2 hours ago
The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) has revealed that it spent R743,644.95 to redesign its Digitech “digital product portal”.
However, despite featuring a “marketplace” for these digital products, there is no way to purchase anything or download any of the apps listed.
The site doesn’t even include links to where you can access apps online or download them from the Google Play market or Apple App Store.
For example, it includes a list of an application called Moya — a legitimate, locally developed platform for reverse billing data services, including dataless messaging, with over 10 million downloads on Google Play.
However, Digitech gives very little indication of who or what Moya is or where to download it.
Follow the renewal of Digitech reaction in May 2022 about the bad design of the site.
Not only did it look old-fashioned and amateurish, but it also allowed anyone to sign up for an account and upload any “product” to the platform, complete with promotional images and YouTube videos.
It didn’t take long for South Africans to mock the system by uploading inappropriate media onto it.
In July 2022, the then Communications Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said in response to a parliamentary question from the DA that the site was being redesigned.
Ntshavheni also said that it hadn’t cost a penny to develop the platform up to that point.
DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard recently sent follow-up questions about the redesign, and communications minister Mondli Gungubele responded. written.
Gungubele said his department had informed him that the redesigned site was launched on March 30, 2023.
Kohler Barnard had asked why the site was being redesigned and what features and enhancements would be included.
“The old Digitech website was not compliant with DCDT specifications,” Gungubele said.
“The new Digitech site has been upgraded to security and a new design has been implemented.”
DA spokeswoman on the DCDT portfolio, Natasha Mazzone, criticized Digitech’s redesign.
“What the hell is this website useful for?” she asked.
“Contracts like these reek of potential corruption… [and] the DA has tabled more parliamentary questions to determine why so much taxpayer money was spent on an irrelevant website.”
