Purpose and aim of the website
Scope of information on the website
Languages
Other website feature
Frequency of updating
Ownership of information
Document formats
Need help with problems experienced on the website?
Terms and conditions of use

Purpose and aim of the website

The purpose of the South African Services website is to provide a single source of information about services offered by the South African government. The objective is to reduce the disparity that exists between the empowered and the disempowered, the first and second economies. The website is a critical intervention aimed at ensuring that citizens will be able to interact with government.

The intended users of the website are South African citizens in all parts of the country, current or prospective South African businesses or organisations, and citizens and organisations from other countries who need services from the South African government.

A critical sector of users consists of the intermediaries, such as Multi-purpose Community Centres (MPCCs), Community Development Workers (CDWs) and the Batho Pele Gateway Call Centre, who will assist in facilitating use of the website by those unable to directly use the Internet.

Scope of information on the website

Information about government services

The website contains information on government services offered at national government level.

Services information is categorised according to three service types:

• Services for people: services for South African citizens organised according to life events
• Services for organisations: services relevant to organisations and businesses
• Services for foreign nationals: information specifically for citizens from other countries who need relevant services from the South African government.

Each of these categories is further structured in a manner that is in line with the life events sequence (typical events in a citizen’s or a business’ life). The life events are further categorised according to life stages.

Information for each service is arranged according to seven key areas, namely description, steps to follow, legal framework, service standard; cost, forms to complete, and contact details.

Related information

This section of the website, displayed in the right navigation bar, contains links to related websites for that life event.

Languages

This version of the website makes provision for eleven languages, namely English, Afrikaans, Ndebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sepedi, Sesotho, Xitsonga, Tshivenda , Siswati and Setswana.

Service information is originally written in English, whereafter it is translated into the other languages. Services information in the other languages is posted after it is translated.

Other website features

• Use the contact us page to comment or enquire about the Government Services website.

• The www.gov.za link provides access to the South African Government Online landing page, which provides access to this website (Government Services website) and the Government Information website (www.info.gov.za).

• The site map provides 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 a listing of most accessed services. These entries provide access to the top five services visited by users. The listing is adapted according to the statistics for pages visited.

• A search box is available on all pages on the website. When entering a search term, the complete website will be searched for these words. You can also perform a more advanced search by selecting the Advanced search link. This search functionality searches information on other government websites.

• Links to external websites are indicated by the wording ‘outside link – opens in new window’ which will appear in a box when your cursor is moved over the link. The website will open in a new browser window.

Frequency of updating

The website is updated on an on-going basis. Our policy is to provide information as and when it becomes available. However, the developers of the Government Services website cannot guarantee the currency of information that is published on other websites that we link to. See Terms and Conditions, par. 4.3.

Ownership of information

Government departments take ownership of their information on the website. This function was assigned to departmental contact managers, who are responsible for the information that is published on the website.

Government Communications (GCIS) is responsible for the overall management and co-ordination of the website’s content.

Document formats

The main format for information on the website is HTML. However, PDF versions of documents (e.g. Acts, forms) are provided to preserve the original layout 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 you 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 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 Netscape as your browser:

• With your mouse, shift and click (left mouse click) on the link to the document that 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?