IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Newly-appointed Gauteng Shared Services Centre (GSSC) CEO Molaodi Khutsoane has not only inherited the top seat at the agency, but also all the issues which come with it.

Following the recent resignation of Mike Maile, the GSSC announced the appointment of Khutsoane. It is speculated that Maile – who was with the agency for three years – resigned because he struggled to correct many challenges facing the GSSC.

Read more: South Africa: Gauteng Shared Services Centre appoints CEO

Korea is recognised as a global leader in communications technology, but as Korean telecoms expert Dr Cheung Moon Cho revealed at the third ITWeb eGovernment conference, as recently as the early 1980s Korea had a very poor and underdeveloped telecommunications infrastructure. The country at that time had a mere 7% teledensity and was 100% dependent on imported equipments.

However, by the 1990s, South Korea had turned this situation around and succeeded in becoming an “information society” as well as a major innovator and exporter of communications technology, said Cheung. Today Korea has one of the best-developed e-government infrastructures in the world.

Read more: South Africa can learn from South Korean strategies

South African Broadband Forum unveils plans to boost broadband in South Africa.

The South African Broadband Forum kicked off in Johannesburg this morning, aiming to facilitate affordable broadband and ICT access to local consumers.

The aims of the SA Broadband Forum include maximizing the rollout of fibre and wireless broadband infrastructure, stimulate the provision of local content, enhance e-government and e-citizenship, stimulate the adoption and use of advanced broadband connections and the implementation of a national broadband strategy.

Read more: Plans to boost broadband access in South Africa

Every conference has its buzzwords and “e-readiness” was one of the most popular at the third annual ITWeb eGovernment event. E-readiness was on the lips of a lot of speakers at the conference, with the key question being: how ready is the government and its customers when it comes to ICT roll-out for e-government?

In 2008, SA was ranked a respectable 39th in global e-readiness by the respected Economist Intelligence Unit, but what does that really say about the state of SA's ICT infrastructure, not to mention the ability of its citizens, businesses and governments to use ICT benefits?

Read more: South Africa requires “e-readiness”