Date: 07/04/2004
Source: Department of Communications
Title: I Matsepe-Casaburri: Opening of NEPAD E-Africa Commission offices
ADDRESS BY DR IVY MATSEPE-CASABURRI, MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, ON THE OCCASION OF THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE NEPAD e-AFRICA COMMISSION OFFICES, CSIR, Pretoria, 7 April 2004
Your Excellency, Ambassador Samba Buri Mboup of Senegal
Your Excellencies Ambassadors and High Commissioners
Executive Deputy Chairperson of the e-Africa Commission, Dr Henry Chasia
President of the CSIR, Dr Sibusiso Sibisi
CEOs and representatives of companies in the ICT sector
Leaders and representatives of civil society
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Today we meet to invoke the spirits of our Ancestors.
We do this in an era when a new society, based on the development and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is being born. This new Society is referred to as the Information Society or Knowledge Society.
The main purpose of our coming together today is to celebrate. We need to celebrate because we will be officially opening the offices of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission. We celebrate this achievement because it marks an important landmark in our efforts to bridge the digital divide in Africa and to put in motion the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) in the ICT sector.
Because we open these offices in the era on the Information Society, some may have preferred that we use ICTs to remotely open these offices. As you would know, however, these technologies do not yet lend themselves well to performing this noble and deeply intense ceremony, at least not in an African way.
We therefore are grateful for the personal attendance of each and every one of you to join us in celebration.
As we gather to celebrate one of the landmarks of our common efforts to use ICTs for a better life for all our people, and to invoke our ancestors to bless these efforts, we will also remember a not so joyful event that saw a million of our fellow Africans loose their lives in Rwanda exactly ten years ago today. As we recall this sad event, we are comforted by the hope we derive from the progress that is being made by the people of Rwanda to reconcile and build a better and common future for their children and our continent.
We indicated that we are meeting today to celebrate a small but significant milestone in our collective continental effort to bridge the digital divide in Africa and build an inclusive Information Society. We all seem to agree that this Information Society that we seek to build should be development oriented. Our development challenge is to use ICTs to assist Africa in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The potential role of ICTs in advancing these and other development goals of our countries and continent has been recognised at the highest level. This fact was re-iterated at the recently concluded first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva. There is no doubt that ICTs can be very effective tools. The question is, tools for what?
As we recall our collective history of Rwanda ten years ago, it would be remiss of us not to remind ourselves of the role that ICTs in the form of radio broadcasts played in mobilizing people to engage in barbaric actions in that massacre. Not so long ago, in Afghanistan and in Iraq the more modern form of these technologies were also used, not for development or the improvement of peoples lives but for the destruction of lives and property. So it is incumbent upon us that today, as we call on our ancestors to bless our humble achievements and assist us to reach even greater heights we also commit to using these tools to build better lives for our people.
The offices that we officially open today with my colleague HE Ambassador Mpoup of Senegal, represent the product of many years of work by the African Ministers responsible for Communications.
In February 1998 African Ministers responsible for Communications met in Cape Town to prepare for the ITU Africa TELECOM 98, which was due to take place that year in May. In that meeting the Ministers discussed the need to accelerate the development of the ICT sector in Africa. Central to that discussion was the need to revamp the OAU specialised agency for telecommunications, which was then the Pan-African Telecommunications Union (PATU).
By the time the Ministers met in May of that year a new strategic direction for PATU was agreed upon. This Strategy called 'the African Connection was later adopted as the Strategic Plan of PATU at its Lusaka Conference of Plenipotentiaries in August of that year.
The Lusaka Conference, full of vigor and enthusiasm, and informed by many previous programmes by African Ministers to improve telecommunications on the continent such as the Lagos Action Plan adopted two historic resolutions:
a) to adopt a clear Strategic Plan which included the re-structuring of PATU within a year, and,
b) to establish the Ministerial Oversight Committee (MOC) which was tasked with overseeing the implementation of the Strategic Plan.
The establishment of the MOC broke with a long-standing tradition according to which Ministers only met once in four years at the Plenipotentiary Conferences to seriously address issues in the ICT sector.
Through the MOC, which I had the privilege to Chair, Ministers responsible for Communications were much more engaged in the developments related to the ICT sector both on the continent and globally. Through the MOC it was then possible to have some contribution to the G8 Digital opportunities Task Force or DOT Force, the UN ICT Task Force and to the discussions on the continent such as NEPAD. In order to assist me in this task I established an African ICT Advisory Group, which was made up of experts from six African countries.
