Dear Gqeberha
Last week, I engaged with Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on the poor state of service delivery and communications systems at Western Cape Home Affairs’ offices. The Minister informed me that his Department (DHA) was working with National Treasury to be exempted from using SITA’s services, as the state agency was to blame for the poor and unreliable IT service. However, SITA has publicly shot back with claims that the DHA took a lower level service package and lacks the necessary infrastructure to run their IT system for Home Affairs.
These conflicting reports need urgent clarification on where the fault actually lies with the Home Affairs Information Technology (IT) issues that have plagued the department for years. That is why I will write to Minister Motsoaledi to request full disclosure as to whether the current IT package is in fact an entry level deal. We also need to know how much money has been spent on maintaining a dysfunctional system over the years, and why this has been tolerated given that DHA should have a sufficient IT system to manage South Africa’s population of over 60 million.
During the NCOP debate, I brought forward a number of issues that plague the residents of the Western Cape, including consistent errors in ID documents, loss of documentation by the Department, and delays in issuing visas and processing residency for foreign nationals which are all dependent on the IT system.
I will be holding Minister Motsoaledi to account for the promises he gave to me and, by extension, my constituents in Mitchells Plain. It is particularly important that we receive clarity on this matter as the findings by the Public Protector binds every national Minister and provincial MEC to an Executive Ethics Code in which they cannot mislead a legislative body.
If the accusations by SITA are true, then the DHA cannot shift the blame and must take responsibility for the slow service at their offices. Also, should these offices lack the necessary infrastructure such as inadequate servers and a mere 2MB line as some reports have suggested, privatising their IT service provider will not solve the issues that the department faces.
Residents should not have to give up an entire day to stand in a queue at Home Affair offices. I hope that the Minister will take the concerns of Western Cape residents seriously and bring clarity to the matter as quickly as possible.
Regards
Ricardo Mackenzie, MPP
DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Premier and Constitutional Affairs
