The State IT Agency faced harsh criticism from the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Wednesday over its lack of digitised internal systems, even though it is Sita’s duty is to supply IT systems to the rest of government.
Speaking at a Scopa meeting to discuss the audit outcomes and the financial performance of Sita on Wednesday, communications minister Solly Malatsi said there is a lack of accountability regarding the implementation of “instruments of internal controls” that should already exist at Sita. This has opened the door to corruption at the embattled agency.
“It would seem, just based on observations and interactions with various members of the [Sita] board, that the lack of accountability – perhaps aggravated by the frequent changes which have happened either at ministerial or board level – provided an arena for opportunism and even nefarious or mischievous things to happen,” Malatsi told the committee.
These remarks came in response to a question by fellow Democratic Alliance MP and Scopa member Patrick Atkinson, who noted that much of Sita’s internal processes relied heavily on paper-based systems of record. “How can a government department rely on you to provide their IT systems when Sita itself is unable to provide its own system?” he asked.
Atkinson also criticised Sita’s allegedly reactive approach as the main IT supplier to government. He described South Africa’s private IT sector and the talent within it as “among the best in the world”, saying it is “puzzling” how Sita struggles to fulfil its mandate, even though it is enmeshed in an ecosystem that offers a rich supply of talent “on the bleeding edge of technology”.
Atkinson asked Sita board members whether the organisation had any intention of initiating public-private partnerships that could help Sita be more aware of new technologies so it can bring those solutions to government.
Revenue sharing
“Public-private partnerships are key. We cannot always be reinventing the wheel,” said Sita acting MD Gopal Reddy in response to Atkinson.
Gopal said Sita needs to focus on sourcing solutions from local technologists, saying benefits of this approach include improved security compared to solutions sourced from vendors that are “out of country”.
“If you look at that service improvement plan that I presented, the partnerships are there. We are going to look at how we can partner with industry, the revenue-sharing models and so on,” he said.
Read: ANC-DA tensions rising over fix for Sita mess
Sita’s service improvement plan is a document that outlines the agency’s strategy for the next five years. In it, public-private partnerships have been identified as an imperative “to create collaborative ecosystems that promote knowledge transfer, co-create innovative solutions and accelerate South Africa’s digital transformation agenda”. Revenue-sharing models are pegged as important to ensuring Sita’s sustainability.
Although Sita’s reliance on paper-based processes is concerning, Malatsi said inadequate control systems is a problem across the entities in his portfolio.
He pointed to multiple reports, including from the auditor-general and the communications department itself, highlighting the lack of sufficient control systems as a wider problem. The communications department now has an integrated team focused on control systems across the nine entities under its purview, he said.
“Sometimes, the non-existence of basic architecture is not a sign of incompetence or non-professionalism, but a rather a deliberate attempt at distorting accountability,” said Malatsi. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media
Get breaking news from TechCentral on WhatsApp. Sign up here.
Don’t miss: