Sita distances agency from Home Affairs IT issues
THE HEAD of the State Information Technology Agency (Sita) said the department of home affairs’ choice of the cheapest network connectivity service plan was to blame for the perennial IT problems the department faces.
Sita executive director Luvuyo Keyise was responding to comments made by Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi in which he blamed Sita for the department’s IT issues.
Motsoaledi made the comments in response to a query from provincial premier and constitutional committee chairperson Ricardo Mackenzie during a debate at the National Council of Provinces last week.
Mackenzie had said communities across the Western Cape were continuing to experience slow and poor service delivery from the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), and these problems were regularly blamed on IT problems.
Yesterday, Keyise said Sita should not be blamed as it had suggested several times that the DHA needed to upgrade its systems to improve service delivery.
“Yes, we procure network providers on their behalf, but we have no role in the deal they get and they signed a bronze service plan instead of a platinum one. Sita is not to blame for the network downtime that causes DHA offices to go off-line. The fact is that Home Affairs bought the lowest type of network connectivity service.”
With regards to Motsoaledi’s comments about the department’s hopes to be exempted from getting IT services from Sita like Sars, Keyise said Sars, unlike government ministries, was not covered by the Sita Act.
“So it is not an exemption, they are just not covered by the act. For the minister to say he wants an exemption is misleading.”
The department asked for more time for consultations before they could respond.