Masebolelo Gaeganelwe, South African Forestry Company

Digital transformation, as defined by Gartner, refers to anything that involves the modernisation of IT, such as cloud adoption, or the adoption of digital business models. It says the term is a favourite in the public sector, but is most often used in what it calls modest initiatives, such as putting a service online, or modernising legacy machinery. Forrester, on the other hand, says it means using technology to improve internal processes and customer experiences. South Africa’s public sector appears uneven in its adoption of technology; Sars is a leader here, and laggards include the Department of Home Affairs and, ironically, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies. The reasons are legion, including a lack of skills, and, it could be argued, a lack of accountability. There’s also the fact that Sita and the communications ministry have not had leaders who stay in the job for very long. This roundtable, attended by a range of public sector technologists, took place during the two-week interregnum as South Africa’s government of national unity was being formed.

Asked what challenges they are facing, Duren Naidoo, operations and technical manager, Gauteng Department of Health, says digital transformation has to serve the public, and mentions the case of FNB’s zero-rated banking app. “Can we give our citizens the same thing? You can log in to a hospital website and book a clinical visit and you don’t need data. This should be a core service.”