network programme. SITA has built further redundancy into the current architecture over and above the existing dual network routes and infrastructure. There has also been upgrades on backup power infrastructure, increase frequency of maintenance to backup diesel generators, uninterrupted-power-supplies and switchgear to ensure power supply equipment is protected. Alternative power sources are also being investigated for future investments.
2. The interventions that SITA has put in place, mitigate the risk of more severe system interruptions. The drive is to ensure high availability of services through:
- Modernisation of the Network;
- Consolidation and modernisation of switching and data centres;
- Establishing partnerships with industry and State-Owned Entities to leverage their existing capabilities and to derive economies of scale.
Thank you