Home affairs minister Leon Schreiber has moved to sever ties with the government’s lead IT agency, the State Information Technology Agency (Sita), and is hoping to achieve what his predecessors fell short in doing as the department struggles with persistent downtime of its systems.
This as calls grow for departments to be allowed to change regulations to empower state entities to appoint their own IT service providers rather than being forced to use Sita — a proposal put on the table by communications & digital technologies minister Solly Malatsi.
The department of home affairs (DHA) in its 2025/26 annual performance plan said it had applied for separation from Sita, arguing this would allow the department flexibility to source IT services from more “reliable and cost-effective external providers” and enhance national security.
“To successfully transition away from Sita, the department of home affairs is exploring partnerships with private IT providers that can deliver robust, secure and high-availability services. These alternatives are expected to reduce downtime, streamline procurement processes and optimise costs,” the department said.
The department listed several reasons for the exemption it is seeking to look beyond Sita for its key IT capabilities.
At the top of the list is the system downtime that often leaves citizens frustrated. The department said it was confronted with frequent outages due to unreliable Sita-managed infrastructure, particularly at key data centres.
The department also flagged delayed procurement for essential hardware, licences and connectivity, resulting in “audit findings of irregular expenditure”.
Other concerns put forward by the department included higher costs “imposed” by Sita compared to market rates and “poor third-party performance” from Sita, which slowed operations and prevented the department from realising its modernisation goals.
“The lack of 24x7 system monitoring and information security gaps poses cybersecurity risks, especially in the context of sensitive data and critical immigration services ... the DHA has long experienced challenges with Sita, primarily due to system downtime,” it said.
“Furthermore, Sita’s inefficiencies in managing third-party contracts, such as with BCX and Telkom, have exacerbated operational risks, affecting national security and service delivery,” the department said.
“Despite the critical role of Sita as mandated by the Sita Act, the DHA has faced repeated disruptions, which have made it difficult to achieve performance targets and ensure stable service delivery to citizens.”
Schreiber is not the first home affairs minister to express frustration with the services Sita provides to the department.
His predecessor and now minister of health, Aaron Motsoaledi, in 2021 described DHA’s IT system as the department’s “original sin”.
The department of basic education in its annual performance plan also flagged the over-reliance on Sita’s system as a drag on the department.
‘Ineffective’
“The department’s information technology environment is ineffective and does not adequately support business operations. The reliance on Sita for services has not assisted operations as effectively as it may be desired,” the department said.
“Additionally, the organisational structure does not have adequate IT positions to attract individuals with the requisite skills to manage the ICT infrastructure and security services, which contributes to the over-reliance on Sita.”
The agency was established in 1999 to consolidate and co-ordinate the state’s information technology resources to “achieve cost savings through scale”.
Business Leadership SA (BLSA) this month came out in support of calls to allow departments to procure their own IT systems outside the umbrella of Sita.
The BLSA made an example of the IT success of the SA Revenue Service, which is exempt from the Sita Act because it is classed as a state-owned enterprise and therefore is not forced to procure through the agency.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.