E-Government and Digital Economy programmes in the Western Cape Government; Committee Reports

Meeting report

The Chairperson made brief opening remarks and welcomed all present in the meeting.

Input by the Western Cape Minister of Finance, Economic Opportunities and Tourism

Minister Mireille Wenger said she read in the New York Times that Estonia was the role model for governments and almost every bureaucratic task could be done online. Having public services 99% online is a goal we could all aspire to achieve. The Western Cape is pushing back on a broad range of initiatives and e-government transformation, which was promising. The initiatives intend to improve the citizen’s experience. It was more than having IT systems and applications but was an opportunity to build the skills of staff and the culture of Departments to stay on the digital wave. Legacy systems are important as we await the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) rollout in the Western Cape. She thanked the teams from the Department of the Premier and the Provincial Treasury for their meeting preparations.

Briefing by the Department of the Premier and the Provincial Treasury: WCG Digital Government Programme

Mr Hilton Arendse, Deputy Director-General: Centre for e-Innovation, Department of the Premier, and Mr Aphiwe Mazomba, Director: Supporting and Interlinked Financial Systems, Western Cape Provincial Treasury, made the presentation to the Committee.

[See presentation slides for details}

Discussion

Mr C Fry (DA) welcomed the thorough presentation. It is known that the reliability of national government systems, other than SA Revenue Service (SARS) and E-filing systems, is suspect, to say the least. How would a single digital ID be integrated using current systems into a single sign? These systems are not built for such purposes as it crashes very often. He had been subject to this at Home Affairs, where the systems are very unreliable, particularly during loadshedding. He could not see a line item in the current budget and wanted more information on where this was in the budget or if it had already been integrated into the budget. He requested to schedule an in-camera meeting to discuss cyber security issues, given that the Western Cape Provincial Parliament had been subject to attack.

The Chairperson said the WCPP system and WCG system were different.

Mr Arendse said that solutions are applied on a national level to the reliability of national systems. The Home Affairs issues have occurred as the Department has never invested in upgrading its infrastructure, network and connectivity into the systems. The applications, network and infrastructure are vulnerable as the older the technology, the more vulnerable it is to failure. R750 million was allocated last year for infrastructure repairs, but the Department still had a long way to go in getting to modern platforms. This occurs at a provincial level, and we will not migrate or integrate on a mass level on legacy platforms as this will not take us into the future. On the line item within the Digital Programme Budget, the entire budget was with the Department of the Premier and was for digital governance and transformation within the province. The Department also has elements of ICT spending within its budgets. A line item for digital governance/ centre for innovation would not be seen as this was one of the biggest programs aimed at improving services for citizens.

Mr D America (DA) expressed a deep sense of gratitude for all the work that had been done. On the strategic partnerships envisaged, he said that finances were constrained within all departments due to the allocations received. He was pleased that the best practices could be shared with other provinces. He said the best practices and capabilities did not develop overnight but resulted from hard work and commitment from employees. He asked to what extent the fostering and developing of partnerships went and whether there was a cost sharing contract that would emerge when intellectual property was shared. At the end of the day, we incur the costs while benefits are derived from our sweat and labour. The same applies to national departments. Although no additional costs were incurred by expanding the services to national departments, certainly a benefit is being derived from these departments using our resources to efficiently execute their tasks. He was aware that this benefitted the citizens in the Western Cape, but there was a cost to this, and someone needed to bear the cost as nothing was for free. The desire was to expand connectivity to as many people as possible. It has been considered to integrate the 30 municipalities and those in rural areas to have some integration on systems given the JDM Model. He presented a practical example of himself. He said he lived in the City of Cape Town and had access to the e-services of the City of Cape Town. He said he was fairly IT literate and it was quite easy to log on to the e-services system and register. There were shortcomings as payment options were not very easy. Providing connectivity to more people, particularly in rural areas, means there is a large footprint to provide access to many users with a certain level of literacy concerning ITC. There was also a host of people who had been unable to attain the level of literacy required to access this service. Is an opportunity for training on this available to people in rural areas? He was extremely impressed by the footprint and the work being done to provide opportunities to citizens.

The Chairperson said the City of Cape Town recently developed an ease of doing business index for the City’s services. She suggested Mr Arendse and Mr Mazomba develop one for provincial services.

