It is difficult to believe that government is as serious about ICT as it claims, if one considers that it is has failed to move on even the most basic – and in some cases crucial – aspects of technology within its realm.

Firstly, government has been sitting without a CIO since April 2011 and now claims that a CIO will fi nally be appointed in April this year. If it happens, and that’s a big if, it would have taken the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) exactly two years since the departure of Michelle Williams to fill the position.

It is startling to think that Williams, whose very well publicised fall-out with former State IT Agency (SITA) CEO Llewellyn Jones lead to the latter’s resignation, was actually deployed under the Mbeki administration.

Williams, who also served as SITA deputy chairperson, quit this position in 2009, shortly after her boss, former public service and administration minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, got the boot, along with other Mbeki loyalists who became casualties of Jacob Zuma" rel=tag>Jacob Zuma’s defacto coup. She subsequently resigned as government CIO two years ago.

The bottom line is that in this day and age, where ICT is considered an enabler and economic driver, the current administration has not been able (or willing) to fill this position for two out of the four years that it has been in power. This speaks volumes about either the present government’s inability to lead, or its lack of understanding of the true value of ICT.

In the meantime, Walter Mudau, chief director of operations within the offi ce of the government CIO, has been acting as GCIO “for some time”, say the DPSA. As far as I’m concerned, the government CIO fills a critical role, as this office oversees numerous ICT aspects of the state, including the government’s ICT, governance and security framework.

It’s also telling that the DPSA was last year found wanting by the auditorgeneral for failing to roll out IT security and governance. Not one of SA’s 38 departments has been able to implement an ICT governance framework, because the department is still developing guidelines.

According to National Treasury’s Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure, published in October last year, the department only expects to wrap up implementation guidelines in the new fi nancial year, which starts in April.

Considering the amount of time that has already been wasted and the gaping holes in government’s ICT implementation, I would suggest that someone catches a wake up!

Happy reading!

Martin Czernowalow