INLSA
Public Service and Administration Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu
Public servants have been urged to embrace information technology (IT) as the most important tool in helping the government provide services to the people of the country.
The call was made by the Public Service and Administration Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, in her address at the GovTech conference in Durban.
GovTech is an annual conference which brings together government and private sector IT experts to consider the best methods of using technology to resolve the country’s communication and information problems and to forge partnerships.
Sisulu said: “The professionalisation of our public service means equipping each of our public servants to use technology. This is the crux of the matter – precisely because of the centrality of technology and its role in how we provide services,” she said, warning that IT-illiterate senior managers were an obstacle to the optimum use of technology.
She said the main challenge the government faced was its ability to insert the technology into its everyday performance.
“We need partnerships that can offer students internships and develop unique outreach programmes with schools, tertiary institutions and community based organisations.”
The conference will conclude in Durban tomorrow.
