Policy Guidelines For South African Government Websites

Policy Guidelines For South African Government Websites

Prepared by Directorate: Electronic Information Resources

October 2012

In line with the Batho Pele principles and the Constitution of the Republic, the South African government has the responsibility to make government information and services available easily, widely and equitably. The Internet continues to grow as a key way to provide access to government information and services.

Government departments and agencies realise that the Internet is one of the strategic communication tools to advance the communication objectives of government. They are increasingly using websites to communicate information about their functions, programmes, activities, services and products and to provide a platform for users to interact with them.

This is in line with the global trend by governments to implement e-government strategies, using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to give audiences over the world access to their information and services. The rapid growth in online communication by the South African government provides both opportunities and challenges to those managing the online presence of government. Government must ensure that its websites are comprehensive online depositories for government information, while also being responsive to the needs of the citizens by providing as many services as possible online.

Websites should also provide a medium for two-way interaction between government and citizens.

This document guides all national government departments to develop, manage and maintain their websites and to assist them to have websites that are standard across government. All government departments must use this document as reference when developing and maintaining their websites.

For more informations about the good practices for government websites,

download the document with the link above.

Source: http://www.gcis.gov.za/