Urgent Intervention Needed as SITA Collapse Undermines Government Service Delivery
Press Statement by Alan Beesley MP
ActionSA Member of Parliament
ActionSA will write to the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, calling for urgent intervention into the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) to stabilise its leadership and governance.
As the state’s IT provider, SITA plays a critical role in enabling government departments to deliver services efficiently and securely. ICT is a strategic enabler of public policy outcomes and essential to meeting service delivery obligations to citizens. Failures within SITA therefore affect the entire government, not just the agency itself.
However, the Auditor-General’s 2023/24 audit report paints a grim picture of SITA’s performance. Instead of enabling service delivery, the agency is actively undermining it. The subsequent appearance by the Interim Board, management, and former Board members before SCOPA failed to inspire any confidence that the issues raised will be addressed.
Despite its dismal performance, director fees rose from R8.9 million in 2023 to R10.7 million in 2024—a 20% increase that the Auditor-General should classify as fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
The AG’s findings are deeply concerning:
Disclaimed audit opinion due to widespread misstatements in financial statements.
Five CEOs in five years, and the Chief Digital Officer post has been vacant for three years.
Dual boards due to legal disputes, causing a governance crisis.
Critically high vacancy rates—56% at SAPS, 47% at the Department of Defence, and 54.8% across all government SLAs.
Lack of procurement systems, with manual processes resulting in 123-day average procurement delays.
Persistent failures to meet strategic targets and address internal control weaknesses.
No consequence management.
These issues are not new and reflect years of ignored warnings. Without political will to clean up SITA, the agency will remain a cesspool of corruption, incompetence, and waste — at great cost to service delivery across government.
The Department of Home Affairs has already moved to cut ties with SITA which is a clear sign of institutional collapse. Without urgent reform, the agency might as well shut its doors.
Urgent Intervention Needed as SITA Collapse Undermines Government Service Delivery
ActionSA will write to the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, calling for urgent intervention into the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) to stabilise its leadership and governance.
As the state’s IT provider, SITA plays a critical role in enabling government departments to deliver services efficiently and securely. ICT is a strategic enabler of public policy outcomes and essential to meeting service delivery obligations to citizens. Failures within SITA therefore affect the entire government, not just the agency itself.
However, the Auditor-General’s 2023/24 audit report paints a grim picture of SITA’s performance. Instead of enabling service delivery, the agency is actively undermining it. The subsequent appearance by the Interim Board, management, and former Board members before SCOPA failed to inspire any confidence that the issues raised will be addressed.
Despite its dismal performance, director fees rose from R8.9 million in 2023 to R10.7 million in 2024—a 20% increase that the Auditor-General should classify as fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
The AG’s findings are deeply concerning:
These issues are not new and reflect years of ignored warnings. Without political will to clean up SITA, the agency will remain a cesspool of corruption, incompetence, and waste — at great cost to service delivery across government.
The Department of Home Affairs has already moved to cut ties with SITA which is a clear sign of institutional collapse. Without urgent reform, the agency might as well shut its doors.