LOCAL GOVERNMENT INFORMATION COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY FORUM: WESTERN CAPE.

1. LOCAL GOVERNMENT INFORMATION COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY FORUM: WESTERN CAPE. Presentation to PAFTECH meeting, 5 November 2007 in Stilbaai. Gavin Greenhalgh – Chairperson LOGICT.

2. history • Initiative of the previous Municipal Manager of Witzenberg Municipality, Mr. Dana Du Plessis, who was then tasked at a PAFTECH meeting held in Ceres on 11 November 2004, to coordinate a working group to constitute a Local Government ICT Forum for the Western Cape. • The working group met regularly and a draft constitution was completed and submitted to the department of Local Government & Housing for consideration. • The establishment of LOGICT was approved at a PAFTECH meeting on 12 & 13 July 2006. • LOGICT was formally constituted at the inaugural conference held on 6 & 7 November 2006.

3. THE WESTERN CAPE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ICT FORUM ACRONYM LOGICT NATURE LOGICT is the principal inter-municipal forum for ICT and IM for Local Government in the Western Cape, supporting and guiding the municipalities to operationalise the Local Government ICT and IM policies and provide feedback on their implementation and updates. MISSION LOGICT is the visible advocate and conduit of change to modernising administrative structures and Local Government business processes, by recognising, employing, coordinating and directing the strategic enabling role of the new information communication technologies to transform historically and politically motivated functions into sound business-like operations, while bringing Local Government closer to the citizen and providing quality services.

4. STRATEGIC FOCUS LOGICT is strategically focused on: Maximising the value of Local Government ICT and IM investment Developing and retaining human potential for efficient application and utilisation of ICT and IM, by promoting awareness, cultural change and knowledge. Aligning the respective ICT and IM strategies and information systems strategies with Local Government IDP priorities and business strategies. Improving and promoting the design, modernisation and sharing of information and ICT and IM resources amongst municipalities. Making the knowledge economy accessible to the public and bridging the digital divide.

5. POWERS LOGICT shall function as the recommending and advisory body to the Western Cape Municipalities in matters relating to effective and efficient ICT and IM in Local Government. SCOPE OF OPERATION LOGICT is entitled to address all issues related to ICT and IM in Local Government in terms of the MFMA and other related Local Government legislation, as well as SITA related matters according to the SITA Act and all other relevant legislation.

6. DUTIES  Make recommendations for Local Government ICT and IM resources management, policy, procedures, norms, standards, guidelines and best practices. Share experiences, ideas, plans, resources and best practices, including work process, redesign and the development of performance measures.  Identify opportunities for co-operation within all spheres of government and between the public and private sector in providing access to and using ICT and IM resources.  Identify solutions for common transversal requirements.  Identify or recommend leading agencies, technology and methodology in promoting automation initiatives in government, including e-commerce and e-government.  Make recommendations on issues relating to the acquisition, procurement and leasing of information communication technology, projects and services.

7. COMPOSITION LOGICT comprises of Members, Associate Members and Invitees. Members All Municipalities in the Western Cape. The Provincial Government of the Western Cape. SALGA Western Cape. Associate Members SITA Public or private institutions, as approved by LOGICT. Associate Members may include: Government agencies Any relevant party. Invitees LOGICT, through the Chairperson, may request advisors, specialists or any other person as deemed necessary, to attend a meeting / meetings.

8. LOGICT. LOGICT shall meet annually and additional meetings shall be scheduled as required. Ad-hoc meetings may be scheduled on request of more than one-third of the members of LOGICT. Ad-hoc meetings may include the Associate Members and Invitees. A quorum shall be fifty-one percent (51%) or more of the Members of LOGICT LOGICT must institute an EXCOM (Executive Management Committee)

9. EXCOM (LOGICT Executive Management Committee)EXCOM shall consist of:The ChairpersonThe Vice-chairpersonMembers of LOGICTThe Conveners of any Work Groups.The Provincial Government Western CapeSALGAEXCOM should represent Finance, Technical, Legal and Management disciplines. The Agenda, frequency and venue must contribute to effective decision making, achieving sustainable results and reducing tedious bureaucracy.

10. WORK GROUPS Work Groups are specially assigned task teams that shall investigate specific areas of concern (within a given period) and report back on the findings to EXCOM with accompanied recommendations. Work Groups shall be tasked by means of terms of reference. COMPENSATION No member of LOGICT, EXCOM or any Work Group will receive compensation for services rendered to LOGICT.

11. LOGICT EXCOM MEETINGS SINCE INAUGURATION • Tulbagh (Witzenberg Municipality) 20 April 2007 • Vredenburg (Saldanha Bay Municipality) 18 May 2007 • Hermanus (Overstrand Municipality) 8 June 2007 • Cape Town (City of Cape Town) 13 July 2007 • Hermanus (Overstrand Municipality 24 August 2007

12. problem statement • LOGICT EXCOM consists of Committee members who have to travel from Beaufort West (Central Karoo); George and Oudtshoorn (Eden); Bredasdorp and Hermanus (Overberg); Worcester and Tulbagh (Cape Winelands); and Vredenburg and Moorreesburg (West Coast). • They are joined by eight committee members and associate members from the Cape Town area. • There are three invitees who also travel from George, Ceres and Cape Town. GETTING THE REQUIRED QUORUM AT EXCOM MEETINGS HAS BEEN PROBLEMATIC. POSSIBLE SOLUTION: Adv. Jan Koekemoer is looking at “relaxing” the LOGICT constitution to make it possible for the committee members present to be able to conduct the business of LOGICT; Arrange LOGICT EXCOM meetings to coincide with PAFTECH meetings so that EXCOM members can travel with Municipal Managers to the meeting. EXCOM will also be able to report directly to PAFTECH prior to the closure of the PAFTECH meeting.

