Solly Malatsi and Khusela Diko, the chair of parliament’s portfolio committee on communications, are caught up in yet one more heated row, this time over the communications minister’s determination to introduce laws that permit authorities departments to bypass the State IT Company when procuring digital companies.
Talking to Radio 702 on Wednesday, Diko alleged that Malatsi is repeating a mistake he has made on earlier events, the place the minister could have a sound level however executes on it in a means that’s past his authorized ambit as minister.
“It’s actually unlucky that [we are] again at this spot for precisely the identical causes – the minister appears decided to be legally delinquent,” Diko stated within the interview.
“The minister has advantage on a number of the points that he desires to deal with, and he’s properly inside his proper to take action. However the minister has to comply with correct course of and stick with the letter and spirit of the legislation.”
Diko stated the laws Malatsi desires to introduce will successfully devolve Sita’s powers as the only real IT procurement service supplier to numerous authorities departments. She stated Malatsi can not do that as a result of the Sita Act “may be very prescriptive that Sita is the only real procurement company for presidency on IT companies”. The act doesn’t have provisions for the minister to make substantial modifications to it, stated Diko.
Sita has come underneath fireplace from senior leaders in authorities, together with residence affairs minister Leon Schreiber and police minister Senzo Mchunu, for the way its inefficiencies trigger mission delays and value overruns for the departments it should be serving. These delays are one of many principal explanation why some departments have requested that they be allowed to acquire IT themselves.
‘Easy resolution’
Diko stated there’s a “easy resolution” to the procurement backlog at Sita, which is to automate the method. She accused Malatsi of “throwing out the child with the bathwater” and “selecting to cripple the system as a substitute of strengthening it”, urging him to train the choice of appointing a brand new board and government staff to drive reforms as a substitute.
“At a time when our nation continues to be recovering from a interval wherein the capability of the state was all however hollowed out, that minister Malatsi must be in search of a return to that unlucky trajectory ought to alarm us all,” she charged in a Tuesday assertion.
“Sita was established with the specific intention of attaining efficiencies and cost-effectiveness, so the minister must be occupied with strengthening this important company, not crippling it. The service supply challenges at Sita usually are not insurmountable. They require efficient management ready to place within the work, like many different ministers, to rebuild and strengthen current state establishments,” she stated.
Learn: Malatsi orders Sita probe amid governance considerations
The assertion, posted on Diko’s X feed, drew heavy criticism on her timeline. One consumer, @iTouchCandi, confessed to be a member of the ANC himself, however questioned whether or not Diko would have responded to an ANC minister in the identical means if that they had launched the brand new Sita laws as a substitute of the DA’s Malatsi.
One other consumer, @Lizo Nyangiwe, who’s employed as an assistant director within the Western Cape authorities, stated: “Sita doesn’t have the capability to cater for all these departments, consequently, now we have been ready for greater than two years for community factors procurement.”
Sita’s alleged use as a way for corrupt networks throughout the ANC to siphon state funds additionally got here into focus within the thread.
Nothing could possibly be farther from the reality. We’ll lay out the information at this time. No spin. https://t.co/sVdBAwxcyq
— SollyMalatsi (@SollyMalatsi) April 9, 2025
In the meantime, Malatsi’s communications staff has promised to launch their very own assertion on the matter afterward Wednesday. Nevertheless, Malatsi wrote a brief response to Diko’s assertion on X, wherein he described her perspective as “spin”.
“Nothing could possibly be farther from the reality. We’ll lay out the information at this time. No spin,” Malatsi posted.
TechCentral has reached out to Malatsi’s spokesman for remark and can replace this text if suggestions is acquired. — (c) 2025 NewsCentral Media
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