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Date : 15/03/2004
Source: Department of Communications
Title: I Matsepe-Casaburri: Launch of MTN multimedia school centre at Inanda


SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, DR IVY MATSEPE-CASABURRI, AT INANDA COMPREHENSIVE HIGH SCHOOL, 15 MARCH 2004

The Programme Director
The Principal of Inanda Comprehensive High School
The SGB Members present
Acting Director-General
MTN Executive - Dr Yvonne Muthien
Political Leaders
Councillors
Dignitaries present
Distinguished guests
Parents, Partners
Educators, Learners
Ladies and Gentlemen

Today we witness another development signifying a progressive step in our quest for building a better life for all South Africans. As we build a people's contract for a better life we would like to take this opportunity to bow our heads in honour of our fallen freedom fighter, Comrade Dullah Omar, Minister of Transport, who was laid to rest on Saturday, 13 March 2004.

This is a great loss to our country and all peace loving people of the world especially on the eve of our national elections. Leaders of our movement have paid glowing tributes to this great son of Africa and we hope that many more of our people will pay their last respects in large numbers by attending memorial services to be held in various parts of the country. We join millions of other South Africans and say "Farewell Comrade Dullah Omar".

The launch of this project should not be seen as an isolated event totally divorced from the broader national agenda of transforming our society into a fully-fledged non-racial and caring society. It was ten years ago when our country experienced freedom for all, for the first time after over three centuries of white rule. It is this long and protracted struggle that produced heroes and heroines such as Shaka, Mafukuzela Dube, Gandhi, Sekhukhune, Hintsa, Moshoeshoe, Luthuli and Dorothy Nyembe to mention but a few.

The victorious democratic elections of 1994 opened real opportunities for our country to be reconstructed along universally accepted principles of freedom, equality and justice. However, this was not to be an easy task as the legacy of apartheid was synonymous with poverty, illiteracy, homelessness, underdevelopment and disease for majority of Blacks.

Right from the beginning, the African National Congress-led government developed policies and programmes informed by the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to eliminate this state of social inequality inherited from apartheid. After ten years we have made major progress in addressing these social ills of the past. Today millions of our people, who never dreamt of a better life before democracy, have houses, access to potable water, access to electricity, access to conveniences of information and communication technologies (ICTs) amongst others. As the apartheid economic mess is being cleansed through our progressive economic policies, the more we advance towards meeting basic needs of all our people.

We are still grappling with shortage of skills and unemployment among the historically disadvantaged communities. In today's world where economies are driven by ICTs it is imperative to prioritise attainment of qualifications in mathematics and science.

It was in line with this that as early as 1997 that (through the Department of Communications), government established the Institute for Satellite and Software Applications (ISSA) targeting the training of mainly women from the historically disadvantaged rural backgrounds. ISSA's contribution towards human resources development complements other similar initiatives by other public and private institutions. Since the first intake of students in 1998, ISSA has already produced graduates at Master's level in areas such as Software Engineering and Satellite Engineering

Not only have established ISSA, but we are also collaborating with Wits University, UNISA, Stellenbosch University and other foreign university to bridge the digital and knowledge divide in the ICTs environment. Added to this we introduced a national programme of distance learning through the Internet to historically disadvantaged institutions.

Training of our people in the use of ICTs and the rollout of the required infrastructure is a major challenge which government alone cannot accomplish, hence the need for the intervention of civil society and private sector.

When President Mbeki called for us to bridge the digital divide in his February 2001 State of the Nation Address, MTN took the challenge and established the MTN Schools Connectivity Programme which was launched by former President Nelson Mandela the following year.

Through this multi-million rand programme, the company has shown its commitment to bridging the knowledge and knowledge divide by providing rural schools with computers and access to internet, creating multimedia centres for purposes of learning and access to information and promoting the use of ICTs to improve the teaching of mathematics and science. With 63 schools in six provinces already having been connected from the company's target of 90 schools by 2005, this is indeed a commendable achievement.

This partnership between government and the private sector bears testimony to our capabilities as a united people to bring about better conditions of our people's lives. This is democracy at work as has to be deepened through emulation by other companies, which have not as yet done something towards the upliftment of underdeveloped communities.

As we launch this tenth multimedia centre in KwaZulu-Natal at Inanda Comprehensive High School, we should also take this as a moment of celebration of Ten Years of Democracy, for ten years ago where there was despair today there is hope and progress. As part of celebrations we should jealously guard these facilities against those who are against progress and find joy and fulfilment by stealing or vandalising communities' property. They should not be allowed to succeed and it is dependent upon each one of us to ensure that they fail.

As we prepare to enter the Second Decade of Democracy, we should look back where we were ten years ago and look at the achievements we have made and together resolve to consolidate the gains made thus far. There is no better way of consolidating our gains than building a stronger democratic order with a vibrant economy.

This can only be achieved when our freedom is not taken for granted as if it fell like manna from heaven, hence the need for all of us to turn in large numbers on the day of elections to give an overwhelming mandate to the new government to take our democratic gains to greater heights.

Let us make, Dullah Omar's elections, as President Mbeki declared them, a resounding success.

Thank you

Issued by Department of Communication
15 March 2004

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