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The African National Congress (ANC) applauds today's government landmark
launch of Sumbandila satellite. Sumbandila is the South Africa and Southern
Africa's first government-owned satellite.

Sumbandila meaning "to lead the way", will collect images for use by
government in agriculture, water management, urban planning and for other
government domains.

The government ultimate aim is the creation of a collection of satellites
for disaster management in Africa.

in its election manifesto, the ANC promised to use various measures to
accelerate service delivery, including the use of technology. Sumbandila has
a satellite's main imager, which has multispectral imaging (views light in
different spectral bands) with a ground resolution of 6.25 metres, meaning
it can identify any object that is 6.25 metres long.

The 81-kilogram satellite will orbit 500 kilometres above the Equator and
pass over South Africa four times a day.

Furthermore, the ANC supports the cooperation between the government of
South Africa and Russia on the establishment of South Africa's own space
agency.