Date: 27/11/2002
Source: Ministry of Communications
Title: Matsepe-Casaburri: Launch of Agency for Career Opportunities & Targeted Development Initiative
SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, DR IVY MATSEPE-CASABURRI, AT THE JOINT LAUNCH OF THE AGENCY FOR CAREER OPPORTUNITIES (ACO) AND TARGETED DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE (TDI) ON GIVING MEANING TO THE INTENTIONS OF THE SECTORAL JOB SUMMIT, Pretoria Country Club, 27 November 2002
At the ICT Sector Summit held in June this year and after a long drawn post-summit deliberations on the agreements reached, all stakeholders committed themselves to a post-summit process to meet, among other aims, implementation of the RDP goals among which include: sustainable job creation, restructuring; developing human resources and democratising the economy.
This happened in the context of the fact that worldwide, consumers and business alike have generally greeted the liberalisation of the market with great enthusiasm, eagerly anticipating greater choice, lower pricing and better services that competition is believed to bring about.
In our own country, government embarked on managed liberalisation of the communications sector through introducing competition intended to increase foreign direct investment, rollout of infrastructure to under-serviced areas to bridge the digital divide and promote technological innovation and efficiency.
Yet at the same time, both globally and locally, there are those that associate these processes with job losses. This association stems from the tendency of the incumbents, threatened with losses in market share from slimmer, nimbler new comers, to hone their headcounts and improve their efficiency. It is true that, throughout the world the advent of direct competition has affected the size and skills requirements of incumbent operators.
However, those who focus narrowly and exclusively on the potential for job losses on the part of the incumbent operators, may be missing the bigger picture. Liberalisation, particularly along the lines South Africa has chosen, also has enormous job generation potential.
Facilities-based competition, the model South Africa is following at this point in the evolution of the communications landscape, is based on the premise that new players will invest in infrastructure. Such investments are critical to the long-term growth of the economy, and to government's commitment to bring South Africans into the economic mainstream. Furthermore, such investments do not require financial capital only, but human and intellectual capital as well - skills in every aspect of network rollout and maintenance.
South Africa is fortunate to have abundance of such skills. Over the past five to seven years, no fewer than four network operators - one fixed and three cellular - have built networks that compare with the finest in the world. Now, with several players poised to enter the communications market, those can be put to excellent use. We envisage that the introduction of the SNO and the under-serviced area licences will create direct and indirect employment opportunities.
The SNO will need skilled people. So will the recipients of the under-serviced area licences that are to be granted sometimes next year, with the aim of bridging the divide that still prevails in the rural parts of our country. Down the line, further licences are in the pipeline, which will in turn further fuel the need for technologically skilled people.
Our overall principle is to bring together in close interaction, the building of adequate ICT infrastructure, the production of human resources and the development of applications tailored to meet the needs of our economy and society under the current South African conditions. Given the cross cutting nature of ICTs, the growth of the sector will have a positive impact on other sectors of the economy such as tourism, transport, agriculture, etc.
In particular we commend the ICT sector stakeholders for rising to the challenges we face by committing themselves to an effective and efficient ICT sector, which includes SMMEs and co-operatives. This of course can mean more and not less jobs.
The launch of the Agency for Career Opportunities therefore comes at a very opportune time. I have been made to understand that while this is an initiative of Telkom, at the ultimate end, it will benefit the sector as a whole and indeed we are grateful to Telkom for having seen a need to make such as remarkable contribution.
It is to Telkom's credit that the company has seen the bigger picture and is taking the initiative to harness the considerable job generation potential of the communications sector through the Agency for Career Opportunities, which is being launched today. It is my understanding that Telkom's intention is to use this Agency to avoid job losses to an extent it is possible and to explore every possible career avenue in communications, not just in the company and the Telkom group, but in the sector as a whole.
The proactive identification of future job changes and reskilling of people to improve their marketability in the new growth areas as well as the targeting of specific groups to ensure equitable skills development for the sector are indeed in line with the goals of the Department of Communications, the Department of Education and the Department of Labour in particular.
We hope organised labour, and other disadvantaged sectors of our society will play an important role in mobilising their members to participate in this exercise to enhance their skills.
As government, we will continue to support this kind of initiatives and will encourage other players to emulate Telkom's contribution to sustainable job creation because job creation is an important part of our mandate. But it is also a responsibility of every player in the sector - not just those in which government is a shareholder - to show that ICTs can indeed become the real drivers of economic growth and social development.
May this initiative inspire others to find other creative ventures that would allow for synergy among the projects that would have great potential impact across sectors and in the advancement of all our people especially the poor majority?
