The system, called e-Government, has been approved by the government and aims at communicating by e-mail and other electronic modes.
It is also aimed at helping to save paper in that internal communication does not take place by means of paperwork. The municipality has drastically reduced the production of council minutes in printed, bound volumes as all councillors now have laptop computers to receive their council meeting agendas.
Instead of paging through volumes of paper, councillors now just consult their laptops. However, the technology is giving serious problems as the minutes cannot be accessed. Despite councillors having been sent for training in the use the laptops, they continue to have problems.
During a full council meeting this week, economic development and tourism committee chairman Mike Kwenaite expressed great concern about the new technology.
“Our IT system leaves a lot to be desired. It is giving serious problems,” he said. Speaker Charmaine Williams concurred, adding that this was affecting internal communication.
“We are experiencing serious problems internally. Sending e-mails is problematic,” said Williams. This is not the first time councillors have raised this matter. Different council committees have in the past expressed concern, with some saying the system must be abandoned and that the municipality should return to the old system of bound volumes of council meetings.
ANC councillor Eric Mgwanza said the new electronic data distribution system should be worked on to make it user-friendly. “The administration must work on the problem so that we continue using the technology,” said Mgwanza.
Quelle/Source: The Herald Eastern Cape, 29.03.2007
