The South Africa Government website is maintained by the Department of Communications (DoC).
Purpose of the website
Scope of information on the website
Other website features
Frequency of updating
Help for accessing information on the website
Need help with problems experienced on the website?
Terms and conditions of use
Purpose of the website
The purpose of the South Africa Government website is to be the official entry point to South African government and related information.
To fulfil this purpose, the objectives of the website are to:
- provide access to online government information
- provide information about government and its activities
- provide information about services offered by government
- provide different ways/avenues to find online government information
- provide access to non-government websites with information relevant to government's priorities
- contribute to participative governance.
The main target audience of the website is:
- the broad public
- intermediaries - government officials and other - for providing information to the broader public
- the media
- national, provincial and local government officials
- private-sector organisations and business
- the international community.
Scope of information on the website
The website covers the following content:
- Information on government structures and functions, such as the national legislature, executive authority, justice system, traditional leadership, provincial government, local government, public administration, security services and finance, is available at About government.
- Access to national, provincial and local government websites and the websites of other government bodies and institutions are provided in the Links section of the website as well as throughout the website.
- Information on key issues in government, including government's priorities.
- Opinion pieces by government leaders on relevant topics.
- Government contact information. The site provides access to the contact information for Parliament, The Presidency, Ministries, national government departments, provincial governments, municipalities, government bodies and institutions, government information officers, foreign representatives in South Africa and representatives of South Africa abroad.
- Profiles of government leaders.
- Vacancies in national government departments can be accessed at About government.
- Information about the country and its people, e.g. a country profile, demographic information, information on the history of the country, information on various topical issues, e.g. health, education, housing, arts and culture and more can be found at About SA.
- Information on South Africa's National Symbols, National Orders and public holidays.
- Speeches and media statements of the President and Deputy President, Cabinet members, Deputy Ministers, members of executive councils, premiers and directors-general delivered since 1994 are available on the Newsroom page.
- Events organised by government.
- Government documents. This section includes documents and publications such as the Constitution, Acts, Bills, Regulations, Notices, policy documents, reports, the Government Tender Bulletin, annual reports, etc. Access is also provided to documents that are available on provincial government websites.
- Documents open for public comment are also published on the website.
Note: Complete Government Gazettes are not available on this website.
- Information on government services provided by national government departments and some government bodies. Information is categorised according to three audiences:
- Services for residents: services for South African citizens and other residents
- Services for organisations: services relevant to organisations and businesses in South Africa
- Services for foreign nationals: information for citizens from other countries who need services from the South African government.
The information in each of these categories is structured according to topics.
Links to related websites and services are displayed in the right navigation bar of pages with information on services.
Languages
Information on services is published in the eleven official languages of South Africa, namely English, Afrikaans, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sesotho sa Leboa, Sesotho, Xitsonga, Tshivenda , siSwati and Setswana.
Information is originally written in English and then posted on the website. Information in the other languages is posted after it is translated.
Where information about a service is available on the website of the service delivery department, that information is only available in English.
Selected information in other areas of the website are also available in all official languages, e.g. Cabinet statements and the State of the Nation Address.
Other website features
- Subscribe to mailing lists. Some government departments' websites offer subscription services, which enable you to request specific information to be e-mailed to you on a regular basis. This page lists the services that are available on national government departments' websites.
- Frequently asked questions (FAQs) contains questions and answers that are frequently requested by users of the website. FAQs on information as well as on website issues are provided.
Frequency of updating
The website is updated on a daily basis. Our policy is to provide information as and when it becomes available. However, the developers of the Government website cannot guarantee the currency of information that is published on other websites that we link to. See Terms of Conditions, par 4.3.
Help for accessing information on this website
Additional functionality
To enhance access to the website, it provides the functionality to access information in different ways, including:
- A search link is available on all pages on the website. Tips to use both the simple and advanced search functionalities are available. This search functionality only searches information that is available on this website. It is not possible to search on other government websites from this website.
- Site map. The purpose of the site map is to provide a visual representation of the website structure. It is presented hierarchically, breaking down the site's information into increasingly specific subject areas. It therefore enables you to orientate yourself regarding the website's content structure.
- The home page provides 'quick links' to information available on deeper levels of the website. The selection of these links is based on the frequent need thereof by users.
Recommended browsers and screen resolution
Recommended browsers for viewing the site are Internet Explorer 7.0, Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or later browser versions. The contact directory and profile database is optimised for Internet Explorer only.
The website will resize according to your screen resolution settings. It is also optimised for tablets and smartphones.
Document formats
The main format for information on this website is HTML. However, PDF versions of documents (e.g. Acts, Bills, tender bulletins, etc.) are provided to preserve the original layout thereof and/or to assist users in the downloading thereof.
To open PDF documents, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader 4 or higher installed on your computer. It will open documents directly in your browser.
Sometimes it takes long to open PDF documents. In this case, we recommend that you download it to your computer and open it from there.
Tips to download documents to your computer
When using Internet Explorer as your browser:
- With your mouse, right click on the link to the document you want to download.
- In the drop-down menu, choose 'Save Target as'.
- In the 'Save As' window choose the location on your hard drive where you want to save the document and click on the 'Save' button. The file will be downloaded to the location you have specified.
- Open your Acrobat Reader application and open the documents that you have downloaded.
When using Mozilla Firefox as your browser:
- With your mouse, shift and click (left mouse click) on the link to the document you want to save.
- In the 'Save As' window choose the location on your hard drive where you want to save the document and click on the 'Save' button. The file will be downloaded to the location you have specified.
- Open your Acrobat Reader application and open the documents that you have downloaded.
Need help with problems experienced on the website?
Please contact us (electronic@DoC.gov.za) if you encounter problems with the website.
