Addressing the provincial legislature during his annual State of the Province address, Shilowa said: “This initiative will not only enhance economic growth and investment, but will also contribute to social development and improve the delivery of social services.”
GijimaAst is expected to sign a R2 billion business process management contract with the Department of Home Affairs next month. The National Treasury should be set to issue a series of contracts worth roughly the same as part of its government-wide integrated financial management system (IFMS) project.
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"The policies should target eradication of poverty by creating employment opportunities while in the social political arena they should result into democracy, gender equality and evironmental protection," he told a plenary session on Exploring the Future of E-government: Knowledge Engineering for Results at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
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This puts the country behind many of the developing nations in the old European eastern bloc, but ahead of all of its Southern African neighbours.
According to the report: “The Southern African region showed little improvement from the 2005 survey. Most of the countries surveyed had a lower ranking in 2005 than in 2008. South Africa continues to lead in this region followed by Lesotho. Botswana experienced a major drop of 29 places declining from being ranked 90th in 2005 to 119th in 2008.”
More and more government departments are embracing technology-based services in a bid to eliminate paper trails and queues, and cut down turnaround times. It also reduces costs.
The department of home affairs has recently introduced a service where an SMS informs applicants of the progress of their documents.