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No. 37261
GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 24 JANUARY 2014
Other e-government initiatives include e-Natis online vehicle and transport management
system, the e-Justice programme to improve judicial processes, the e-Hanis programme to
streamline and integrate personal identification data across government departments
through the use of unique identifiers, and the National Automated Archival Information
Retrieval System (NAAIRS) to facilitate access to public archived records.
6.2.2.1 e-Filing Initiatives
E-Filing is of particular interest, because it corresponds with the transactional level of egovernment stage thus indicating a new maturity level for e-government.
A successful example of this sort of transactional e-Government service is the electronic
filing of tax returns, which the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has implemented with
success. A recent e-Filing initiative is the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission
(CIPC) IP Online project by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti).
6.2.2.2 e-health
The National Department of Health, the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National
Health Information Systems Committee on South Africa (NHIS/SA) has developed the eHealth Strategy for South Africa. This strategy is aligned with the World Health
Organisation's (WHO) definitions and targets for e-health, which seek to use ICTs to treat
patients, pursue research, educate students, track diseases and monitor public health. In the
South African context, the general consensus is that the various inter-ministerial forums,
international consultations and national ICT bodies have not been effective in guiding the
implementation of the National e-Health Strategy Policy document.
6.2.2.3 e-education
As early as 1996, the Telecommunications Act, No. 103 of 1996 contemplated an education
network (EduNet) to link all schools. The 2001 Telecommunications Amendment Act, No. 64
of 2001 introduced a discounted e-rate to facilitate Internet connections for educational
institutions.
The 2004 White Paper on e-Education confirmed the availability of USF subsidies to achieve
the discounted e-rate. In January 2005, the Minister of Communications confirmed a 50%
discount on Internet connectivity costs for schools. This 2004 document stresses the need
for the integration of ICT into learning and teaching, and called for the creation of a
Ministerial e-Education Advisory Council.
The ECA repealed the Telecommunications Act and its amendments but largely mirrored the
provisions of that Act in relation to the e-rate. In 2010, USAASA transferred responsibility for
the Cyber lab program to the Department of Basic Education.
6.3 E-commerce in South Africa
6.3.1 Regulatory environment for e-Commerce
In South Africa, e-commerce policy started in 2000, when government published the Green
Paper on e-commerce. The Green Paper was aimed at building trust and confidence in the
security and privacy of transactions performed electronically. In addition, the Green Paper
sought to enhance the information infrastructure for electronic commerce; establish rules
that would govern electronic commerce and finally, bring the opportunities of e-commerce to
ordinary South Africans. At that time, government focused on heightening awareness about
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