A research dissertation submitted for the Degree of Master of Commerce (Information Systems) by Research / One of the aims of the development of Smart City initiatives is to provide electronic services that address residents’ information needs. Local governments in South Africa have realised that e-government can improve service delivery. There are currently government e-services that are designed to meet residents’ information needs and transform Johannesburg into a Smart City. However, local governments face the challenge of deficiencies in the use of government e-services. In order to ensure that all residents benefit from Smart City services there is a need to understand the use and non-use of these services. This research has been conducted in Johannesburg to understand what makes people use or not use the provided Smart City services. In this context, Smart City services refer to government e-service websites and government city Wi-Fi. The research was addressed from an interpretive perspective employing qualitative methods. The theoretical framework of government websites utilisation developed by Wang (2014) was used as a theoretical grounding. Data was Data was collected through in- depth semi -structured face-to -face interviews with open-ended questions. Twelve interviews were concluded. The results confirm Wang's (2014) theoretical framework in that all the major concepts: value, user needs, effectiveness of government websites, and alternative information sources were reflected as influencing the use and non-use of Smart City services. In addition the results extend Wang's (2014) framework with additional important core concepts: awareness, access, and trust. These concepts are particularly important to residents' participation in a developing country context and can be used to create a deeper understanding of how different types of residents engage or don't engage with Smart City services. In the pursuit of Smart Cities, local governments can use the results of the study to establish measures that can increase the use of free Wi-Fi around the city and government websites. A paper from this research report has been peer reviewed and was accepted for the Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) conference which was held at Monash University in Italy, Prato. The title of the paper is: Explaining the Use and Non-Use of Smart Cities Services in Johannesburg: Residents’ Perspectives. On the 9th, 10th, and 11th November 2015, I attended the CIRN conference in Italy and presented the paper. The paper will be part of the conference proceedings. / MT2017

A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Commerce (Information Systems), in the School of Economic and Business Sciences at the University of Witwatersrand, March 2017 / In spite of the challenges arising from poverty, illiteracy, corruption and inefficient government processes, cities around the world are resolute in their quest to deliver key information and services to citizens by adopting and developing online government applications. For these applications to be successful, it is imperative that they offer services that adequately address the needs of citizens. The present study aimed at exploring the extent an e-government application is being effectively used, in a context of an African Smart city. Initially, the study reviewed a handful of relevant literature to support the aims of this study and to underpin the results on evidence-based theoretical foundations. The study moved beyond the commonly studied behavioural concepts of adoption and use, towards value-driven Information Systems diffusion. While adoption and use of Information Systems are two widely recognised concepts throughout academia and extensively supported by literature, the effective use of Information Systems is generally neglected in theory and fails in practice. This gap presented in literature, an opportunity for this study to understand the value derived by citizens in using an e-government application and by governments in implementing it. The study has applied the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use Theory (UTAUT) frameworks to explain the determinants of use and subsequently, effective use. From the conceptual definition of the use of e-governance, this study has identified the motivating or selfregulating factors of effective use. The study then empirically measured a handful of them in order to infer and argue a case for effective use of such applications. The initial findings suggest that an inferential discipline was applied and that Actual Usage infers Effective Use as intended by this study. The results also suggest that diffusion and effective use of an e-government application still requires some improvements. The user experience, lack or out-dated information and general lack of awareness of the application are among the more pertinent findings on effective use of an e-government application. The findings highlighted that effective use is inferable when use of IS has been established. The empirical findings of this study demonstrate a need for a ‗one-stop shop‘ model and citizen-focused service delivery agenda for e-government applications. More specifically, the results of this study highlighted an inferential relationship between actual usage and effective use. This means that factors that affect Actual Usage, based on UTAUT are positively related to SDT factors of Effective Use. For instance, Performance Expectancy has been found to have a positive effect on Actual Usage, implying that citizens with high Performance Expectancy are more likely to use an e-government. Social Influences were also found to significantly affect the citizens‘ motivation and intentions to engage with an e-government application. A large number of users have indicated that their inclination to use the application was influenced by social connections. The Facilitating Conditions construct has been found to significantly influence the citizens‘ behavioural intention to use an e-government application. Predictably, the study also found Self-efficacy to be a weak predictor and moderator of a relationship between a dependent and an independent variable. The immediate relevance and application of this study lies in the expected return on investment derived from an effective use of an e-government application, which is particularly beneficial for a budding African Smart City. The need to effectively and affordably deliver needed government information and services to citizen across the spectrum is even more pronounced in Africa. This study makes specific contributions to the formulation of a model and suggestions for future research. The theoretical contribution is in bridging the literature gap by providing a model for effective use of e-government application in the context of an African Smart City. The current study is one of the first to demonstrate the influence SDT has on actual usage and effective use. This is useful to studies in the IS Domain, particularly for the new concepts of e-government and Smart City. / XL2018

