Home Affairs wants to kill queues and bad service by ditching SITA

[Jan]

"The system is down" — Home Affairs Minister ditching SITA for private sector

The Department of Home Affairs wants permission from National Treasury to use a private information technology (IT) provider for its systems, rather than having to rely on the State IT Agency (SITA).

This was the feedback from Aaron Motsoaledi, the Minister of Home Affairs, during a recent budget vote debate in the National Council of Provinces.

Responding to questions from DA MP Ricardo Mackenzie, Motsoaledi said that the IT services provided by SITA were the “original sin” of Home Affairs.

By comparing SITA’s services to the Christian doctrine of original sin, Motsoaledi implied that all of the department’s problems can be traced back to SITA.

 

[Cray]

Good for them.

 

[^^vampire^^]

He's not wrong in that SITA is a shithole to deal with. Lets just hope they contract to a business that knows their stuff. This could go really well or really badly... fortunately it's already a shitstorm so hopefully things could only be better.

 

[Beyond.Celsus]

Tenderpreneurs salivating already

 

[Kornhole]

I still can't pay them so I can't go to the bank

Still after I called and they admitted its a problem on the site

 

[RedViking]

So they admit they are useless bunch and how many billions wasted?

 

[grok]

By comparing SITA’s services to the Christian doctrine of original sin, Motsoaledi implied that all of the department’s problems can be traced back to SITA.

Cool, now please make the link between the ANC as original sin & the country circling the drain like a drunken banshee..

ps. Also Eskom & the rest of the SOE's..

 

[konfab]

By comparing SITA’s services to the Christian doctrine of original sin, Motsoaledi implied that all of the department’s problems can be traced back to SITA'.

And who was the group of people who committed the sin and centralised everything.

Oh right it was the ANC:

SITA was established in 1999 to consolidate and coordinate the State’s information technology resources in order to achieve cost savings through scale, increase delivery capabilities and enhance interoperability. SITA is committed to leveraging Information Technology (IT) as a strategic resource for government, managing the IT procurement and delivery process to ensure that the Government gets value for money, and using IT to support the delivery of e-Government services to all citizens.

In short, SITA is the IT business for the largest employer and consumer of IT products and services in South Africa – the Government. Furthermore, the Act separates SITA's services into mandatory services (i.e. SITA must provide), and non-mandatory services (i.e. SITA may provide). SITA remains committed in all its engagements to adhere to the Government’s "IT House of Values", aiming to achieve reduced costs, increased productivity and increased service to our citizens.

Welcome to SITA | SITA

www.sita.co.za

 

[mister]

Good. I have personal experience with SITA and they are an absolute train wreck.

 

[The Darkness]

And who was the group of people who committed the sin and centralised everything.

Oh right it was the ANC:

Welcome to SITA | SITA

www.sita.co.za

Exaaaaaaactly this. Consolidating things made it worse. They (ANC) just need to step down.

 

[Kornhole]

“We have actually identified why SARS doesn’t have systems down,” the Minister said.


“It’s because it has been exempted from getting these services through SITA and we are working with Treasury to do that.”

Oh my

 

[Corelli]

I once had SITA staff applied for jobs at me. It was comedy of the century. They barely had matric but wanted R700k salaries and had no real IT skills. Lets say I shredded all the applications. Was simply NUTS.

So I think great. Switch it to the providers who does the passports and ID's. Thats not SITA but boy do they do a great job. Imagine getting the rest of our home affairs items so easily. ie go in, and just print items same day. Dont need to wait 3 years for Pretoria to find a document only to have it loaded on the system anyway.

I once went to get my Birth Certificate. Took 2 and half years. Still they didnt. So the manager in CT got upset and said but it's all online. She printed it then and there. So why then the wait? Really.

All digital would make home affairs a breeze. Maybe Blockchain would be great, put all the documents on the Blockchain and then use digital IDs

 

[duckgray]

good that they're admitting that SITA is useless, but now this will open up the doors for even more corruption when it comes to the tender process.

 

[r00igev@@r]

ANC cadres line up to eat.

Saxonwold IT Managed Service Provider to the rescue!

 

[hj007]

The SARS service providers are good, so fine if you use them. A few others that Home Affairs used like Fevertree and Unisys/Bytes were all good too. The problem was the political meddling and the changing of ministers or requiring other service providers to get a cut.

In terms of IT, home affairs has a few simple things that could be fixed to improve services quickly, as long as there's budget, no unions, and no load shedding.

 

[McGuywer]

“This department is the most important department in the country. There’s nothing you can do without Home Affairs. If Home Affairs is fixed, South Africa will work,” Mackenzie stated.

I really thought corruption was the cause of the country's issues.

 

[Mystic Twilight]

The SARS service providers are good

Only up to a point, the whole adobe flash player debacle is an example of their limits.

 

[Gatecrasher]

Good old Motsoaledi. Motsoaledi is great. Great at finding scapegoats.

If you discard everything that is broken, then everything works.

 

[eg2505]

if even the government cant stand SITA, so why exactly does it exist?
is it the same reason SAA exists? just another ANC slush fund with some broken down Laptops as a background?

 

[Louis72]

“There will never ever be loadshedding ever again!”~Jacob Zuma