Pretoria - Rolling out ICT broadband will help in decreasing the number of lost dockets and lead to more prosecutions, Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services Hlengiwe Mkhize has said.
The electronic investigation case docket management system will be an intervention at the SA Police Service which has been accused of losing or destroying dockets.
For a number of years, a substantial number of cases have had to be withdrawn or struck off the court rolls as a result of dockets going missing.
Mkhize said her department would be working closely with police authorities to ensure that this problem is curbed.
Speaking to the Pretoria News, Mkhize said her department’s objective was to make sure that there is a centralised data system which would decrease the number of hurdles faced by investigating officers.
“The responsibility of the new ministry is to make sure that the ICT broadband is rolled out so that service providers have a backbone to work from.
“Once this has been done, people have to be skilled, through e-learning, which would make it simpler and easier for them to access government services,” Mkhize said.
Once the platform had been created, the likelihood of files disappearing will be minimal, Mkhize added.
“The stories of files getting lost will no longer be something we worry about because everything will be stored electronically.
“The files will be easier to trace and we won’t have an issue of files disappearing,” Mkhize said.
She explained that her department would begin its project by focusing on rural and isolated areas first as these were the areas with the biggest challenges.
“You find that in some police stations there is only one computer, and it is not working properly.
“But we are working with the South African State Information Technology Agency (Sita) which will help with getting equipment and also offering training,” Mkhize said.
The presence of the digital divide between South African societies has seen police stations in urban areas conforming to and embracing the notion of e-dockets.
The minister said that as part of the corporate social responsibility initiative, companies have invested in such initiatives.
Pretoria News