Thank you
Issued by Ministry of Communications
27 November 2002
Source: Ministry of Communications
Title: Matsepe-Casaburri: Launch of Agency for Career Opportunities & Targeted Development Initiative
SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, DR IVY MATSEPE-CASABURRI, AT THE JOINT LAUNCH OF THE AGENCY FOR CAREER OPPORTUNITIES (ACO) AND TARGETED DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE (TDI) ON GIVING MEANING TO THE INTENTIONS OF THE SECTORAL JOB SUMMIT, Pretoria Country Club, 27 November 2002
At the ICT Sector Summit held in June this year and after a long drawn post-summit deliberations on the agreements reached, all stakeholders committed themselves to a post-summit process to meet, among other aims, implementation of the RDP goals among which include: sustainable job creation, restructuring; developing human resources and democratising the economy.
This happened in the context of the fact that worldwide, consumers and business alike have generally greeted the liberalisation of the market with great enthusiasm, eagerly anticipating greater choice, lower pricing and better services that competition is believed to bring about.
In our own country, government embarked on managed liberalisation of the communications sector through introducing competition intended to increase foreign direct investment, rollout of infrastructure to under-serviced areas to bridge the digital divide and promote technological innovation and efficiency.
Yet at the same time, both globally and locally, there are those that associate these processes with job losses. This association stems from the tendency of the incumbents, threatened with losses in market share from slimmer, nimbler new comers, to hone their headcounts and improve their efficiency. It is true that, throughout the world the advent of direct competition has affected the size and skills requirements of incumbent operators.
However, those who focus narrowly and exclusively on the potential for job losses on the part of the incumbent operators, may be missing the bigger picture. Liberalisation, particularly along the lines South Africa has chosen, also has enormous job generation potential.
Facilities-based competition, the model South Africa is following at this point in the evolution of the communications landscape, is based on the premise that new players will invest in infrastructure. Such investments are critical to the long-term growth of the economy, and to government's commitment to bring South Africans into the economic mainstream. Furthermore, such investments do not require financial capital only, but human and intellectual capital as well - skills in every aspect of network rollout and maintenance.
South Africa is fortunate to have abundance of such skills. Over the past five to seven years, no fewer than four network operators - one fixed and three cellular - have built networks that compare with the finest in the world. Now, with several players poised to enter the communications market, those can be put to excellent use. We envisage that the introduction of the SNO and the under-serviced area licences will create direct and indirect employment opportunities.
The SNO will need skilled people. So will the recipients of the under-serviced area licences that are to be granted sometimes next year, with the aim of bridging the divide that still prevails in the rural parts of our country. Down the line, further licences are in the pipeline, which will in turn further fuel the need for technologically skilled people.
Our overall principle is to bring together in close interaction, the building of adequate ICT infrastructure, the production of human resources and the development of applications tailored to meet the needs of our economy and society under the current South African conditions. Given the cross cutting nature of ICTs, the growth of the sector will have a positive impact on other sectors of the economy such as tourism, transport, agriculture, etc.
In particular we commend the ICT sector stakeholders for rising to the challenges we face by committing themselves to an effective and efficient ICT sector, which includes SMMEs and co-operatives. This of course can mean more and not less jobs.
The launch of the Agency for Career Opportunities therefore comes at a very opportune time. I have been made to understand that while this is an initiative of Telkom, at the ultimate end, it will benefit the sector as a whole and indeed we are grateful to Telkom for having seen a need to make such as remarkable contribution.
It is to Telkom's credit that the company has seen the bigger picture and is taking the initiative to harness the considerable job generation potential of the communications sector through the Agency for Career Opportunities, which is being launched today. It is my understanding that Telkom's intention is to use this Agency to avoid job losses to an extent it is possible and to explore every possible career avenue in communications, not just in the company and the Telkom group, but in the sector as a whole.
The proactive identification of future job changes and reskilling of people to improve their marketability in the new growth areas as well as the targeting of specific groups to ensure equitable skills development for the sector are indeed in line with the goals of the Department of Communications, the Department of Education and the Department of Labour in particular.
We hope organised labour, and other disadvantaged sectors of our society will play an important role in mobilising their members to participate in this exercise to enhance their skills.
As government, we will continue to support this kind of initiatives and will encourage other players to emulate Telkom's contribution to sustainable job creation because job creation is an important part of our mandate. But it is also a responsibility of every player in the sector - not just those in which government is a shareholder - to show that ICTs can indeed become the real drivers of economic growth and social development.
May this initiative inspire others to find other creative ventures that would allow for synergy among the projects that would have great potential impact across sectors and in the advancement of all our people especially the poor majority?
Thank you
Issued by Ministry of Communications
27 November 2002
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