Presentation by Hon Mr Radhakrishna L Padayachie, Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration, Republic of South Africa

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1 Presentation by Hon Mr Radhakrishna L Padayachie, Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration, Republic of South Africa Bridging the digital divide and promoting equality of information sharing: Urban Best Practice Mr. YANG Xueshan, Vice Minister, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, P. R. China Mayor of Shanghai, China Mr. SHA Zukang, Under-Secretary-General, UNDESA Mr. ZHAO Houlin, Deputy Secretary-General, ITU Mr. YAO Shenhong, Director General, China International Center for Economic And Technical Exchanges Mr. Carlos Lopes, Executive Director, United Nation Institute for Training and Research Distinguished guests Ladies and Gentleman In a developing country as ours, poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon. A challenge that we engage with is the recognition of information and knowledge as contributing to growth, versus harnessing ICTs for development on a scale that makes a real impact across the nation, with all its different complexities and facets. The consensus on the role that ICTs can play in development remains undisputed, but the key questions have been in how to do this, whilst using the resources and skills base that exists within the country. We recognise the need to share information to support poverty reduction and socioeconomic development. A challenge in development is how to share information and convert information into knowledge that is empowering to all people, whilst factoring in the access to ICTs, levels of literacy, limited time and funds. The ICT environment The South African government has communicated a message in various forms that government is a partner in development, to push back the frontiers of poverty. Whilst ICT projects, need to be backed by strong telecommunications infrastructure; South Africa s telecommunications infrastructure is amongst the most developed telecommunications network in Africa. The network is 99% digital and includes the latest in fixed-line, wireless and satellite communications. An undersea telecommunications cable, Seacom, links Johannesburg, Nairobi and Kampala with India and Europe and aims to make bandwidth up to 50% cheaper. The number of South African Internet users passed the five-million mark in 2010 and broke through the 10% mark in Internet penetration. South Africa has an estimated number of 34,1 million cellphone users in the country. 1-5

2 Urbanisation: With a phenomenal urbanisation rate, the South African government faces continued pressure linked to a shortage of housing, basic services, water and electricity supply, environmental degradation, poverty, squatter settlements; unemployment and underreemployment; and social tensions. An estimated 50% of the population live within close proximity of key cities in South Africa largely due to the availability of economic opportunities and access to services. Large proportions of these citizens have migrated from rural areas, in search of opportunities to better their lives. To most of them, urban cities, symbolise the possibility for creativity, innovation and access to the local and global economy. The former President of the Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Hon. Nelson Mandela noted that Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in the world where urbanisation is associated with negative economic growth. During 2007, a report by the UNFPA on The State of World s Population Report revealed that 72% of the urban population are living under slum conditions in Sub Saharan Africa. The challenges associated with sustainable urbanisation are a prime concern for the government of the Republic of South Africa, as it seeks to pursue growth and development in harmony with our vision for sustainability that has an integrated approach related to land availability, the impact on climate and the economy. ICT as the catalyst for service delivery, 16 Years into democracy, we continue to focus on the building of a developmental state, to redress the persisting poverty and under-development; as we address the legacies of our past. Through the macro organisation of the state and provision of services, we aim to bring inclusive service delivery to the public, whilst utilising ICT for increased productivity; lower costs; citizen convenience and improved service delivery. Creating Enabling Platforms: Shared Services The concept of shared services as a base for collaborative service transformation is an important initiative. Inter-municipal shared services are a service transformation framework in which scarce resources are combined to improve services and achieve efficiencies. Given the challenge of meeting service delivery expectations of citizens versus the strained resources within municipalities, municipalities are clustered to share resources. Given the fiscal constraints under which municipalities operate, district municipalities are larger and more financially stable within a region. Their role in facilitating service delivery mechanisms to achieve savings for participating local authorities and improved service delivery is crucial. Immediate capabilities that can be leveraged and shared by municipalities include: Enterprise licence management; Shared bulk printing; Shared bulk SMS capabilities; Shared inter-governmental network; Enterprise information sharing; Municipal service partnership or ICT plans; Government-wide enterprise architecture; Remote 2-5

