Information and communication technology companies should work with each other and municipalities to ensure the speedy and effective delivery of services.

Gauteng is encouraging the use of modern and efficient technology

Municipalities in Gauteng need to invest in information technology to accelerate the effective delivery of services to citizens.

This is according to the province's MEC for local government, Qedani Mahlangu, who was speaking to information and communication technology (ICT) managers, officials from state-owned enterprises and representatives from ICT organisations at a local government breakfast meeting in Sandton on Friday, 15 February.

Mahlangu said the government should invest in ICT to solve service delivery challenges.

"The reality is that the government has limited resources. This problem is compounded by ICT companies in the province who don't work together. We understand that there is competition but in assisting municipalities we have to work together to deliver services."

The meeting, hosted by the Local Government Business Network (LGBN), provided an opportunity for the public and private sectors to assess and contribute to the future of technology in Gauteng and its implementation at local government level.

Mahlangu said municipalities had different systems that were not "talking to each other". "ICT companies provide these systems knowing very well that they are not compatible with what municipalities use."

Global city
The Gauteng Global Region perspective would be achieved when were able to deliver equal and quality services.

"Gauteng is a smart province and it is important to work in an integrated way to deliver services. ICT is like globalisation ... it is about modernising from manual filing and operation. ICT is about efficiency of our system and the daunting task is to procure appropriately and the ability of municipalities to add on as and when it becomes necessary."

The MEC added that ICT infrastructure was important in any effective functioning of government. "We use ICT to develop infrastructure master plans, the development of infrastructure and its maintenance."

However, the challenge to local government lay in integrating their billing systems and the solution lay with utilising modern and efficient technology.

"All bills for an individual from a municipality should be integrated; a resident should receive one bill for water, electricity and garbage collection. We cannot allow municipalities to work in an un-integrated manner as this [will] compromise on quality of service delivery."

Private companies
Peter Metcalfe, the deputy chairperson of the LGBN and the chief executive of the Foundation for the Development of Africa, said private companies were responsible for helping the government provide quality services.

"The ultimate return of quality service delivery is investment. In this way local government will be able to retain existing investors and find new investors. Local government should also find new partners at all times in order to find efficient solutions to existing challenges."

Presentations at the meeting by ICT company representatives looked at the role of local government in encouraging technology and skills development in the province. There was also input from municipal ICT representatives, who looked at lessons learned in deploying egovernment systems.

The meeting closed with guests deliberating on solutions that focused on interventions in the running of local government, such as financial management systems, wireless communications, geographic information systems and ebilling systems.

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