I use today's opportunity to recall the many meetings that we held as Ministers of Communications to address our continent's challenges. I recall our meeting during ITU Africa TELECOM 2001 in Midrand. At that meeting we discussed the e-Africa Commission extensively, its structure, reporting etc. Today, following its adoption by the Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee we are proud to have been its mid-wives.
Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
When for the first time in its history South Africa joined the international community of nations as a free and democratic country in 1994, we committed ourselves to doing all in our power to contribute to the global efforts aimed at building a better world. As a people that received unprecedented support from the global community in our struggle against apartheid, we could not do otherwise.
These premises that we offer to host the offices of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission represent our humble contribution as a country, to the work of NEPAD and to the efforts that were begun by all the colleagues on the continent that came before us.
We have no doubt that NEPAD will indeed bring a better life for our people, because it is our own home-grown, ambitious but realisable programme of the African Union. A New Union to meet the new challenges that we all face. We also are equally convinced that unless ICTs are accepted and used as an essential tool for implementing our vision and objectives we will not fully achieve what is possible.
This contribution of our country to NEPAD is but one element of a huge responsibility that we have to contributing to the success of this programme.
I have taken time to duly recognise the Ministers and through them our officials who make our work in this area possible. At this point I wish to recognise the role that the private sector, parastatal institutions and civil society have in this common journey. As our President often tells us, his Ministers " your daily work is and must be about NEPAD ". In the same spirit I would like to say that every South African company and structure has and must contribute to NEPAD as part of its usual activities. The contribution we are referring to is also but not only financial. NEPAD requires us to develop solutions to meet our challenges. We can say with some sense of achievement that no longer do we respond to solutions that are developed by others for us without us. Also gone are the days when, because of need, responded to technology-driven solutions. We invite all of you to partner with us and not solve problems for us. This therefore requires us to build a mutually beneficial and lasting partnership.
I take this opportunity to thank all of you who have on several occasions and at very short notice responded to our calls for support. Now we do not call for your support. We call for your partnership.
I note and wish to publicly acknowledge the companies, both South African and foreign, that have heeded the call for partnership and accepted to be Foundation Partners of the Information Society Partnership for Africa's Development (ISPAD). This is the partnership forum of the Commission whose collective contribution to the NEPAD ICT programme will be valued.
How wonderful it would have been had we been able to be joined by Minister John Nassasira of Uganda at this event. His guidance to me and fellow colleagues has been much appreciated. Minister Tomaz Salomao of Mozambique, who currently serves as our chairperson by virtue of Mozambique's position in that regard has been instrumental in many of our efforts including the first meting of African Ministers responsible for communications hosted under the auspices of the African Union. Finally but not least, Minister Diop of Senegal participated in many of our initial MOC discussions. The role of Senegal in co-ordinating ICTs in NEPAD rests on his shoulders. His leadership during the WSIS in December last year ensured that Africa's voice was not only loud and clear but it was also heard.
We bow our heads in memory of a fine son of South Africa, the late Sello Matsabu, who played an important role in building the necessary environment that allowed the CSIR to be host to this important NEPAD Task Team.
Your Excellencies, Distinguished guests, today, ten years into our democracy, we wish to re-iterate what we stated in 1994 when we joined the international community of nations as a free and dignified people. We will play our part in building a better world.
When they hear of our ambitious plan, the e-schools initiative, many politely, and sometimes not so politely tell us that this is not possible. Well, maybe not, but we can only know for sure if we try. And so empowered by NEPAD we will try.
In ending let be borrow from the words of President Mbeki when he concluded his historic "I am an African" when in his capacity as Deputy President, spoke on behalf of the ANC, on the occasion of the adoption by the Constitutional Assembly of "The Republic of South Africa Constitution Bill 1996" on the 8th of May 1996.
He said "The dismal shame of poverty, suffering and human degradation of my continent is a blight that we share.
The blight on our happiness that derives from this and from our drift to the periphery of the ordering of human affairs leaves us in a persistent shadow of despair.
This is a savage road to which nobody should be condemned.
This thing that we have done today, in this small corner of a great continent that has contributed so decisively to the evolution of humanity says that Africa reaffirms that she is continuing her rise from the ashes. Whatever the setbacks of the moment, nothing can stop us now!
Whatever the difficulties, Africa shall be at peace!
However improbable it may sound to the sceptics, Africa will prosper! Whoever we may be, whatever our immediate interest, however much we carry baggage from our past, however much we have been caught by the fashion of cynicism and loss of faith in the capacity of the people, let us err today and say - nothing can stop us now!"
As we invoke our ancestors to bless the work we have come to undertake let us do so with the conviction from the knowledge that "NOTHING CAN STOP US NOW".
