Home affairs passes buck

DISRUPTIONS: CORRUPTION, INEFFICIENCIES BLAMED FOR DEPARTMENT’S WOES

Concern about an irregular expenditure of R376 million and possibility of missing documents.

The corruption and technical inefficiencies at State Information Technology Agency (Sita) and Telkom cable theft have been blamed for the current woes of the department of home affairs, including the department’s failure to process visas and other services for asylum seekers.

This was revealed by Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Njabulo Nzuza and the department’s acting director-general Thulani Mavuso during a briefing to the parliamentary affairs last week. Nzuza said the network connectivity in the Sita operated network caused massive disruptions and service delivery down-time at home affairs’ front offices.

Nzuza’s sentiments were echoed by Mavuso who said the network connectivity challenges had been reported to Sita and the minister of telecommunications and postal services since 2013.

At the time the department was concerned with disruption to its live capture system which fully relied on the network at all 193 offices and 15 bank sites.

The department had to rely on hosting their enhanced movement control system on the South African Revenue Service network to avoid service disruptions at the ports of entry. The situation had become more dire and urgent with the department’s introduction of e-Visa and new biometric movement control system network before the end of the 201920 financial year.

After years of struggling with its service delivery, home affairs requested as far back as 2016 to be exempted from Sita. Subsequently Dimension Data was appointed to handle connectivity and other technical aspects. Dimension Data signed a contract and memorandum of understanding with the Sita and home affairs.

A network assessment conducted by Dimension Data had identified power and Telkom datalines as the leading causes of network outages – the Sita switching centre losing power or Telkom copper cables being stolen . The network assessment had also identified obsolete network devices and recommendations regarding a technology upgrade were made.

Sita’s acting chief executive officer Ntutule Tshenye said the business relationship between DHA and Sita was governed by a business agreement and service level agreements.

Tshenye said a strategy and investment plan for uninterrupted networks was developed by Dimension Data and submitted to home affairs on March 25 this year. The plan was approved by home affairs leadership subject to an independent expert review of the proposal, to ensure that it would yield the desired outcome.

As an alternative, Sita and home affairs connected 13 of the 25 priority banking sites to fibre. Of the 12 remaining sites to be connected, four were in progress, while eight sites were pending new locations from the DHA.

Also, Sita had contracted MTN for the installation of connectivity in hospitals, mobile trucks and ports of entry. After the concept was given the green light, seven trucks and all the installations on the remaining sites were expected to be completed on November 6.

Regarding the corruption at Sita, Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams identified the supply chain management process where several officials were fired or suspended. She said an investigation, which was still ongoing, had resulted in these tough actions.

The minister said the challenges Sita faced had arisen from the past. It had to be remodelled to be an IT company that promoted technology innovation. The Sita had been requested to take alternative measures, including confiscating the computers of those who were accused of wrongdoing.

The committee members were concerned that corruption occurred but no action was taken, including criminal charges. The committee was also concerned about an irregular expenditure of R376 million and possibility of missing documents where corruption occurred.

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The department requested to be exempted from Sita