Mr Arendse said he understood Mr America’s point on the applications developed. We have put in the time, money and effort within our province and now this is being scaled up to a national level. The Social Development Solution has been reconfigured for Early Childhood Development Centres who now have to register and apply for funding through the Department of Basic Education. The Department of Basic Education then adopted this solution and maintained it. The benefit here is that it can now be maintained at a national level until the full funding is received. The province will still receive the full benefit of this solution. In other departments within a Thusong Centre, it would be difficult to determine how much money should be paid for the services by the Western Cape government. The Western Cape Government pays for access to the Thusong Centre. He felt he was not the appropriate person to make the call on payment for this, but said it made sense for the Western Cape Government to provide connectivity to other government organisations.

On integrating municipalities, the Western Cape Government was working with smaller municipalities and developing systems they could use. An example of this is the Housing Demand Database, where citizens can register their housing demand need for a municipality in, for example, Prince Albert. They would register their Housing Demand need and the municipality could then access this data. The Minister also uses the system. This system also tracks when people have made applications. The City of Cape Town had been engaged in integrating the emergency medical services call centre as people sometimes called the City of Cape Town’s call centre, intending to reach the Western Cape Government’s call centre. Even with our best efforts, the process simply did not materialise. The relationships on a provincial level must be strengthened before we can deal with this on a national level. He said he was constantly aware of having vertical and horizontal integration as without this, the Estonia Model could not be achieved. The 74 Cape Access Centres across the province have facilitators and training. This was a rewarding and enriching programme as sometimes people over 60 went to these centres for training on how to use computers.

On the ease of doing business index for the province, Mr Mazomba said the City of Cape Town could be engaged in a partnership. The Provincial Treasury was open to improving the way it reported. The Provincial Treasury was approached by the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) as it was looking for a drive on digital skills. GCIS was also actively partnering with government’s State Information Technology Agency (SITA), which is responsible for driving ICT-related skills to upskill graduates and prepare them for the workplace. He suggested that SITA make a presentation on this to the Committee.

Mr Isac Smith, Isac Smith, Chief Director: Asset Management, Western Cape Provincial Treasury, said the Provincial Treasury also looked into certain areas within the municipality's ICT environment. Some municipalities, such as Saldanha, have invested in ICT, but this area needs development in municipalities to a large extent.

Mr G Brinkhuis (Al Jama-ah) asked when the cyber security attack would be resolved.

The Chairperson said the Western Cape Government system differed from the Western Cape Provincial Parliament system. The Provincial Oversight Committee had addressed the cyber security attack at the WCPP. She asked if this question could be forwarded to the Speaker’s Office as it did not relate to the Western Cape Government System.

Mr Brinkhuis agreed with this.

The Chairperson said the Department of the Premier and the Provincial Treasury were both invited to present to the Committee due to the transversal nature of the work. The Department of the Premier was important for providing coordination and the Provincial Treasury was important for costing and budgeting for the future. She asked whether the Provincial Treasury could cost the current programmes and estimate costing for the one to three years within the Department’s it wishes to work on. She was aware that this would take quite a bit of time, but asked for an estimation on when this could be completed.

She said the Western Cape Government Mobile App was so crucial as people used their phones to access websites. She asked when the mobile app would be completed. She said the presentation indicated a one to three year vision for the proposed road map, and asked how the Committee could assist the process and whether any legislative reforms were required. For example, Estonia had the one data system where information was provided once, and this never needed to be done again. She asked whether devolution of certain departmental mandates could assist with implementing some systems being worked towards. The Western Cape is one of the lead sites for the IFMS. She asked why this was not yet implemented. She congratulated the WCPP Research Unit for the good quality work on e-governance for the Budget Committee and the Department of the Premier and the Provincial Treasury on the quality of the presentation. She was impressed by the comprehensive, useful and reliable data.

Mr Arendse said it was possible to cost programmes for the next three years. This would not be an easy task and he requested to work on this during June.