13. problem statement • LOGICT is better known outside of the province; • We receive more enquiries from non members; • LOGICT does not have representation at Provincial or National GITOC; • The credit which is due to PGWC for initiating and then inaugurating LOGICT has not been recognised or “marketed”. • Up to today, there has been no communication between Province (who tasked LOGICT), Municipal Managers and LOGICT; • There are a plethora of ICT related conferences, conventions, seminars, etc. (ForgeAhead’s Annual ICT in Provincial & Local Government Summit; GOGITRIS; SITA’s GovTech conference; Gartner Symposium; etc.) which should be coordinated in order to maximise the benefit to local authorities with limited budgets.

14. stepping stones (too early to start talking about achievements) • Although LOGICT EXCOM has no major achievements to report on, there was interaction between officials from different municipalities on a regular basis leading up to the inauguration of LOGICT in November 2006; • Since the election of a replacement Chairperson and Vice Chairperson in April 2007, EXCOM has met five times and the interaction and sharing of knowledge , expertise and advice has continued to grow; • Discussion, enquiries and subsequent visits to other municipalities have resulted in local municipalities being able to benefit from programmes procured by their district municipality and then shared with the relative municipalities in the district; • Similar discussions, enquiries and visits in the Cape Winelands District Municipality will hopefully lead to the sharing of “Province’s” vehicle tracking and fleet management systems within the district – the probable cost saving of a minimum 15% on running costs and better control of and utilisation of municipal vehicles really appealed to councillors who attended the presentation; • The minefield that is the process of installing radio networks has been debated and discussed at length at EXCOM. LOGICT will soon be publishing a guideline on the website for municipalities who have not yet considered this method of speeding up communication between the various towns in their municipal area of jurisdiction; • ICT Policies and Organigrams if ICT structures have been placed on the website for the benefit of members; • LOGICT members have volunteered to assist municipalities who have still not developed their own websites (according to a SALGA report there are still three municipalities in the Western Cape who do not comply) and DBSA deployees (from their Siyenza Manje Programme) have also been referred to the municipalities to try and assist; • Another “Invitee” has recently been asked to attend LOGICT EXCOM meetings and to convene a workgroup in respect of GIS;

15. stepping stones (our first “achievements”) • LOGICT’s website (www.logict.gov.za) has been registered and is administered (with grateful appreciation) by Eden District Municipality ICT personnel; • The following three slides show the end product of something begun by Overberg District Municipality and completed through the interaction between two LOGICT EXCOM committee members and their relative municipalities.

19. Caledon Youth Centre • The Overberg District Municipality established a Youth Centre in Caledon. The Youth Centre received some second hand PCs from Holland to be used in the Centre as access points to the internet. • Personnel from the Overberg District Municipality helped by setting up a LAN with ADSL access to the Internet for 10 PCs. • At this stage everything stopped because no money was budgeted for software on the PCs. Open Source software like Linux and Open Office was considered, but the skills to do the training on the Open Source software was lacking. • Joggie Snyman from the Overberg District Municipality (LOGICT ExCom member) contacted Michael Arendse from the City of Cape Town (LOGICT ExCom member) who is a big supporter of Open Source products for assistance. Michael put Joggie in contact with Nathan Momsen from Business Data Solutions. • Shortly thereafter, Joggie had an on site meeting with Business Data Solutions to inspect the infrastructure and to discuss a possible way forward as there was no budget to work with. • A few days later, Joggie received a report from Business Data Solutions with implementation, control and training plans which would be sponsored by the City of Cape Town. • Thanks to the contact built up through LOGICT, Joggie Snyman, Micheal Arendse, Business Data Solutions and the City of Cape Town, the Youth Centre is now up and running as can been seen from the photos. • Joggie Snyman’s effort to try and assist the youth of Caledon has resulted in an asset for the Youth Centre and access to the internet for those who could not afford it.

20. With acknowledgement to Martin Luther King – “I HAVE A DREAM”. • Municipalities, particularly Finance and Housing officials were quick to refer to “unfunded mandates”; • I recall the then National Minister of Housing, Min Sankie Mtembi-Mahanyele stating one day that this reference to unfunded mandates must stop! Why? National, Provincial and Local Government are “The State” and it is the State’s responsibility to create housing opportunities! Local government cannot say it is not their responsibility, they are part of the team! • This was later reiterated rather forcefully by the then Provincial Housing Minister, Min. Nomatyala Hangana during one of her “road shows”. • We are a team who should be working together?

21. “I HAVE A DREAM”. • My dream then is that like the large companies, banks and retailers in our land, that “The State” will one day have a centralised “National Head Office” where one giant mainframe computer is linked on-line to all National, Provincial and Local Government offices and that the community we serve will be able to provide and access information electronically at any “national, provincial or local branch”; • That we will not have to provide and ask each other for information because it will already be there – available to all of us; • The biggest and the smallest “branch” will have exactly the same information, equipment, capability of service and ICT expertise; and • Economy of scale will mean that funds presently being spent on exactly the same or similar processes and products at hundreds of different “branches” will be able to be installed once at “National Head Office” and the savings then utilised for other important services to our communities! Yes, I have a dream! PS. We might have to invite ESKOM to join LOGICT to ensure that there is sufficient power to run this magnificent mainframe computer and all its terminals countrywide!

22. Thank you. Please visit our website ( www.logict.gov.za ); Please speak to the LOGICT members at PGWC, SALGA, and your municipality; Please encourage and support the LOGICT EXCOM members at PGWC, SALGA, and your municipality; Please let us be of service to you; Please help us to become of service to the other provinces and nationally. PLEASE HELP US TO REALISE MY DREAM! Thank you very much for this opportunity. I wish you a successful and productive two day meeting.