It wasn’t my first unproductive encounter with a South African government department’s website with a design ethos firmly stuck in 1999. But dealing with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) emphasized just how hard it is to access information or service from these websites. I set out to update my information as well file returns for my company on the CIPC website – a simple task you might think, but, a day and half later, I have given up in frustration, wondering once again why, despite numerous government pronouncements to the contrary, the country remains stuck in the slow lane on the digital highway.

The CIPC Maze: A Case Study in Poor Design

My journey began with what seemed like a straightforward goal. Instead, I found myself trapped in a digital maze that would make Kafka proud. The Company and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) site greeted me with a user interface seemingly teleported from the late 1990s, complete with cluttered layouts and counterintuitive navigation.

The first hurdle: CIPC has, I kid you not, two sites – cipc.co.za and bizportal.gov.za – and a user is for to toggle between the two to access information. Each of these has multiple logins and signup requirements almost every time you open a new page. Why does a single government service need multiple sites and various account types? This confusion was compounded by the bizarre "Enterprise ID" system, featuring a three-input box that seemed designed to induce errors rather than facilitate access.

As I delved deeper, the site's excessive reliance on PDFs became apparent. Simple information that could be presented as web content was buried in downloadable documents, turning information retrieval into a scavenger hunt.

Navigation proved to be another nightmare. Finding the correct section to update my company's tax status felt like solving a complex puzzle with ever-changing rules. The site's structure is so unintuitive that even basic tasks require consultation of help guides—which, unsurprisingly, are often incomplete or barely comprehensible. When your site’ user interface design is so bad that you require PDF guides and YouTube videos to explain simple things like how to identify an “enterprise id”, you know things are pretty bad.

Beyond CIPC: A Systemic Problem

While my CIPC experience stands out for its sheer frustration, it's sadly not an isolated case. Pick any government site, any site, and you’ll see what I mean. My difficult experience on this particular site highlights several endemic issues across South African government websites:

·        Outdated Technology: Many sites seem stuck in a time warp, using platforms and design principles long abandoned by the private sector.

·        Poor User Experience: Cluttered layouts, confusing navigation, and unintuitive processes are commonplace, making simple tasks unnecessarily complex.

·        Overreliance on PDFs: Critical information is often buried in downloadable documents rather than presented as easily accessible web content.

·        Inconsistent Domains: The government’s use of “.gov.za” and “.co.za” domains adds another layer of confusion and potential security concerns.

·        Lack of Mobile Optimization: In a country with high mobile internet usage, many government sites remain desktop-centric.

Given that good website design is now easy to get, and the technology to sort and access information is now standard (AI, anyone?), why is the SA government so stuck behind the 8-ball? What do those highly paid CIO’s and CTO’s do all day long?

The Real-World Impact

These issues aren't mere inconveniences; they have tangible consequences:

·        Wasted Time: Citizens and businesses lose countless hours navigating these digital labyrinths.

·        Reduced Compliance: Difficulty in accessing or understanding information can lead to unintentional non-compliance.

·        Economic Drag: Inefficient digital services slow down business processes, potentially impacting economic growth.

·        Erosion of Trust: Poor online experiences diminish faith in government services and institutions.

·        Silent Tax Burden: Just like paying for a security guard when a tax-payer funded police station is right next door, having to resort to hiring consultants to access what should be free government information or service is another onerous tax burden on the tax payers.

A Call for Digital Reform

My CIPC ordeal underscores the urgent need for a comprehensive overhaul of government digital services. We need websites that serve citizens, not frustrate them. This reform should prioritize:

·        User-Centric Design: Implement intuitive interfaces that cater to users of all technical abilities.

·        Streamlined Processes: Simplify login systems and reduce unnecessary steps in online procedures.

·        Mobile-First Approach: Ensure all sites are fully functional on mobile devices.

·        Content Accessibility: Present information clearly on web pages, reducing reliance on PDFs.

·        Consistent Standards: Implement uniform design and functionality standards across all government sites.

Conclusion

This is truly the golden age of content creation and distribution and the cost of designing and developing great user experiences have never been this inexpensive, and given the billions that the government reportedly spends on their sites, why is that not translating to simple-to-use, functional and customer-centric designs in their sites?

It's time for our government to prioritize digital transformation, creating online services that facilitate rather than hinder citizen and business interactions. Our economy, our businesses, and our citizens deserve nothing less than websites that serve their needs efficiently and effectively. The journey to update my company's tax status shouldn't feel like a Herculean task—it should be as simple as the click of a button.

And me? Oh, my company now risks a fine for late filing of financial statements, plus we may have to fork out a few thousands rands to a consultant to do it for us. And because I attempted to do what should have been a pretty straight-forward task, and ended up spending an entire frustrating day on it – there’s also the costs associated with my not being available to perform other crucial company business. And, for the record, I have been working in the information technology spaces, specifically building online global business information services since the 90’s, long before Java, JavaScript, CSS, responsive sites, mobile phones, and Google, etc. – so I’m no stranger to good UI design and information presentation.