Saya-Setona (Pty) LTD

Pilot.  In 2018 After 8 months, after 23 presentations and 7948 kms travelled (the equivalent of Pretoria to Cote d’Ivoire!) throughout South Africa sharing our idea, UNDP country offices and Moepi the CIO at Saya-Setona (Pty) LTD  have come to understand that the road to innovation is a long one, particularly during an election year. This was a year of National and Provincial elections in South Africa, which is relevant to mention because the government was to be a key partner in this initiative, but the timing proved difficult as the local government capacities were deployed to these elections.  

Sure enough, there was some waiting to be done, but eventually, the Limpopo Province proved to be a partner where the proof of concept would unfold.  As such, the project was piloted, with the support of the UNDP SA, the Local Government Association (SALGA), Office of the Premier (Limpopo) and the Centre for Public Service Innovation for an 18 months period.  The pilot was used to refine the App and demonstrate the efficacy of the solution.

The solution is now ready for further scaling to a national level (over two years) and there-after to consider regional expansion.

Moepi as the CEO and Chief innovator Let’s Talk is a mobile App and web platform created by Johannesburg based company Saya Setona. The company is a start-up and is owned by a young entrepreneur from Soweto, Moepi Setona. Moepi designed the app after undertaking research over 56 month with a rural local municipality in the Free State Province of South Africa.

As indicated above, I have a demonstrable track record in developing the App and adapting it for specific purposes across levels of government leadership.  Leveraging the broader ecosystem (local government association and national and provincial government innovation labs), the solution has the required legitimacy for scaling with over 17 years of experience in the ICT public sector business development and training public governance.

Let’s Talk digital platform is a mobile app and web platform developed in SA to assist and improve the communication and relationship between local government and its constituency i.r.o reporting service delivery challenges, vandalism & theft of public assets as well as engaging in the development and implementation of municipal by-laws and policies.

The App was designed to support civil society networks to build the capacity of interested citizens to advocate for their rights in relation to service delivery. However, given the design of the App as a vehicle for two-way communication between officials and citizens at local level (wards and municipality) it is an ideal communication platform for enabling Response initiatives and using the data-gathering abilities, also as Identification tool.

The solution primarily serves citizens, especially those who are marginalised and most vulnerable, by giving them a voice during times of crises.  It further serves officials and decision-makers but creates communication opportunities, analyses data and reports and provides geographical views.

Let’s Talk digital platform is a mobile app and web platform developed in SA to assist and improve the communication and relationship between local government and its constituency i.r.o reporting service delivery challenges, vandalism & theft of public assets as well as engaging in the development and implementation of municipal by-laws and policies.  An important part of the development of the App was that it was developed ‘at grassroots level’, based on research within marginalised communities and thus incorporated communities’ communication patterns and preferences into the design.

The solution, as indicated, is primarily a vehicle for enabling communication during response and recovery phases.  However, given the data-rich platform, it can also be used to consolidate citizen-generated data to determine hotspots and trends at local municipality and ward levels.

The solution which we will implement is the Let’s Talk App Batho Pele Project: Putting the Citizen at the Centre of Governance. The project, which uses technology to improve communication between citizen and government, and provides a platform for citizen generated data regarding service delivery issues, will be implemented in the Local Municipalities disaster management and public safety service directorate. Based on the current use case described below, the App will be used to expand the public good to when it is most needed, times of crises. The purpose of these Directions is to facilitate the availability and use of Let’s Talk App digital technology to combat the spread of COVID19 in South Africa. City of Joburg EMS is required to receive and disseminate 24hrs public information related to the national effort to combat the spread of COVID19 in all local languages. The core objective is to save lives and property once the disaster or accidents have happened. EMS has 43 dispatchers working in four hours shifts 24 hours control center. Critical components in this directorate are emergency medical services (ambulances and paramedics), firefighting and rescue programmers. Calls are categorised and dispatched to relevant department according to the priority