/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

The DA in Mangaung notes that the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) position in the municipality has been vacant since 2018. This came to light in the minutes of an Audit Committee meeting held on 27 October 2021 when the then Chief Financial Officer (CFO) reported it to the Audit Committee.

The CTO makes all executive decisions regarding the technological interests of a company. They are responsible for outlining the company's technological vision, implementing technology strategies, and ensuring that the technological resources are aligned with the company's business needs.

The Acting CTO, Mr. A Jenkinson, stated that the unit faces a lack of human resources, which includes the critical position of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Several Managers have been acting in the position of the CTO on a rotational basis every 3 months, which creates chaos and instability within the unit.

The Acting CTO presented an ICT Status Report (see attached Annexure AC Minutes dated 27 October 2021) that raised high severity levels for the ICT environment. Severity levels are a measurement of the impact an incident has on the business.

The following findings were raised by the Auditor-General:
1. Weaknesses with respect to password management on applications;
2. Deficiencies with the administration of user access controls on the Payday system;
3. The Backup and Disaster Recovery Design and Configuration Manual had not been approved by Council for implementation in the Municipality;
4. Success/failure reports of backups performed for financial systems could not be obtained for the 2019/20 financial period;
5. Software license agreements identified on the asset register could not be obtained;
6. No evidence was provided to demonstrate that the deployment of patches was actively monitored to ensure that all the devices connected to the municipality’s network were adequately updated with the latest critical updates; and
7. Users were allowed to make use of their personal devices such as cellphones to make payments on The Nedbank Business Application.

A great concern for the DA is that several ICT policies were not finalised for approval by council.

During a special council meeting held on 15 September 2021, council approved the ICT user access management and password control policy but to date the section 80 committee for Corporate Services has only met once and no updated policies were tabled for approval by council.

The past six months the DA received complaints from residents with regards to incorrect municipal accounts, clearance certificates, salary payments to ghost workers without permission from the accounting officer, millions in unauthorised expenditure, overtime payments exceeding monthly salaries and Indigent registrations.

It is evident that there is a lack of ICT governance because the critical position of the Chief Technical Officer is vacant since 2018.

The metro was placed under administration in 2019 and the lack of IT governance also assisted the metro to be placed under a national intervention.

The DA will request the MMC for Corporate Services, Cllr MT Mosala, for an urgent meeting with the Acting CTO and will write to the Acting City Manager, Mr Teboho Motlashuping, asking when the vacancy for the CTO will be advertised.

The Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke said: “Audit outcomes were in a bad state when the previous administration took over in 2016-17 and this state had not improved since then.”

The DA will hold the national intervention team to account and pressure the acting city manager to appoint a qualified Chief Technical Officer to improve ICT governance at the Mangaung Metro.

Issued by Cllr Dirk Kotze - DA Caucus Deputy Chairperson