Celebrating Partnerships in the Emerging Information Society

Provincial and Local e-Government objectives will come under sharp scrutiny through a collaborative agreement to be signed on Tuesday 23 November 2004 by the Premier of the Western Cape, Ebrahim Rasool and the Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Nomaindia Mfeketo.

The agreement facilitates the closer working together of governments on core ICT strategic projects. It further avoids the duplication of effort and waste of tax payers' money. Furthermore, it builds confidence in the minds of the citizens about the quality of services they receive whether from provincial or local government.

Though this agreement is only being signed now, the Provincial Government and City have been working together for the past year ensuring e-government objectives are met and that the digital divide will narrow substantially with equal access for all to government information and services. The Provincial Government of the Western Cape and the City of Cape Town have identified 17 projects for collaboration.

Part of Provincial Government's Cape Access strategy is to provide computer and internet access to broad Western Cape communities and as such has partnered with the City of Cape Town in sharing its Smart Cape Access model.

Both the Provincial Government and the City of Cape Town lead by example in its strategy in the use of ICT for social and economic development. At an implementation level the Smart Cape Access project in 2003 received the International Access to Learning Award. Provincial Government Western Cape's Centre for e-Innovation, responsible for delivering ICT's in the Province, has just been awarded the African ICT Achiever's award for top Government Department.

Premier Ebrahim Rasool, and the Executive Mayor, Nomaindia Mfeketo, share common concerns about utilizing ICT to enhance service delivery to all citizens, transparent government and participation in governance.