Image: Gallo Images / Daily Sun / Jabu Kumalo
In efforts to speed up service delivery‚ the Gauteng provincial government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with all municipalities to share ICT (Information and Communication Technology) infrastructure.
The agreement between the province and the municipalities will see the province become an integrated city region‚ MEC for finance Barbara Creecy said on Tuesday in a media briefing ahead of the budget vote of the 'e-government' at the legislature. It should be a benefit to citizens.
“ICT services cannot be confined to Gauteng provincial government itself. It must also involve our municipalities. This MOU allows the province and the municipalities to share infrastructure‚ use compatible operating systems and ensure that we can access and benefit from each other’s investment in innovation‚ digital applications and skills development‚” Creecy said.
To ensure the province utilises the full benefits of the integrated ICT system‚ Creecy said the e-government has conducted an audit of the ICT function in departments. “The audit found‚ among other things‚ inefficiencies‚ duplication‚ [and] non-compliance with ICT norms and standards.”
Creecy said that by the end of the political term‚ the province would have activated a total of 32 services for use by its citizens. Currently‚ 11 services are accessible. These include education’s online registration system for grades 1 and 8‚ the Roads and Transport Freight Management Information system‚ the health department’s intake application system and the agriculture department’s waste information system.