MANAGEMENT AND COMMERCE Improving service delivery through e-government Dr Ayanda Madyibi and Professor Roxanne Piderit ervice delivery’ is a term on the country means that many lack the lips of many South Africans as knowledge and skills to do so. they try to access provision S from the government and rarely Thusong Service Centres were a day goes by when news reports set up in an attempt to bring do not show protests objecting information and services closer to to failures in this area. However, the people. However, a 2018 review a doctoral study conducted Dr conducted by the Department of Ayanda Madyibi, Information and Public Service and Administration Digital Technology Specialist at (DPSA) showed that the Centres the Eastern Cape Socio-Economic were not functioning as well as Consultative Council (ECSECC) and intended for a number of reasons a member of the Advisory Board including the state of their physical of the Department of Information infrastructure and the model of Systems, supervised by Professor funding used to support them. Roxanne Piderit of the Department An earlier study had identified of Information Systems has gone perceptions that Thusong Service some way in addressing problems Centres suffered from poor service in the way the government goes delivery, were not user friendly and Professor Roxanne Piderit about providing public services via also noted the limited use of the ICT what is known as ‘E-government’. related services they offered. E-government is a way of interacting The study conducted by Dr Madyibi with citizens using Information and Professor Piderit aimed to and Communication Technologies address the lack of research on (ICTs). Government departments e-Government in less developed have websites but not all are as well countries and, more practically, to developed as they could be in the develop a framework to enhance its sense of allowing citizens to access implementation in Thusong Service the services they need online. Centres. The research project Although E-government has been began with a review of the literature studied in developed countries, in order to construct a conceptual much less is known about its framework that was then applied to adoption and use less developed the Thusong Service Centres in the nations where the situation is very Eastern Cape as a case study so as different. Many South Africans do to confirm and refine it. not have access to the devices or Confirming and refining the data that will allow them to access framework then involved services provided electronically. collecting empirical data from In addition, the history of our twenty-two organisational and 47 | University of Fort Hare