Investigating the Misalignment in the Existing E-Legislation of South Africa

South Africa has recently enacted several e-legislation in order to address the escalating e-crime, the rise in electronic abuse and also the indifferences of the past. However, research shows that many organisations including public institutions do not understand these laws and thus, fail to comply with them. One major contributor to this are the inconsistencies found in the legislation. The National Development Plan and the Mid-term Strategic Framework recognise the complexity of laws, and thus endorse improvements in the removal of unnecessary obstacles and consistencies. Hence, the objectives of the present study are to examine the existing e-legislation in South Africa; identify areas of misalignment and investigate the factors that contribute to the misalignment. Ultimately researchers aim to develop a framework that can be used to guide the alignment e-legislation in South Africa. Extensive literature review was conducted to understand alignment of legislation. Firstly, all the e-legislation that was passed between the years 2000 and 2013 was retrieved and obtained from Sabinet database. This legislation was studied extensively and inconsistencies were identified. A conceptual framework which indicates contributing factors to misalignment and impact of misalignment to non-compliance, was developed and proposed to guide alignment of e-legislation. Based on the conceptual framework a questionnaire with open ended question was developed and tested in the Parliament of South Africa, since this institution champions the development and implementation of national laws such as the elegislation. A total number of 50 respondents participated in the survey wherein the focus groups were people who are involved in the process of making/drafting laws, specifically ICT Laws. The influence of the factors on misalignment was measured and both qualitative and quantitative analysis confirmed these influences. The study reveals that lack of good industry standards has the greatest influence to the misalignment of e-legislation in South Africa. For instance lack of benchmarking, standardised procedures contribute the most to the misalignment of e-legislation, and that misalignment results into non-compliance. Therefore, in order to address these issues, South Africa must emphasize on benchmarking with good industry standards, and this can be achieved through harmonisation of e-legislation in the region and globally. It is also a major concern that some aspects of earlier e-legislation have not been repealed. Qualitative data also raises some issues relating to lack of ICT skills by legislators, political influences, lack of public participation, etc. Capacity/skills development issues e.g. legislative drafting and ICT technical skills for legislators must be addressed. Moreover, public involvement as a constitutional mandate must be strengthened in South Africa to ensure citizens are engaged and actively participate in the law-making process.