The Western Cape provincial treasury has committed R9 million over the next three years to develop and implement citizen-centric ICT systems, including 4IR automated processes, to improve service delivery throughout provincial government departments.
The provincial government already has access to extensive data related to health care, crime, social service and finance.
But in an increasingly digitised world, the question is – how can this information be used in a dataled and evidence-based approach to ensure real-time support for those most vulnerable, and to further support the growth of our private sector?
The answer is that the DA-led Western Cape government needs to, and in fact is pooling this data together, with the help of automation, to identify and address related service delivery blockages more efficiently.
At the same time, the provincial treasury has been burdened with piloting and implementing the National Treasury’s highly problematic Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS).
During a recent standing committee (meeting), it was explained that this project has not come to fruition because there has been a struggle appointing a service provider.
What’s more, the IFMS proposes the use of antiquated systems which have already been procured but not used.
This DA-led government understands that both businesses and residents cannot be burdened with these delays at a national government level, which is why they have proceeded to establish these data wells by migrating information from legacy systems to a new warehouse.
This move to greater automation followed the outcomes of the Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) report, which found that procurement can be a stumbling block for greater automation in government.
In turn, this can negatively impact service delivery for those most vulnerable in our society and also hamper the creation of an enabling business environment which supports job creation and much-needed economic growth.
* DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Finance, Economic Opportunities and Tourism MPL Cayla Murray.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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