Question NW513 to the Minister of Public Service and Administration

Reply:

a) What is the progress regarding the implementation of the e-government strategy?

The implementation of the National e-Government Strategy prioritises the implementation of e-Services as the first milestone towards digitalisation of government.

E-SERVICES

The following are some of the flagship e-services implemented by government.

National e-Services Portal developed by DCDT and SITA 

The National e-Governmental Portal initiative reinforces SITA’s e-Government Programme Imperatives, including transversal services, streamlining legacy systems, open digital platform, and cloud capabilities. The National e-Governmental Portal has various features and services available for consumption by different sectors of our society. The following is a list of the services in the portal (www.eservices.gov.za):

1. Private Employment Agency Registration,
2. International Cross Boarder Labour Migration (ICBLM) Certificate,
3. e-Participatory Governance & Land Use Management System (ePGLUM),
4. Permit Platform (eastern Cape DEDEAT, Free State DESTEA, DFFE-CIPS),
5. Licensing Platform (KZN EDTEA),
6. Free State School of Nursing- Student Management System,
7. e-Learning Platform, e-Rehabilitation Platform,
8. e-Complaints Platform,
9. Funza Lushaka: Front-end/Funza Lushaka: Back-End,
10. e-Matric: e-Registration,
11. e-Re-Issue, and e-Re-Mark/Re-Check,
12. DHET: Exams e-Query,
13. Grants Management System,
14. South African Council for Educators (SACE),
15. Agro-Processing Service (Phase 1),
16. Electronic Document Delivery System,
17. e-Prison (pre prod), 
18. Annual Performance Plan

Electronic Document Delivery (EDD)

The EDD has transformed the way government distributes payslips to the employees with payslips being sent directly to their respective email address and accessible through desktop and mobile devices.

EDD provides preparation, formatting, composition, and timely secure delivery of electronic documents (such as Invoices, Payslips, Certificates, Permits, etc) via multiple delivery platforms e.g. Email, FAX, SMS to specific recipients as per the business requirements.

CIPC e-Services

The CIPC eServices portal is an online platform provided by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) in South Africa. It allows individuals and businesses to access numerous services related to company registration, intellectual property, and other legal matters.

eHome Affairs

The Department of Home Affairs developed a portal enabling citizens to apply for identity related services. E-Home Affairs allows the following: Submit ID and Passport applications online, make online payments for applications, and make bookings where allowed.

Other online services portals

Some integrated provincial websites offer eservices: Gauteng Online portal; Western Cape Portal, KZN online; and Eastern Cape online. Other provinces publish their services on the launch pads of their respective websites.

INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Some of the large-scale interventions in support of government’s digitalisation programme by individual departments and clusters of departments:

Home Affairs:

DHA developed the National Population Register (NPR), the Home Affairs Identification System (HANIS), the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), and the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), together with the Live Capture System that supports the digitalisation of the service at the front-office.

Department of Health:

NDoH digitalisation is enabled through a range of databases, systems and applications, including the Health Patient Registration System (link to HANIS), the District Health Information System (DHIS), the National Health Information Repository and Data-warehouse (NHIRD), the Centralised Chronic Medicine Dispensing and Distribution (CCMDD) system, the Stock Visibility System (SVS), MomConnect, and the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS). In addition, South Africa launched a COVID-19 Tracing Database in April 2020 to trace people who had met someone with COVID-19.

Department of Justice and Constitutional Development

The Integrated Justice System (IJS) in South Africa is a comprehensive initiative to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system. The IJS aims to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system by increasing the probability of successful investigation, prosecution, punishment for priority crimes and rehabilitation of offenders. Further issues receiving specific attention include overcrowding in prisons and awaiting-trial prisoner problems, as well as bail, sentencing and plea-bargaining.

National Open Government Platform Initiatives

South Africa is the member of the Open Government Partnership and one of the requirements is that member states should make government data accessible to citizen to promote transparency and ensure good governance.

The following are some of the initiatives that government implemented to achieve this:

Open Data South Africa

Open Data South Africa encourages using government data for social impact under the stewardship of the DPSA, and working with OpenUp, the CPSI, The Innovation Hub, Geekculcha, Open Cities Lab and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).

Municipal Money:

Municipal Money a web portal making available extensive municipal financial information in an easily accessible format, aims to promote transparency as part of the NT’s budget participation reform process.

Vulekamali:

Vulekamali is an Online Budget Data Portal (https://vulekamali.gov.za/).

The City of Cape Town and the eThekwini Municipality (https://edge.durban/) have launched open data initiatives to foster transparency through information sharing.

South African Cities Data Almanac:

A city-centric data portal providing evidence, analysis, and insight.

Policy, Norms And Standards

The Minister for the Public Service and Administration published digital government enabling directives including:

Use of Cloud Technologies: 

The Determination and Directive on the use of cloud technologies provides clear guidance on adopting and using cloud computing services in the Public Service. It was issued on the 2nd of February 2022. The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) provides ongoing implementation support for all Departments. 

Cybersecurity 

The Directive on Information Security Management in the Public Service provides direction for the Public Service regarding establishing departmental Information Security governance, practices, and procedures to protect information and technology assets. The directive was issued on the 21st of June 2022. The DPSA is providing ongoing implementation support to all the Departments. 

Digital Government Risk Management  

The Determination and Directive on ICT Service Continuity provides clear guidance to Departments for developing and implementing ICT service continuity plans supporting the department’s business continuity objectives. This Directive was issued on the 1st of December 2022. The DPSA is providing ongoing implementation support to all the Departments. 

Determination and Directive on Corporate Governance of ICT Policy Framework

The Determination and Directive on Corporate Governance of ICT Policy Framework provides norms and standards to implement the revised public service Corporate Governance of ICT policy Framework. This was issued on the 11th of November 2022. The DPSA is providing ongoing implementation support to all the Departments. 

Determination and Directive on Knowledge and Data Management 

This Directive provides direction on institutionalizing and standardizing the implementation of Knowledge Management (KM) to attain at a minimum level 2 (Initiation Phase) of maturity supported by Phase 1 foundational Data Management (DM) practice areas in the public Service. The Directive is approved by the minister for the DPSA. 

b) On what date is it envisaged that services such as the Z83 form and other administrative processes will be digitised and/or automated?

The automation of the Z83 form and its associated business processes fall within the scope of the IFMS project and therefore no significant progress can be recorded. Nevertheless, some provinces and government departments have forged ahead to automate recruitment and other administrative processes.

e-Recruitment technologies automate one of the administrative business processes of the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS). The delays of IFMS impedes the ability for government to implement an e-Recruitment for the whole public service. The National Treasury issued an instruction note no. 5 of 2017 / 2018 which prohibits departments to acquire any Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) type ICT solution that might result in the duplication of the functionality of the IFMS.

This instruction note has a negative impact on the digitalisation and modernisation of government administration business processes primarily those of Financial Management, Supply Chain Management and Human Resource Management.

However, the Kwa-Zulu Natal, Gauteng, Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces have forged ahead and implemented e-recruitment, after obtaining exemption to the instruction note by the National Treasury. The Presidency and SITA and National Treasury have e-services portals that provide e-Recruitment. In addition, several departments also have e-recruitment implemented in their respective departments.

The Department of Labour developed the Employment Services of South Africa system (ESSA), a platform where citizens access job opportunities and organisations publish their jobs. This is an alternative electronic platform through which citizens can access job information outside the public service.

Discussions are underway between the DPSA and National Treasury to enable some human resource digitalisation initiatives to proceed while the IFMS project deals with its Governance and SCM issues.

End