By Thapelo Molefe
The State Information Technology Agency (SITA) has been labelled a national security threat by Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) following damning reports from the Auditor-General and the Special Investigating Unit.
The committee revealed on Wednesday that governance and operational failures at SITA have left South Africa’s digital infrastructure exposed, with critical vacancies, obsolete technology, flawed procurement processes and inadequate cybersecurity measures undermining government operations.
Scopa chairperson Songezo Zibi said SITA’s continued dysfunction was unacceptable and posed a direct risk to financial controls and service delivery across all levels of government.
“It is unacceptable that at a time when information technology is so critical to financial controls, governance and operational effectiveness, the sole agency tasked with supporting government is failing so dismally and for so sustained a period,” Zibi said.
SITA, responsible for delivering IT services to state institutions, has not achieved a clean audit in several years. Its failure to support departments has delayed modernisation projects, particularly in sectors such as policing and public service delivery.
“Talk of modernisation in different areas, such as the police, will remain a pipedream if reliance is placed solely on the SITA,” Zibi added.
The committee heard that while a new board was appointed in February 2025, the agency remained without key personnel, including a chief digital officer.
Scopa plans to summon the Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi to account for the lack of progress in stabilising the agency.
“We are going to invite the Minister of Communication and Digital Technologies to appear before the committee to explain the steps he is taking to ensure the SITA recovers to fulfil its constitutional mandate,” Zibi said.
“The SITA’s failures have become a serious financial and national security risk that should not be tolerated any longer.”
The agency is currently the subject of multiple investigations. In December 2024, Malatsi requested the Public Service Commission investigate irregularities at SITA, including its failure to submit its 2023/24 annual report.
Additional probes have uncovered irregular procurement practices, leadership instability and R1.4 billion in unpaid invoices.
Cybersecurity experts have also raised alarms, warning that vulnerabilities within SITA could be exploited to disrupt critical infrastructure.
The agency provides IT services to departments including Home Affairs, SAPS and Health, which are sectors viewed as high value targets for cyberattacks.
Scopa has called for urgent intervention, warning that the ongoing failures at SITA not only threaten the digital integrity of the state but also the broader security and functionality of the government.
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