MSc., Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / The purpose of the study is to investigate possible reasons as to why different surveys conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) give different estimates of the percentages in the different employment categories. In order to investigate the different sources of variability, that is, surveys done in different years, surveys using different questionnaires, different sample designs and different employment profiles, the following comparisons were done for Gauteng and the Eastern Cape: • To compare estimates of employment status over time for the March Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2006 and 2007; September LFS 2006 and 2007; and General Household Survey (GHS) September 2006 and July 2007. • To compare estimates of employment status across surveys for LFS September 2006; GHS September 2006; and LFS September 2007, July GHS 2007 and Community Survey (CS) October 2007. In order to generate a set of comparable estimates across surveys and within surveys over time, this study identifies and addresses the various sources of potential non-comparability. The methodologies utilised are Chi-squared Automatic Detection (CHAID) and multinomial logistic regression. These statistical techniques were used to identify variables which are associated with employment status. The predictor variables included in the analysis are age group, highest level of education, marital status, population group, sex and source data. The results from CHAID for all data sets show that age group is the most significant predictor on which data on employment status can be segmented. At the root node (the first level of the CHAID tree), data was partitioned by the categories of age group. Highest level of education, sex, population group and province were significant within the categories of age group. Either province or population group was significant within the age group 20–29 years old depending on the data that is being analysed. Sex was most significant within the age group 50–65 years old. The results of multinomial regression show several significant interactions involving from five to seven factors for different data sets. The logistic regression results were not as good as those of the CHAID analyses, but both techniques give us an indication of the relationships between the predictor variables and employment. The analysis of the CS, LFS and GHS in 2007, when explaining employment status, split on age group. Highest level of education was the most significant predictor when comparing the three data sets. There are differences among the three data sets when explaining employment status. This is due to the use of different mid-year population estimates, differences in the instructions given in the questionnaire for CS 2007 and other surveys, as well as the sample size of the surveys. There are indeed significant differences between Gauteng and Eastern Cape in relation to employment status.

Not all documents are records. One of the central concerns of contemporary governance is the reduced or complete lack of accountability among public officials when rendering public services. In the absence of accountability and records, corruption thrives. This research examines the relationship that exists between transparency, accountability and record keeping in order to find the effect that records has; in terms of producing positive audit outcomes and in eliminating corrupt activities by public official/s. Since the transition to democracy in South Africa, the new constitution demands transparency and accountability on matters of governance supported with available information (records). Various pieces of legislation in South Africa are available in support of timely, accessible and accurate information in pursuit of official duties. The difficulty in ensuring an effective record keeping creates an opportunity for governance, transparency and accountability to fail. The essence of this research undertaking was motivated by the fact that, absence of records (which has a negative effect in achieving clean audits) renders governance chaotic and infringes on the democratic principles enshrined in the Constitution such as accountability and transparency. The purpose of the study was to investigate the practice of record keeping in the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Basic Education (ECDoE) in ensuring accountability and transparency. This research undertaking was guided by the following three research questions: (1) what is the legal/normative framework that governs record keeping in South African public service? (2) How does ECDoE practice record-keeping in ensuring accountability and transparency? And (3) how does the practice of ECDoE’s record-keeping compare with the requirements of the legal/normative framework? After all the gathering of information from different sources, it is therefore recommended that the ECDoE send its employees for records management courses and there must be strict adherence to legislation and recommendations made by the Auditor General in his last audit report for the department. During the conduct of this research undertaking, these are the findings that emerged from the study: at the ECDoE (1) There is no adequate training provided to employees in record keeping. (2) There are ineffective internal control systems. (3) There is no risk management contingency plan. (4) There is no proper record keeping. (5) There is non-compliance with legislation by officials. (6) There is no strong or effective leadership. (7) There is shortage of staff and qualified personnel. (8) Lack of commitment to excel. (9) No significant corrective action undertaken to eliminate past inaccuracies. (10) There is absence of following up on recommendations made by the external audit. Lastly, the researcher accepts the arguments raised by the different authors about record keeping, transparency and accountability in that: there can be no accountable and transparent government without an effective record-keeping in place. Records are vital sources of evidence admissible to any institution be it a court of law or standing committees should clarity be required.

