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Home Affairs Services Available Via Sms
08 May 2007
BuaNews (Tshwane)
The days of travelling long distances to Home Affairs offices to check progress on Identity Documents and passport applications are over, as one can now check this via short message service (SMS).
Many South Africans had to spend money on transport to visit the nearest offices of the Department of Home Affairs to check on their documents, but now they can do so on their cellular phones.
Speaking Tuesday at the Pan African ICT in Government Summit, Chief Technology Officer for the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), Dr David Mashao said South Africans could now spend only R1 to check on their applications.
This could be done by sending an SMS with the letters ID, a space, then their ID number to 32551 at the cost of R1.
"People used to travel long distances paying large amounts of money in some instances just to go check their documents.
Sometimes they don't even get those documents and are required to come back again which is another cost," said Dr Mashao.
He said this was part of the e-government systems that were put in place to ensure effective service delivery in the Department of Home Affairs.
Dr Mashao added that they had no doubt that this would benefit the majority of South Africans as many people had cellphones.
In an instance where a person had to pay R14 to and from the Home Affairs office to enquire about their ID, he said the system would save people money.
Dr Mashao urged the public to use the system, which currently processes 10 000 enquiries a day.
SITA has also finalised a customer relations portal for government, which will be known as the e-Imbizo.
This portal will also allow people to send an SMS to the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) about challenges of service delivery in all government departments or spheres.
"The DPSA would then categorise the complaints and send them to relevant department so that they can be attended to as a matter of urgency," he said.
Dr Mashao added that with regard to e-Health, they were finalising a telemedicine initiative at Ga-Mogalakwena in Limpopo, which would allow for remote diagnoses.
"The system will have seven monitors, which will allow for a doctor to diagnoses a patient there from far away in another centre.
"This system would also allow for the doctor to interact with other health professionals at the centre," he said.
The basis for e-government in South Africa is underpinned by values of security, digital inclusion and reduced duplication, among others.
Dr Mashao said this e-government has to bear lower costs while increasing productivity in service delivery.
One of the lessons learned from its introduction was that it should be done for the convenience of people.
"We should allow people to access government services through cellphones," he said, explaining that this would ensure that the country has a "mobile government."
Burundi's Minister of Information and Communication Technology Hafsa Mossi said she was optimistic that her government, which does not have e-government systems, could learn from South Africa on how to establish such systems.
She said e-government had the potential to improve accountability, transparency and good governance, going on to describe South Africa's e-government solutions as "wonders".
"It is amazing how this is done especially in the application of IDs and passports," she said.
Regarding the telemedicine initiative, she said her country needed this much as it lacked enough doctors.
"We have already lost 150 specialists who left for France and you can imagine the impact that had on the country," she said.
Communications Minister in South Africa, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Cassaburri said it was important to help Burundi establish e-government processes.
"It is not like they've been just sitting and doing nothing, because they came out of a war.
"They don't have to do research for this. Burundi needs to analyse its own needs and learning from our experiences, start planning,' she said.
South Africa would be available to share its experiences in this regard, said the minister.
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