The proposed breakup between the State Information Technology Agency (Sita) and the Department of Home Affairs is getting messy.

Home Affairs wants to part company, while Sita wants to ‘re-establish strategic alignment’.

Sita has responded to Home Affairs’ recent announcement that it had applied for a separation from Sita so that it could source IT services from more reliable and cost-effective external providers.

News24 reports that the department said the announcement, which was made in its annual performance plan for 2025/26, followed long-standing frustrations with the agency regarding system downtime, delayed procurement processes, and excessive IT system costs.

Digital transformation is a key priority for Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber, as IT issues have been a key barrier to efficient service delivery for the department.

Sita said that it had been blamed for almost all the department’s IT challenges, even though it claimed that only a small proportion of the ICT services at Home Affairs were being provided by Sita.

‘It is important to note that DHA consumes only 20% of its ICT services from Sita, and the majority of that spending relates to mandatory services,’ Sita claimed.

This claim is disputed in the Home Affairs performance plan, which claims that Home Affairs is ‘dependent on Sita for all its IT-related needs’.

Full News24 report