16 Jul 2014

Parliament has been told that the portal enhancement programme has been going on well and more downloadable forms are being added to the portal.

Responding to a question in Parliament from the MP for Shoshong, Mr Phillip Makgalemele on July 14, the Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration Mr Gaotlhaetse Matlhabaphiri said the ITC programme management office (IPMO) that was set to vet all new ICT related projects had managed to save some money on projects that were not economically viable to do because they were in existence elsewhere.

He said consolidation of some licenses was done in case of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) adding that BURS e-Filling had been successfully implemented.

“This is where tax payers can do their tax filling online which is under BURS in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning,” he said.

Mr Matlhabaphiri said bookshop online project was operational under the printing department at the Ministry of State President and enhanced efficiency in company registration through the search function in the Government Portal under the Ministry of Trade and Industry

He also said implementation of Human Resource (HR) system by DPSM and the implementation of Fleet Management system by Ministry of Transport and Communications is also underway adding that the e-notification platform is available for ministries to communicate to the clients

The assistant minister said the –government programme rollout goes beyond NDP10 and “it is very difficult to quantify the savings at the end of NDP 10 Plan as some saving will be accrued a few years after implementation.”

He said it was difficult to quantify how many jobs would be lost as a result of this initiative and that after completion of business process reengineering exercise, automation of these processes, skills audit and re-tolling of the workforce, there would be clear indication of how many people are not required.

MP Makgalemele had asked the minister to state progress made in implementing the e-government programme, the anticipated savings during NDP 10 once e-government programme is fully rollout; and the estimated number of jobs that will be lost as a result of this rollout towards the end of NDP 10. ENDS