SIU: harnessing innovative technology to combat corruption IN ASSOCIATION WITH
SIU
DIGITAL REPORT 2020
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SIU: harnessing innovative technology to combat corruption
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SPECIAL INVESTIGATING UNIT
Tumelo Zwane, Chief Information Officer at South Africa’s Special Investigating Unit (SIU), discusses the organisation’s digital transformation and maintaining cybersecurity during COVID-19
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oining the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) in 2018, Tumelo Zwane has been the Chief Information Officer for two years.
“The special investigating unit is responsible for investigating acts of corruption, ensuring that public funds are not misused and instill discipline 04
so that everyone is accountable and accounts for how they procure, tender and award contracts, to service providers,” explains Zwane. “The difference between us and other agencies within the department, we are the only ones that are responsible for recovering the funds that are misused, or misappropriated by government officials. We go as far as instituting litigations and civil proceedings via a special tribunal solely put together to deal with SIU investigations.” Late last year, Zwane began crafting a digital strategy for the SIU which looked at three pillars to optimise and stabilise its current environment by upgrading its network. “This stage of the digital strategy we have already done,” comments Zwane, “we have upgraded our network, moving to a more stable
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“ The future for SIU will be for us to harness big data, AI and robotics to help us conduct investigations quicker and better”
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— Tumelo Zwane, Chief Information Officer, Special Investigating Unit
hardware environment. We have also ensured that we’ve got the necessary tools to conduct faster and better data analytics, cybersecurity and forensic analysis operations. All these different tools will help with our investigations and improve our turnaround times. We have also been looking at how we can ensure business continuity via the right platforms and technology to allow our investigators to work from anywhere at any time - this is the first pillar.” SIU’s second digital strategy pillar looks at how both its value chain
Moment of Clarity: SIU’s Andy Mothibi over 167 Covid-19 corruption cases in Gauteng alone CLICK TO WATCH
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07 and current applications can be
investigative capabilities,” states
optimised. “We’ve been in a process
Zwane. “Unfortunately, due to the
of enhancing our current systems
impact of COVID-19, some aspects of
as well as enhancing our tools and
our three-year plan have had to have
the way we do work to ensure that
been put on hold, due to the need to
we achieve the results faster and
meet current demands and situations
quicker,” says Zwane.
within the world and the country.”
The final pillar focuses on creating
Currently within its digital strategy,
a digital business in the near future
SIU has been looking at multiple
where SIU can ensure that, wherever
technologies to continuously
possible, operations are as paperless
improve its operations.
and contactless as possible.
“As well as AI and robotics, we are
“We aim to achieve this by using
also looking at machine learning and
technology like artificial intelligence
big data to enhance our current tools.
(AI) and robotics to enhance our
During this strategy we looked at the www.si u . co. z a
without
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“ The Special Investigating Unit is responsible for investigating acts of corruption, ensuring that public funds are not misused” — Tumelo Zwane, Chief Information Officer, Special Investigating Unit likes of Microsoft BI, Ocular from
365, we are looking to host the solu-
Deloitte, as well as partnerships with
tion in a private cloud that ensures
Dell, SAS, Kaspersky and Novell,” com-
that we don’t expose that data,”
ments Zwane. She adds that SIU is
says Zwane. “We also have multiple
harnessing AI for authentication pur-
firewalls and different channels to
poses and will be looking to adopt big
pinpoint potential threats, allowing us
data and analytics capabilities in the
to mitigate the impact.”
next financial year. When it comes to security and
THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 FOR THE SIU
managing potential threats, Zwane
“COVID-19 brought in the challenges
highlights that the SIU’s cybersecurity
of people having to work from home
strategy is designed to ensure that
and ensuring that our data continues
information is stored safely and locally
to be secure,” comments Zwane.
within the country, with plans to move
Because of this, SIU has had to
into a private cloud platform instead of
equip its members with the technol-
their current cloud solution.
ogy and tools in order to conduct its
“You can imagine how critical our data is, so when it comes to Microsoft
transitional methods of face-to-face interviews online. www.si u . co. z a
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SPECIAL INVESTIGATING UNIT
“The challenges that come with
harness big data, AI and robotics to
this are that not everyone is tech-
help us conduct investigations quicker
nologically inclined. As a result, we
and better, leading to a world beyond
had to bring in an element of change
COVID-19 where corruption will be dealt
management to show that these
with quicker and more decisively due to
technologies can be an enabler to
the benefits of technology and digital
make life easier.”
transformation” says Zwane.
When it comes to the next steps for
Not only does Zwane see corruption
the industry, Zwane believes that the
being dealt with quicker and more deci-
industry will see a shift in the use of
sively, she also sees the industry further
technology and the industry’s reliance
developing preventative methods with
on working from home or offsite.
the adoption of technology to detect if
“The future for SIU will be for us to 10
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there is intention for a corrupt act.
“In the future, we will have risk
“Fortunately for us, because of the
engines robust enough that they will
powers that we were given, we get
be able to help us identify potential
cases from the president who ensures
risks for corruption and give insight to
that we are able to deal with matters
the powers that be,” she says.
decisively. From a technological point
Reflecting on the company as a
of view, the strength we have is being
whole, Zwane claims “one of our
able to leverage different technologies
strengths is the fact that we have a
that are present throughout the world
large workforce of people that have
and try and collaborate with other
extensive training in forensic investi-
agencies with a similar role.”
gations and strong insight on how to navigate a web of activities that lead into corruption. 11
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