3 infrastructure management; Shared information contact centre; and Municipal reporting portal. These interventions will offer municipalities immediate sharing benefits without having to undertake a major overhaul or interrogation of the underlying business architect of the municipality. Local solutions to local problems In all 283 municipalities in South Africa, no two municipalities are the same, although they have the same functions. Whilst ICT is costly and world class solutions are usually outside of the reach of smaller local municipalities, the need is to look at the entire district and shape the ICT policies and solutions according to the needs of that specific district or group of municipalities. Spreading the cost of the solutions amongst several municipalities makes it affordable and sustainable. The first step is an evaluation of the current ICT situation in the municipality looking at the municipality s hardware, software, support, level of utilisation and whether they are realising return on investment. The next step is to build a roadmap and attach the monetary value to it, taking cognisance of the municipality s financial state and their immediate need or crisis. Government s State Information Technology Agency (SITA) has implemented successful ICT solutions using this formula in KwaZulu-Natal and the Cape Winelands District in the Western Cape. The State Information Technology Agency (SITA) developed and piloted a Poverty Index for the City of Johannesburg to ensure a composite view of the citizens that it serves and to enable the City to track human development in the area, and also plan holistically on its pro-poor services. The National Departments of Housing, Social Development and Health, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) are key participants in this government-wide information exchange project, as all departments are central to creating a decent standard of living for citizens. Mobility is the Future Following its certification to offer wireless services on behalf of government through its recently implemented Wireless Application Service Provider (WASP) offerings, SITA launched Mobizen. This is a citizen-centric mobile application platform designed to securely interact with government s back-end systems to enable citizens to access information and services from anywhere at anytime. Mobizen technology, also referred to as M-government, is a functional subset of all inclusive e-government which provides citizens unique opportunities through mobile access to provide services and information literally from any place at any time 24 hours of the day. This technology enjoys preference because the majority of South Africans have access to cellphones in contrast to a computer with internet access. Another initiative from SITA is to act as a service intermediary, who represents an all-inone facility that processes government departments, business and citizens requests 3-5

4 sent via internet, SMS and other means. This service is able to facilitate, aggregate and integrate disparate activities, which an individual would otherwise have to go through in utilising a government service. It is also an interactive digital multi-channel for the provision of information and access to government services. SITA has also developed a proof of concept from the applied research on cloud computing. Cloud computing is a new way of providing IT services via the web interface in which everything is hosted in the cloud, which is a nebulous assemblage of computers and servers accessed via the internet. SITA combined a group of services, such as fully automated installation, content management systems, e-learning systems, operating system platforms and enterprise content management systems, for roll out to selected government departments though a web interface. The State Information Technology Agency has also initiated a project to enable collaboration within and between government departments (Government to Government Collaboration: G2G) through appropriate Web 2.0 technologies. Collaboration applications and the ultimate creation of Government 2.0 are set to improve service delivery to include citizen-centric collaboration, where government and citizens will be able to connect on key issues, resulting in improved participation and transparency. Who-Am-I-Online (WAIO) The Department of Home Affairs envisages changing the manual processes to a total paperless environment, where all transactions are conducted online and real-time. A new design of an integrated core business system termed the WHO AM I ONLINE system is the way forward. Through this project we would be able to conduct registrations online (and capture biometrics, demographics and supporting documentation digitally), introduce and integrated core business system, eliminate manual and tedious process and improve turnaround times to ensure greater citizen convenience. The benefits to our citizens are quick turnaround times for enabling documents applications and reliable status information with regard to all persons: citizens, refugees, visitors etc. Thusong Centres The Thusong Service Centres is a rural initiative that has been extended to the urban environment. Thusong Service Centres are one-stop, integrated community development centres that aim to empower the poor and disadvantaged by providing access to information, services and resources from government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), parastatals, business, etc. Government s vision for Thusong Service Centres is to provide every South African citizen with access to information and services within their place of residence and in each local municipality by 2014 with the purpose of improving the quality of their lives through integrated service delivery. Typical services found in these centres include those from the departments of Home Affairs, Labour, Health, South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), Social Development, GCIS, as well as the Post Office, libraries, agricultural extension offices and municipal services. 4-5

5 Conclusion As we strive to achieve the MDG s and delivery of optimal services to our citizenry, we will progress through the smart use of ICT s. We cannot move forward in isolation from our international partners nor leave any country behind and we therefore propose that we strengthen our relations with countries such as China, who have leap-frogged on all fronts using ICT. We should further strengthen our agreements in areas of investment, research, skills development and manufacturing, to ensure our citizens prosper through the use of ICT. Working together we can do more I thank you 5-5