PUBLIC SERVICE: DRAFT DIGITAL GOVERNANCE POLICY FRAMEWORK OUT FOR COMMENT

The Department of Public Service & Administration has gazetted a draft digital governance policy framework for input by 19 October 2024.

According to a section in the document outlining the background to these proposals concerned, they seek to respond to a recommendation in the fourth industrial revolution presidential commission report. Published in 2020, among other things the report underscored the need for a more comprehensive ‘transversal digital policy’ dealing with issues otherwise overlooked in the context of an apparent preoccupation with ‘artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain and drones’.

This is noting that an assessment of digital maturity conducted in 2018 across the public service found, among other things, that:

  • the 2012/13 policy framework for public service ICT corporate governance ‘is not implemented effectively’
  • most public service ‘core ICT systems’ are ‘dated and inoperable’ with ‘obsolete’ hardware
  • frequent ‘cyber security incidents’ involving the ‘unauthorised disclosure’ of citizens’ data
  • ‘big data’ is rarely shared between government departments, limiting the potential for ‘integrated’ service delivery
  • insufficient use is made of ‘business intelligence tools’ to analyse data, undermining the potential for insightfully informed service delivery, and that
  • inadequately skilled personnel limit the potential for a positive return on ICT investments.

The draft governance policy framework seeks to respond to these challenges, focusing on interventions underpinned by international best practice and uniform cross-cutting standards.

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy “Watch”

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