The main purpose of this research is to investigate the Information Architecture (IA) of government web sites in Southern Africa. The government web sites of Mozambique and South Africa were selected for the purpose of this research. A further aim of this research was to derive a model for the IA of government web sites. The model was based on IA components and guidelines as well as on web site components and E-government requirements. The IA guidelines in the model were derived from general design guidelines and guidelines for government web sites. The IA guidelines in the proposed model were used to conduct an analytical and empirical evaluation of the selected sites. The selection of the sites was based on similarities in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) strategies and policies, the annual Internet growth rates, the Internet user profiles and the Egovernment initiatives in both countries. Differences between the sites also contributed to their selection. Mozambique is one of the least developed countries in the world, while South Africa is one of the most developed countries in Africa. Heuristic evaluation was used for the analytical evaluation while questionnaires and user testing were used for the empirical evaluation. Some of the usability problems identified in the heuristic evaluation, such as incorrect organisation of information and navigation issues, were also identified in the empirical evaluation, confirming to the existence of these usability problems. The results of this research show that the IA of government web sites has an impact on user performance and satisfaction and that the proposed model can be used to design and evaluate the IA of government web sites in Southern Africa.

E-government which refers to electronic Government is the process of transformation of relationships of government with its constituents ie the citizens, the businesses and between its own organs, through the use of the tools of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). E-government services are the outcome of e-governance that come as automated services delivered through ICTs particularly Internet based applications that provide access to and delivery of information or services to the public, businesses, other agencies and governmental departments. This study seeks to examine the factors affecting citizens ability to access e-government services in Nkonkobe Municipality in the province of Eastern Cape and come with recommendations of how to address the issue. E-government services should be developed on platforms with the consideration of devices that people can have access to. The study showed that in as much as one can have cell phone that has access to internet , some website services such as home affairs enquiry applications are not accessible on a phone with a general web browser that has no Java Script capacity but has acces to internet. Therefore developing Short Message Service (SMS) based services or Unstructured Supplementary Serviuce Data (USSD) code that is available on all Globile System for Mobile (GSM) cell phones can increase accessibility of most services at a cheaper cost. The study concludes that although e-government is the future for our country and in this era of technology, much still has to be done in areas like Nkonkobe Municipality in Eastern Cape, as the citizens have no or lack appropriate tools to access the internet, and sometimes citizens are not aware of e-government services available. The research indicates that most citizens have cell phones despite the differences in handset capabilities, which therefore means that applications developed for e-government services can be ported foe accessibility to ordinary GSM cell phone including those without internet access.

Engagement of stakeholders in government website communication has emerged as an important strategy that can build trust, improve transparency and strengthen loyalty between governments and their citizens. This is because websites provide access to a broader spectrum, offer unlimited storage of information and rapid feedback. This main purpose of the study therefore was to find out how the Lesotho and South African national governments utilise their websites to engage stakeholder’s in websites communication for maintaining and building mutual relationships. The literature review for this study covered the role of public relations in government, different kinds of governments’ stakeholders and the importance of engaging stakeholders in website communication for relationship building and maintenance of such relationships. The methodology that was employed involved analysis of twenty websites which were selected using purposive sampling technique. Coding sheets were designed and used to collect data based on the three principles of dialogic communication namely: Ease of interface, Generation of return visits, Usefulness of information and the two models of communication which are One-way communication and Two-way communication. The results revealed limited efforts for stakeholder’s engagement in both Lesotho and South African government ministries and made recommendations on how this challenge can be addressed. The study concluded that the two countries can improve stakeholders’ participation and engagement in websites communication by aligning their websites with the three principles of dialogic communication and two models of communication.

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the degree Magister Technologiae: Information Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / The research reported in this dissertation focuses on seamless data sharing in e-government space because of the intrinsic complexity, disparity and heterogeneity of government information systems as well as the need to improve government service delivery. The often observed bureaucracy in government processes, especially when verifying information, coupled with the high interdependency of government departments and diversity in government operations has made it difficult to improve government service delivery efficiency. These challenges raise the need to find better ways to seamlessly share data between government to citizens, government to businesses, government to suppliers and government to public institutions. Obviously, efficient automatic data sharing is an important phenomenon that contributes to improvements in communication, collaboration, interaction and efficiency in the service delivery process because it reduces information verification time and improves reliability of information. The general applications of data sharing systems become perceptible in institutions such as banks and government establishments where information verification is highly necessary in the process of service delivery. Data sharing usually occurs between a data holder and a data requester when copies of authorized data are transported from the source databases to the requester. This data sharing process should guarantee a high level of privacy because of the confidential nature of certain data. A data integration gateway (DIG) is being proposed in this research as a methodological solution to seamlessly share data in e-government space, using Hippocratic database principles to enforce data privacy. The DIG system is a centralized web application that utilizes a lightweight database within the government data centre to hold information on data contracts, data sources, connection strings and data destinations. The data sharing policies are stated as contracts and once indentures on how to share data are established between different data publishers, it is possible to ensure a seamless integration of data from different sources using the DIG application being proposed in this dissertation. The application is malleable to support the sharing of publisher data that are stored in any kind of database. The proposed DIG application promises to reduce costs of system maintenance and improve service delivery efficiency without any change to the existing hardware infrastructure and information systems residing within different government departments.

