Mismanaged State Information Technology Agency is ‘a disgrace’, Parliament is told

Has anyone been held accountable for the mismanagement at the State Information Technology Agency (Sita)? The answer, according to parliamentarian Veronica Mente-Nkuna, is: “No one”.

On Tuesday, the mismanagement of Sita took the foreground at a meeting of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) — the public purse watchdog.

During the briefing by the Auditor-General (AG), several issues emerged:

• A lack of consequence management at Sita;


• Sita’s audit outcome had declined to a disclaimer; and


• Sita’s financial statements were not supported by full and proper records.

Issues were also raised around the fact that the entity — which is supposed to improve service delivery to the public through the provision of IT, information systems and related services to departments and public bodies — has had five CEOs in five years and has a 60% staff vacancy rate.

Last year, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber lambasted Sita in the National Council of Provinces, where he said the agency “stands squarely in the way of technological progress, not only at Home Affairs, but across government”.

He said then that Sita’s monopoly on state IT infrastructure was “a proven failure, as demonstrated every time that its infrastructure takes the Home Affairs system offline, or leaves data unprotected, or even fails to keep government’s website and email system up and running”.

On Tuesday, these issues were aired. Currently, Sita is run by an interim board, whose term expires on 26 May or until a new board is appointed.

According to the AG, frequent changes in the leadership at Sita have led to operational instability, governance challenges, reputational damage and difficulties in executing strategic initiatives.

EFF MP Mente-Nkuna said on Tuesday, “Sita has been a cash cow for many people ... no one has ever accounted for mismanagement at Sita.”

The DA’s Patrick Atkinson referenced the upcoming VAT hike and its impact on taxpayers, saying, “they’ve [taxpayers] got to pay for an entity like this — it’s a disgrace”.  ActionSA’s Alan Beesley described Sita as a “shock and horror”.

Committee chairperson Songezo Zibi (Rise Mzansi) said a further meeting would be called with the former board and the current board, as well as Communications and Digital Technology Minister Solly Malatsi and his deputy, Mondli Gungubele, who was previously the minister.

Parliamentary inquiry on the cards? 

This isn’t the first time issues at Sita have played out in Parliament. A  meeting in February of the Communications and Digital Communications Committee revealed the dysfunction at Sita, with concern expressed that if all departments opted out of Sita for procurement, there was a risk of 3,700 individuals at the agency losing their jobs.

The Parliamentary Monitoring Group had a full breakdown here of that meeting, which includes confirmation that the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Public Protector are investigating issues at the agency.

Committee chairperson Khusela Sangoni Diko said the committee had consulted with Parliament’s legal services on the desirability of a parliamentary inquiry into the affairs of Sita.

The inquiry, said Diko, would focus on issues such as staff concerns raised by organised labour, high staff turnover at executive levels, and governance and operational inefficiencies.

Business Day reported in December 2024 that Malatsi had ordered the PSC to investigate the agency.

The Scopa hearings continue on Wednesday, when the Special Investigating Unit will update the committee on investigations into the entity. A date has not yet been scheduled for the meetings with the agency’s political and administrative management. DM