Issued by: GCIS
Pretoria Aug. 31 (NYDSC) -- Year 2000 contingency planning throughout South Africa's six key infrastructure sectors and 18 government organisations is on track for completion by September 30, the deadline for contingency planning for the year 2000 computer problem, also known as Y2K for short.
"We are confident the contingency plans will be operable before, during, and after the rollover, said Veli Mahlangu, Y2K Centre project leader for risk analysis and contingency planning. "These plans are comprehensive and South Africa should handle Y2K without major hassle."
Launched in February 1999, South Africa's Y2K contingency planning covers preparations for possible Y2K induced failures in mainly mission-critical systems -those that are necessary for an organisation or company to operate.
"These plans are to ensure that critical services are delivered and maintained" (during and after the rollover), said Peter Brookes, a risk analysis consultant for the Y2K centre.
The six sectors are electricity, water, transportation, telecommunications, health, and emergency services. The 18 key government offices cover the departments of finance, justice, health, transport, minerals and energy, water and forestry, communications, public works, agriculture, South African Revenue Services, foreign affairs, home affairs, environment, welfare, constitutional development, state expenditure, public service, National Intelligence Agency, and State Information Technology Agency.
At national government level, most departments had finished rectifying systems and were now revising contingency plans. A key focus would be monitoring corrective and contingency projects and interfaces within national departments, as well as informing the public about their progress.
Across the six sectors, all key players have completed contingency plans both at operational and national levels. The following picture emerges from the six key sectors:
Brookes said such plans would give companies scope for planning. He further said that by publicising the national plan for Y2K contingency planning, companies would have a clearer picture of how to draft their own Y2K contingency plans.
"Better to have some information than have nothing at all, " said Brookes, who added that beginning October, the Y2K risk analysis team will broaden its scope to cover the Southern Africa Development Community.
Established by cabinet in March 1998, the National Year 2000 Decision Support Centre is South Africa's national agency mainly responsible for monitoring and reporting to cabinet the country's progress on readiness for Y2K, and promoting awareness of the issue to the general public.
Briefly defined, the year 2000 problem is caused by the representation of the four-digit year (e.g. 1976) as a two-digit year (76). The two-digit system works fine until a change to year 2000 occurs. Then, computers or other electronic devices that use the two-digit approach could misinterpret the digits "00" to mean the year is 1900 rather than 2000. Consequently, some systems could fail to function properly, or at all, after December 31 1999, or even sooner, if they reference dates in year 2000 before it arrives.
Feriel Bowers
Communications Executive
National Year 2000 Decision Support Centre
Telephone: 012-427-8232
Facsimile: 012-427-8274
Email: communications@y2k.org.za
31 August 1999