ICT policy gathering dust

Little progress has been made in the implementation of the national Maitlamo Information Communications Technology (ICT) policy, the Parliament committee on communication has found out. 

The policy has been in existence for the past 7 years but a two-week long public hearings on ICT conducted by the committee revealed that little attempt has been made to achieve the goals of the national ICT policy. 

“The policy was introduced to help save time, money and make services easier to reach but we do not see that happening,” said the committee chairman Odirile Motlhale.

Delivering the committee’s findings Motlhale pointed out that they believe that the lack of progress is attributed to the lack of an evaluation and monitoring strategy. 

The lack of a proper strategy is also fueled by inadequate capacity and skills in major organisational transformation initiatives impacting on people, processes and business systems. 

“This delay is costing the nation money as they have to spend to reach resources,” said Motlhale. 

Motlhale added that if fully exploited ICT could be used to unlock potential of youth and help reduce the levels of unemployment.