Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Siyabonga Cwele has unveiled plans to introduce eGovernance – a more technological way to deliver services to citizens.

Briefing Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications on Tuesday, the minister said it was important for the front line departments like Home Affairs and Transport, among others, to go digital in order to do away with long queues and unnecessary paperwork.

“By eGovernance, we are saying we must move beyond the connectivity of certain institutions. The focus has been really on the connectivity of some of the schools. The aim is to try to make sure that key government departm

ents, where there is a public interface with the people, are connected in the long term,” he said.

The minister pointed out that some of the services that could be improved with going digital include the applications for smart IDs and licence disk renewals. He said there will also be a focus on making sure that there is connectivity in schools, rural areas and in areas where there are informal settlements. Meanwhile, there are also plans to corporatise Post Bank in order to roll out banking services to rural areas.

The process is currently with the Reserve Bank and that he hoped it would be finalised soon.

 

(SAnews.gov.za)