Mr David Savage, Head of Department, Western Cape Provincial Treasury, said he understood the request and the complexity of it. He pointed out that there should be a slightly more integrated approach to costing. He suggested that there be reports on the digital transformation journey as part of budget documentation as this was a key part of what the province intended to achieve strategically. There was a programme to align efforts toward tangible deliverables. He was concerned about the team doing the costing as a once-off exercise. He said an overview should be given on the budget instead, as it was a very broad domain.

The Chairperson said her intention with the question was to refer to moving from a legacy system to a newer system. For example, if the Department of the Premier needed to move to a new system, what would this look like and what would it cost?

Mr Arendse said there was an existing mobile app at the moment. Registering on the app was not user-friendly and adding services to the app was challenging. This was being worked on. The New mobile app with migration should be ready by September 2024. There are issues relating to data, internet, providing ICT training and building computer skills at schools. There should be an entity overseeing applications within the province. Other issues related to integration and servicing. The POPI Act also needs to be considered. The Budget Committee could assist in forging the integration from a political level and they will work from an administrative and technical level. Devolution was also important.

On the IFMS, Mr Mazomba said the initiative began in 2005, but there were a number of delays in National Treasury, including procurement delays in National Treasury, SITA and approval of the system to implement the IFMS. This was one of the major stumbling blocks reported by National Treasury. There is also a forensic investigation on the IFMS and an investigation by the Public Protector. There has been quite a considerable amount of expenditure on the IFMS, and the Western Cape Government is hosting monthly engagements which include various stakeholders to account for their work and provide insight into learning the IFMS.

Mr Arendse said supply chain was being considered in modernising the IFMS and National Treasury is still being engaged in this. There is a renewed focus from National Treasury to revive some of the models of the IFMS. While modernising legacy systems, we are ensuring that we are up to date on what is happening with national role players who are also working to accelerate the IFMS development. Over the years, National Treasury has given us the authority on supply chain management. We are engaging with National Treasury as it has embarked on an e-commerce environment. National Treasury has indicated the lessons learned and what will be changed. The municipalities are not using an e-procurement system and when this is developed, it should incorporate some of the learnings from the Provincial Treasury. There is an embargo on financial systems, and we have approached National Treasury for deviations and have received approval to go ahead with the pharmaceutical supply system at the Department of Health. The Provincial Treasury is in the process of awarding this contract which is on a piecemeal basis. 

The Chairperson said it would be great if municipalities could piggyback on provincial e-procurement systems, as many municipalities still required people to collect and submit hard copies. She asked whether reverse auctions were being considered within the e-procurement site. She knew that reverse auctions were working quite well in some countries such as Kenya. This brought prices down concerning the tendering of the system.

Mr Smith said reverse auctions had been on the system for the past ten years, but this was not activated. The initial procurement system was outsourced and some policy directives from National Treasury presented difficulties, but National Treasury has since changed some of its draft documents. The Provincial Treasury will work on activating reverse auctions.

The Chairperson said that while everything could not be done at once, it was critical to identify key issues within departments or spaces to work on this and make the lives of residents easier in getting general administration done. 

Mr Arendse made brief closing remarks and thanked the Committee for its time.

Mr Mazomba thanked the Chairperson and the Committee.

HOD Savage said the Western Cape Government was incredibly privileged to work with its professional and passionate digital teams that were so committed to the public service. It was a very technical space which required a lot of background work to make it easier for officials.

Committee resolutions

Mr America said the Committee should request a presentation on cyber security.

The Chairperson said the deadline for proposals for study tours has passed for the financial year, but this did not mean research could not be continued or online study engagements could not be considered. The Estonia Consulate could be engaged on this and digital economy blocks. Members were given time until the next meeting to make suggestions.

Draft Committee Minutes 2 May 2023

The Committee went through its draft minutes of 2 May 2023.

The minutes were adopted without amendment.

Draft Committee Report on the workshop on the First Draft of Amendments to the Standing Rules and the Draft Money Bills Amendment Procedure Bill

The Committee went through the report.

The Chairperson said the resolution went to the Speakers Office which had written to the technical committee and respective departments. The Committee will continue with its research once it receives feedback from the technical committee.

The report was adopted without amendment.

Draft Committee Annual Activities Report 

The Committee went through the report.

The report was adopted without amendment.

The Chairperson made brief closing remarks and thanked Members.

Meeting adjourned.