By Themba Gadebe

Rustenburg – The Government Information Technology Officers (Gito) Council says it will help municipalities improve service delivery using Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

The Gito council was approved by Cabinet to serve as an ICT coordination and consolidation vehicle to inform government when and how to intervene in the interest of enhanced service delivery to citizens.

It comprises chief information officers (CIOs) from national and provincial government departments.

The council has been involved in the investigation, formulation and development of an IT security policy framework, e-government policy and strategy, and IT procurement guidelines.

It also monitors government IT projects to eliminate duplication and also formed a workgroup to investigate and make recommendations on the use of open-source software in government.

The council’s chairperson, Luvuyo Mabombo told BuaNews that members in provinces were facilitating the development of CIOs at municipality level.

“We are also working in this regard with the South African Local Government Association (Salga).

“Through this new development, we are hoping that they will be able to learn the best practices, implement them and eventually achieve a quality service delivery,” he said.

Mabombo said the council’s view was that ICT in municipalities would yield positive outcomes especially in the billing systems and collection of revenue.

Asked about the impact of the rolling out of ICT to the poor and the illiterate, the chairperson said the impact so far, had been positive and “continues to better service delivery.”

Citing the Home Affairs Department, he said, officials were visiting “deep” rural areas with their mobile offices to distribute Identity Documents (IDs).

“This has saved travel costs for these poor people, and it is an efficient service delivery,” he said.

Managing Director of ForgeAhead – a women-owned research and consulting company - shared his sentiments.

“More and more people in rural areas have access to telecommunications; government can use that advantage to deliver services, ” Jane Mosebi said.

“For an example, government can communicate with people via SMSs. It can develop an SMS service that would perhaps tell people if their IDs are ready or not, “she said, adding that there were more than 25 million cellphone users across the country.

Source: BuaNews