Address by Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri Minister of Communications to the second Information Society and Development (ISAD) Inter-Governmental Relations Forum (IGRF), Free State

Distinguished Colleagues, members of the IGRF
Invited observers

Let me start by thanking you for your personal attendance to this, our second meeting. I am aware of how busy your schedules are. I would also like to thank colleagues from our host province, the Free State. It should be noted that the First Deputy Chairperson, Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, intended to be here. She however sent her apologies due to issues she needs to attend to relating the public service strike. She did however indicate that she would send a representative. I also wish to inform members that as agreed at the last meeting the Second Chairperson, Deputy Minister Padayachie and I started with the visits to the provincial Cabinets.

I had good meetings in the Western Cape and here in the Free State. The Deputy Minister made presentations to Gauteng and the Eastern Cape. In the Programme of Action that was presented to the Forum at its inaugural meeting, we talked about several items. This year started on a high note for the development of the Information Society in our country and continent. The Cabinet made a number of major and historic decisions that are bound to put our country on a new trajectory.

The Cabinet approved as the country's vision "the establishment of South Africa as an advanced information society in which information and Information and Communication Technology tools are key drivers of economic and societal development."

The Information Society and Development (ISAD) Plan that was presented to and approved by this Forum in our inaugural meeting was adopted by the Cabinet as the Framework for building the Information Society in South Africa. The Cabinet also approved the establishment of the Ministerial ISAD Committee and its corresponding Forum of South African Directors-General (FOSAD) ISAD Cluster. The ISAD IGRF and the Ministerial ISAD Committee were approved as the national Institutional Mechanisms for building an inclusive Information Society in South Africa.

My Director-General has already convened the meeting of core departments that will develop the Plan of Action for the ISAD cluster. The essence of that plan will be presented to this meeting for consultations. The FOSAD ISAD cluster will be meeting in this month to discuss the draft Programme of Action (POA) for submission to the Ministerial ISAD Committee for consideration before the July Lekgotla.

The items in the POA that are most relevant to provincial and local spheres of government such as education and health will benefit greatly from the input of the Forum. Some of these may be implemented in this year but others would be developed further for consideration into the next Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period. A presentation on some of the items in the POA that will be discussed in the FOSAD ISAD Cluster will be presented in this meeting to facilitate discussion.

In the last meeting we also referred briefly to the migration of our broadcasting services from analogue to digital. The Cabinet also took some decisions on this important matter. It approved four issues:

That the switch on of the digital signal and switch off of the analogue one be on the 1st of November of 2008 and 2011 respectively. This will provide for three years in which both signals will be switched on, what is called "dual illumination." The implications for this must be carefully planned for and communicated to our people.

The Cabinet also approved that sufficient frequency spectrum be retained to provide new broadcasting channels. Today the world television services are relayed on an analogue platform. Due to technological advancement, this is set to change. Analogue signals, which use up a lot of frequency spectrum, will now be replaced by digital ones. This will free up enough frequency spectrum to provide for new television (TV) channels that could be used for specialised e.g. education, health, youth etc. Given the vast variety of types of local content such as music, film, news etc there are a lot of job opportunities that present themselves. We will need to look at what projects are possible and where these could be.

In its declaration, the World Summit on the Information Society identified the development, preservation, promotion of indigenous knowledge as crucial for the development of an Information Society that is truly inclusive. We have proposed to give some time for discussion of this matter given its impact on our priority of building national identity and social cohesion.

As members of the Forum would know, South Africa and Australia are the two countries left in the bid to host the giant telescope called the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). This important scientific project requires not only a lot of frequency spectrum but also a big "quiet zone" area to eliminate interference. This is why, like other similar projects such as the South African Large Telescope (SALT), it would be located in the Northern Cape. The Cabinet approved that the Minister of Science and Technology and I should discuss the impact of the migration on the SKA. This matter is important because providing for a "quiet zone" from an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) perspective means that there can be no television, radio or telephone services in the areas around the SKA. It will therefore need a lot of discussion on our part. A ful cost implementation plan should be developed and presented to the Cabinet.

I propose that in our future meetings we spend some time on the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. One the other hand, every stadium will have a media centre which will be well equipped with modern technologies and is likely to be used to full capacity again after the World Cup. There are a lot of opportunities to develop legacy projects and programmes around this. Information Communication Technologies can enable us to build a lasting legacy related to 2010 even in areas that are not hosting the event such as the Northern Cape.

The shortage of ICT skills in our economy is another topic that I propose to the Forum for future consideration. We are looking at a number of possible interventions, including the establishment of an e-skills council.

In conclusion, I am happy to announce that our country joined seven other African countries when the President launched our New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) e-schools demo project at Maripe Senior Secondary School in Mpumalanga last month. This initiative is not just about putting ICTs in schools. It is about building our future generation of leaders of our continent with principles that affirm our resoluteness at being equals in this world. In addition to the launch school I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate the following schools, Lomahasha (Mpumalanga), Hendrick Makapan (North West), Isiphosethu (KwaZulu-Natal), Thozamisa (Eastern Cape), Ipetleng Petrusburg (Free State) secondary schools that are part of this historic initiative.

I thank you

Issued by: Department of Communications
11 May 2007