Communications and digital technologies minister Solly Malatsi.
Communications minister Solly Malatsi has touted automated processes across the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) to reduce risks and minimise indiscretions.
This, after the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) and Public Service Commission (PSC) this week released the findings of an investigation into governance, irregular procurement practices, operational inefficiencies and deterioration in service delivery at the government entity.
The probe, which spans the period between 2020 and 2025, uncovered what has been described as “systemic, cross-cutting and mutually-reinforcing weaknesses” that handicapped the organisation.
Speaking to ITWeb on the side-lines of the media conference, Malatsi said it’s ironic to exist as a state information technology agency yet do processes manually.
“One of the key and basic interventions that we’ve given this board and MD is to automate [their] processes. It doesn’t mean it will take everything away that is a risk, but it will minimise and fix it. Make sure no matter how small an indiscretion may be, indiscretions are dealt with.”
Procurement irregularities have continuously been flagged among the common issues that have hampered SITA, with large-scale corruption previously uncovered in supply chain management and human capital management.
In February 2024, it came out that previous management seemed to have allowed the procurement department to operate manually.
As a result, it was noted the absence of an electronic procurement system affected efficiency, led to unnecessary errors and mistakes, as well as manipulation of the manual system.
In 2021, SITA told ITWeb it would focus on its electronic document management system to improve internal controls and accountability in the implementation of procurement processes.
The minister believes the difference in addressing the chronic challenge this time around is that there is both executive and political will. “It’s an inherent risk, it’s always going to exist, but that’s why consistent consequence management is important,” he said.
“In the past, because of political affiliations or some problematic relationships, wrongdoing has been ignored based on who did it, because they had some protection somewhere.
“What encourages me is that this managing director is really focused on getting to the root of the systematic problems and being able to fix it. Will we succeed? We are going to do everything we can to succeed. Along the way…we must deal very harshly with people who think that it is normal to compromise themselves and the institution to enrich themselves.”
An entity with the DCDT portfolio, SITA sits as a central pillar of government’s IT procurement. It is responsible for developing, operating and/or maintaining ICT services consumed by government departments.
The entity supports over 100 government departments and public entities, ranging from providing network services, enabling cloud services for departments and other applications.
In May, its full complement of nine board members was announced. This, after it welcomed its first permanent managing director Magatho Mello on 1 April, promising much-needed leadership stability for the government IT procurement arm.
Commenting on the years-long leadership changes at the entity, Malatsi pointed out that the frequent changes in department ministers had an impact on board appointments.
“It seems that the change of ministers often coincides with the change of the board, and that change of the board also has a direct relation with changes in who occupies the managing director role.
“Political changes dictate who the ministers are, right? But, if we are all being professional, particularly at operational level, it shouldn’t spill over into an organisation.”
Malatsi concluded that he is encouraged about SITA’s future under the leadership of new board chairperson professor Stella Bvuma, adding that the report is an indication of acting against some of the issues.
“Everyone who’s looking at the report and the actions that are there would be encouraged that we are doing something to fix the problem. We’re doing so not based on speculation, not just based on sloganeering, but on concrete evidence that is being presented to us by the PSC.”