Thesis (MPA (School of Public Management and Planning))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Information and communication technologies are rapidly changing the future of public administration. The desire to become part of the “Information Age” has instigated a worldwide transformation process that puts information and communication technologies at the heart of government processes and practices. One strategy that embraces these technologies is electronic government (e-government). The ability to provide government services and information online is becoming a benchmark for governments in both developed and developing nations. E-government has arrived in South Africa and slowly it is starting to shape our lives. Improved service delivery, access to information, an open and transparent form of government and the ability to participate in certain government activities are just some of the advantages that e-government has to offer. Although disparities in access and education levels remain a constant hindrance in South Africa, the e-government strategy does have the potential to promote community development. By providing an opportunity to learn a new skill, gain new information and participate in your local government activities, e-government has the potential to empower local citizens thereby promoting community development. The acquisition of new knowledge is a vital tool in today’s modern society. Therefore, through the provision of new knowledge e-government is a strategy for the future.

Thesis (MPA (Public Management and Planning))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Electronic government or e-Government has become a global phenomenon and is seen as a tool to strengthen the performance of government and public administration. An efficient and effective state administration is a necessary requirement for economic and social development. This study describes to what extent the e-Government policy of the PGWC compares with other e-Government policies internationally and in particular the Australian e-Government policy. South Africa as a young democracy can use the transformational power of the e- Government approach to the benefit of government, business and the citizens of the country if this approach is applied appropriately. e-Government offers the opportunity to improve public services and can even reduce the gap that exists between those who are computer literate and those who are not. E-Government in the PGWC is still in the beginning phases compared to e- Government in Australia, which has developed rapidly over the last decade. The PGWC can learn from the Australian e-Government development process, with Australians being regarded as one of the leading e-Government nations in the world, according to the United Nations Organisation. Even though the e-Government policy of the PGWC and the Australian e- Government policy use a comparatively similar approach within the demographic boundaries in which they exist, it was found that the socio-economic challenges of South Africa as a developing country, still have an enormous influence on the optimal application of the e-Government policy. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Elektroniese regering of e-Regering het ‘n wêreldwye verskynsel geraak en kan gesien word as ‘n maatstaf vir die versterking van regeringsoptrede en publieke administrasie. ‘n Effektiewe en doeltreffende staatsadministrasie is ‘n noodsaaklike vereiste vir ekonomiese en sosiale ontwikkeling. Hierdie studie beskryf tot watter mate die e-Regeringsbeleid van die Wes-Kaapse Provinsiale Regering met ander internasionale e-Regeringsbeleide vergelyk, veral met betrekking tot die e- Regeringsbeleid van Australië. As ‘n jong demokrasie kan Suid-Afrika die transformerende invloed van die eregerings benadering tot die voordeel van die regering, besigheid en die burgers van die land gebruik indien hierdie benadering korrek toegepas word. e-Regering bied die geleentheid om publieke dienste te verbeter en kan selfs die bestaande gaping vernou tussen diegene wat rekenaargeletterd is en diegene wat nie rekenaargeletterd is nie. e-Regering in die Wes-Kaapse Provinsiale Regering is nog in ‘n betreklike vroeë stadium vergeleke met e-regering in Australië waar dit oor die laaste dekade snel ontwikkel het. Die Wes-Kaapse Provinsiale Regering kan vanuit die ontwikkelingsproses van die Australiese e-Regering leer, daar Australië deur die Verenigde Volkere-organisasie as een van die voorste e-Regeringnasies in die wêreld beskou word. Selfs al toon die beleide van die Wes-Kaapse Provinsiale Regering en die van Australië ‘n relatief eenderse benadering tot e-Regering binne die demografiese grense waarin hulle bestaan, is gevind dat die sosio-ekonomiese uitdagings van Suid-Afrika as ‘n ontwikkelingsland steeds ‘n enorme invloed op die optimale aanwending van e-Regering het.