South Africa: updated status from UK government's Action 2000 site

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I couldn't see the date of the press release referred to in the following and there was a problem accessing the original site. However, I doubt the press release is more than 2-3 weeks old, and may be much more recent than that. There are hot links at the sitAs with the US State Department, Action 2000 usually words its reports so as not to ruffle international feathers.

SOUTH AFRICA

The South African government's latest information on readiness for Y2K is on www.y2k.org.za . Highlights are as follows:

Provincial governments - the 843 local authorities had earlier been identified by the South African National Year 2000 Support Centre as "one of the potential weak links in the nation's business supply chain". However on 18th May the National Y2K Centre said that new legislation introduced in March, which holds municipal CEO's accountable for Y2K readiness, had had a beneficial effect. According to the report, detailed independent Y2K audits of many municipalities showed that they were making progress. The report concluded that although some municipalities still had a fair amount of work to do, the prognosis was no longer for chaos, as long as the local authorities remained committed to implementing the steps identified by the audits. There will be regular follow-up progress reports. The audit process involved self-assessment questionnaires and a number of face-to-face interviews to selected local authorities.

Points quoted in the press release on the above website:

The majority of local authorities do not have a Y2K project plan. "In many cases this is because they are employing outside consultants" to do the work. Water supplies can be operated manually. On a scale of 1-4, representing inventory, assessment, rectification and testing, the audit report places the average level of Y2K preparedness of local authorities sampled at 1.92. There is a "lack of funds" among the smaller local authorities Some councils "do not have a clearly identified person responsible" for Y2K. Local authorities are "lax in identifying their supply chain". Local authorities are "making the assumption that all the embedded systems which might have an effect on electricity and water supplies are mechanical" even though "they have not conducted an inventory" of these systems. Some municipal electrical engineers are "stating the Y2K compliance of their electrical systems, although no letters of compliance have been obtained".

Overall the current compliance status of the provinces was rated as follows:

Western Cape 55%; Eastern Cape 22%; Northern Cape 61%. The latter leads according to the website, due to the fact that "most of the councils visited there do not have IT equipment or mission critical facilities".

Louis Buys, project leader for Y2K in the Department of Constitutional Development said during a briefing for MPs on 16th August, that while there may be minor disruption to municipal services such as water and electricity over the millennium weekend, no major problems were expected at local government level. He said this information came from a thorough investigation into Y2K measures being taken by South Africa's 843 municipalities. He added that more than half did not use embedded computer systems. www.anc.org.za

Finance - the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) announced on 28th May that it was Y2K compliant. It said "The SARB has recently completed the test phase of its own internal programme. All tests were successfully concluded". It would also ensure that "adequate stocks of SA banknotes" were available should there be a rush for cash nearer the date. SARB stated that it had "developed contingency plans to address any unexpected problems, whether caused by internal or external sources". The SARB added that its programme also covered the South African Multiple Option Settlement (SAMOS) system, the backbone of the banking sector's payment and settlement infrastructure. "With the co-operation of the South African banking sector, this system has been tested and its compliance verified". A booklet on Y2K preparations in the S African banking and financial sector is to be issued in July to offer public reassurance.

Telecommunications website www.telkom.co.za offers detailed information on Telkom SA's Y2K project. Highlights are as follows:

A central Y2K project office was established in January 1997, reporting regularly to the Board. All work should be completed by mid-1999. Successful international inter-carrier tests have been carried out with Hong Kong and AT&T so far during 1999. Successful Y2K tests have been carried out with local mobile operators (Vodacom & MTN). Telkom SA has participated in local customer tests where Telkom's non-voice/data services were included in the tests. The website states "no major risks are foreseen at this stage". It adds that "Present indications are that the individual projects are all on track" Telkom is participating in the National Y2K Centre's Contingency Planning efforts. Upgrading of the international gateway and trunk exchanges has been completed.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), September 09, 1999


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