Following two days of briefings from the Auditor-General and the Special Investigating Unit on the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), Mr Songezo Zibi, has raised concerns with SITA’s governance and performance failures, which adversely affect government effectiveness.
The SITA has for several years failed to achieve satisfactory audit outcomes or to adequately support various government departments, agencies and other public institutions. This has left them with a high number of vacancies, inadequate IT support, obsolete technology, faulty procurement processes and serious cyber security weaknesses.
“It is unacceptable that at a time when information technology is so critical to financial controls, governance and operational effectiveness, the sole agency tasked with supporting government is failing so dismally and for so sustained a period. Talk of modernisation in different areas, such as the police, will remain a pipedream if reliance is placed solely on the SITA,” said Mr Zibi.
The committee heard that while a new Board has been in place since February 2025, the agency still has critical unfilled vacancies such as a Chief Digital Officer. “We are going to invite the Minister of Communication and Digital Technologies to appear before the committee to explain the steps he is taking to ensure the SITA recovers to fulfil its constitutional mandate. The SITA’s failures have become a serious financial and national security risk that should not be tolerated any longer,” he added.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.
