A Government Printing Works (GPW) system crash that led to a massive data loss last year was caused by poor ICT maintenance and the chief information officer (CIO) had a team that didn't know how to perform proper functions on the server, reports News24.

This was the finding of a panel that Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi appointed to investigate the system glitch.

The server supporting corporate services and e-Gazettes at the GPW crashed on 4 February 2021, resulting in a loss of critical information. Some of the information, the panel was informed, might never be recovered.

Papati Malavi, one of the panel members, presented the findings to the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs yesterday. He told MPs that staff members of the ICT division of the GPW told the panel the crash was caused by a surge in electricity when power resumed after a blackout.

‘The panel contacted Eskom and the City of Tshwane and established that there were no power outages on the relevant days. The panel subsequently found that the surge was caused by non-compliant electrical installations at pavillion two which housed the crashed server,’ Malavi said in his presentation.

The panel's key direct finding is that the incident was caused by poor maintenance of the ICT infrastructure due, essentially, to the fact that the CIO and his team did not know how to perform proper functions on the server, such as loading discs, scrubbing them before loading new data, and ensuring that there is proper backup should there be a problem.

The CIO resigned in January.

Motsoaledi told Parliament he wants strong action taken against anyone found to be responsible for sabotaging the GPW, reports TimesLIVE.

He said the collapse of the system had given him sleepless nights as it is a ‘national key point where security is very important’.

'There is a gentleman who has blown the whistle in an affidavit which was sent to the office of the Speaker of Parliament. He claimed that what happened there was not an accident.'

Motsoaledi’s concerns grew when the legal profession was unable to finalise and execute estates because they could not get certain documents they needed.

This is the reason he approached President Cyril Ramaphosa to appoint an investigative tribunal into what was happening at the GPW.

Motsoaledi also expressed concerns about security and disappointing other countries who have engaged GPW’s services.

‘Namibia wants us to print important security documents for them and subsequent to my announcement about Namibia, Kenya came on board and at a high level,’ said Motsoaledi.

He said since then many governments have come to the fore.

Full News24 report

Full TimesLIVE report