REVIEW OF SELECTED READINGS ON EGOVERNMENT

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INTRODUCTION

A new civilization is emerging in our lives, and blind men everywhere are trying to suppress it. This new civilization brings with it new family styles; changed ways of working, loving, and living; a new economy; new political conflicts; and beyond all this, an altered consciousness as well (Toffler, 1981:23).
The universal public service has traditionally been viewed as being bureaucratic, unresponsive, cumbersome and inefficient. For this negative image to be dispelled, the universal public service needs to embark on radical change. Change is one of the inevitabilities of the modern age. Change is evident in the way individuals interact, in the manner in which business is conducted (e-business, for example), in the way new virtual communities evolve and indeed, in the way in which governments transact, the most notable example being e-government. Egovernment can simplistically be viewed as the delivery of public services and information by employing electronic means. Various metaphors have been used to describe the phenomenon of change. These range from network to global village to information super highway to systems. What, however, is important is that these fore-going metaphors relate to the development and maintenance of systems of communication to enhance the flow of information. Governments consume large volumes of information on which to base policy and strategic decisions. Because of the vast extent of existing information, much of it needs to be filtered and presented in a manner that can easily be assimilated by the end user. Herein lies the role of e-government. Backus (2001:59) notes that e-government refers to the processes and structures needed to deliver electronic services and to conduct electronic transactions. Backus (2001:59) further notes that the external strategic objective of e-government is to fulfil the public’s needs on the front-office side by providing electronic touch points.
The internal strategic objective of e-government is to improve back-office operations so as to facilitate speedy, transparent, accountable and efficient processes in performing government administrative operations. In South African organisations change manifests itself in various transformative initiatives. Transformative initiatives in South Africa, in their turn, manifest themselves in the various policy initiatives that the South African Government has embarked upon. These policy initiatives revolve around e-government, human resources development, organisational development, financial reform, clientcentredness and sustainability, all of which need to integrate in order to establish a successful e-government environment.
The succeeding sections of the chapter provide some general background to the irreversible demands and challenges that the advent of information and communications technologies makes. The consideration of information and communications technologies from a global to an African to a national level will provide some valuable insight into the current positioning of South Africa’s attempt to achieve successful e-government. The challenges highlight how governments should harness the power of information and communications technologies to improve service delivery offerings to their clients.

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 CONTEXT OF THE STUDY
1.3 CONCEPTUALISATION
1.3.1 E-governance
1.3.2 E-government
1.3.3 E-Administration
1.3.4 Interoperability
1.3.5 Digital Divide
1.3.6 Sustainable Development
CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 OVERVIEW OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH
2.2.1 The Case of the Government Employees Pension Fund of South Africa
2.3 RESEARCH DESIGN
2.3.1 Context of the Study
2.3.2 The Objectives of the Study
2.4 DELINEATION OF THE PROBLEM
2.4.1 The Statement of the Problem
2.4.2 Significance Of The Research
2.5 CHAPTER DELINEATION
2.6 RESEARCH METHODS
2.6.1 The Case Study
2.6.2 Target Population and Sample Sizes
2.6.3 Data Analysis
2.7 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER THREE: REVIEW OF SELECTED READINGS ON EGOVERNMENT
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 GLOBALISATION AND ITS CHALLENGES FOR GOVERNMENTS
3.3 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES FOR AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT
3.4 E-GOVERNMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA: AN OVERVIEW 57
3.4.1 Historical Overview of the Telecommunications Infrastructure in South Africa
3.4.2 Access To Communications Technology In South Africa
3.5 THE STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT OF E-GOVERNMENT
3.5.1 Four Pillars Of E-Government In South Africa
3.5.2 Provincial E-Government Initiatives In South Africa
3.5.3 Communications Between Government Departments In South Africa
3.5.4 Examples of E-government Projects in South Africa
f. The Golaganang Project
3.6 A REVIEW OF THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ELECTRONIC
ADMINISTRATION, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT
3.6.1 The Presidential Review Commission
3.6.2 Theories Of Public Administration And Management
3.7 CONCLUSION 103
CHAPTER FOUR: THE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES PENSION FUND OF SOUTH AFRICA AND ELECTRONIC SERVICE DELIVERY:
A CASE STUDY
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 THE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES PENSION FUND: A HISTORIC OVERVIEW
4.3 AN ASSESSMENT OF THE LEGACY-BASED ADMINISTRATIVE MODEL OF THE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES PENSION FUND
4.3.1 CivPen Pensions Administration Software Programme
4.4 PROJECT PEKWA: IMPROVING E-SERVICES WITHIN GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES PENSION FUND
4.4.1 Seamless Government
4.4.2 Workflow
4.4.3 Paperless environment
4.4.4 Managing Risk in the Government Employees Pension Fund
4.5 COMPARISON: E-SERVICE DELIVERY IN THE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES PENSION FUND, LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
4.5.1 Assessment of the Implementation of Workflow at South African Airways and the Compensation Commissioner
4.5.2 Comparative Analysis: The Comprehensive Pension Fund Administration Software System (Compass) At Sanlam, Old Mutual And The Government Employees Pension Fund
4.5.3 Comparative Human And Other Resources Devoted To The Respective Projects Under Review
4.5.4 Comparison: E-Services To Elderly People In The United Kingdom And The Government Employees Pension Fund
4.6 ENCOURAGING THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN PROVIDING ESERVICES TO CLIENTS
4.7 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER FIVE: ANALYSIS OF THE PROGRESS OF E-GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES AT THE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES PENSION FUND
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 A THEORETICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIVE AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS OF THE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES PENSION FUND
5.2.1 The Bureaucratic Nature of the Government Employees Pension Fund
5.2.2 Ford’s Theory onanagement as Manifested in the Government Employees Pension Fund
5.2.3 Organisation Structure of the Government Employees Pension Fund
5.2.4 Interoperability Between the Government Employees Pension Fund and the Employer Departments
5.2.5 The Digital Divide Between the Government Employees Pension Fund and Employer (Government) Departments
5.3 COMPREHENSIVE PENSION ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM SOFTWARE (COMPASS) SUPPORT – LOCALLY AND ABROAD
5.4 AN ANALYSIS OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT AT THE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES PENSION FUND
5.4.1 The Relationship Between The Citizen As Customer And Government
5.4.2 Batho Pele: The Customer Relationship Management Programme Of The Public Sector In South Africa
5.4.3 Nodes Of Access To The Government Employees Pension Fund
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND OBSERVATIONS
6.1 INTRODUCTION
6.2 CHAPTER SUMMARIES AND CONCLUSIONS
6.3 KEY FINDINGS
6.4 RECOMMENDATIONSp
6.5 OPPORTUNITIES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
6.6 CONCLUSION
REFERENCES