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Communications
7 April 2004
Source: Department of Communications
Title: I Matsepe-Casaburri: Opening of NEPAD E-Africa Commission offices
ADDRESS BY DR IVY MATSEPE-CASABURRI, MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, ON THE OCCASION OF THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE NEPAD e-AFRICA COMMISSION OFFICES, CSIR, Pretoria, 7 April 2004
Your Excellency, Ambassador Samba Buri Mboup of Senegal
Your Excellencies Ambassadors and High Commissioners
Executive Deputy Chairperson of the e-Africa Commission, Dr Henry Chasia
President of the CSIR, Dr Sibusiso Sibisi
CEOs and representatives of companies in the ICT sector
Leaders and representatives of civil society
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Today we meet to invoke the spirits of our Ancestors.
We do this in an era when a new society, based on the development and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is being born. This new Society is referred to as the Information Society or Knowledge Society.
The main purpose of our coming together today is to celebrate. We need to celebrate because we will be officially opening the offices of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission. We celebrate this achievement because it marks an important landmark in our efforts to bridge the digital divide in Africa and to put in motion the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) in the ICT sector.
Because we open these offices in the era on the Information Society, some may have preferred that we use ICTs to remotely open these offices. As you would know, however, these technologies do not yet lend themselves well to performing this noble and deeply intense ceremony, at least not in an African way.
We therefore are grateful for the personal attendance of each and every one of you to join us in celebration.
As we gather to celebrate one of the landmarks of our common efforts to use ICTs for a better life for all our people, and to invoke our ancestors to bless these efforts, we will also remember a not so joyful event that saw a million of our fellow Africans loose their lives in Rwanda exactly ten years ago today. As we recall this sad event, we are comforted by the hope we derive from the progress that is being made by the people of Rwanda to reconcile and build a better and common future for their children and our continent.
We indicated that we are meeting today to celebrate a small but significant milestone in our collective continental effort to bridge the digital divide in Africa and build an inclusive Information Society. We all seem to agree that this Information Society that we seek to build should be development oriented. Our development challenge is to use ICTs to assist Africa in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The potential role of ICTs in advancing these and other development goals of our countries and continent has been recognised at the highest level. This fact was re-iterated at the recently concluded first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva. There is no doubt that ICTs can be very effective tools. The question is, tools for what?
As we recall our collective history of Rwanda ten years ago, it would be remiss of us not to remind ourselves of the role that ICTs in the form of radio broadcasts played in mobilizing people to engage in barbaric actions in that massacre. Not so long ago, in Afghanistan and in Iraq the more modern form of these technologies were also used, not for development or the improvement of peoples lives but for the destruction of lives and property. So it is incumbent upon us that today, as we call on our ancestors to bless our humble achievements and assist us to reach even greater heights we also commit to using these tools to build better lives for our people.
The offices that we officially open today with my colleague HE Ambassador Mpoup of Senegal, represent the product of many years of work by the African Ministers responsible for Communications.
In February 1998 African Ministers responsible for Communications met in Cape Town to prepare for the ITU Africa TELECOM 98, which was due to take place that year in May. In that meeting the Ministers discussed the need to accelerate the development of the ICT sector in Africa. Central to that discussion was the need to revamp the OAU specialised agency for telecommunications, which was then the Pan-African Telecommunications Union (PATU).
By the time the Ministers met in May of that year a new strategic direction for PATU was agreed upon. This Strategy called 'the African Connection was later adopted as the Strategic Plan of PATU at its Lusaka Conference of Plenipotentiaries in August of that year.
The Lusaka Conference, full of vigor and enthusiasm, and informed by many previous programmes by African Ministers to improve telecommunications on the continent such as the Lagos Action Plan adopted two historic resolutions:
a) to adopt a clear Strategic Plan which included the re-structuring of PATU within a year, and,
b) to establish the Ministerial Oversight Committee (MOC) which was tasked with overseeing the implementation of the Strategic Plan.
The establishment of the MOC broke with a long-standing tradition according to which Ministers only met once in four years at the Plenipotentiary Conferences to seriously address issues in the ICT sector.
Through the MOC, which I had the privilege to Chair, Ministers responsible for Communications were much more engaged in the developments related to the ICT sector both on the continent and globally. Through the MOC it was then possible to have some contribution to the G8 Digital opportunities Task Force or DOT Force, the UN ICT Task Force and to the discussions on the continent such as NEPAD. In order to assist me in this task I established an African ICT Advisory Group, which was made up of experts from six African countries.
I use today's opportunity to recall the many meetings that we held as Ministers of Communications to address our continent's challenges. I recall our meeting during ITU Africa TELECOM 2001 in Midrand. At that meeting we discussed the e-Africa Commission extensively, its structure, reporting etc. Today, following its adoption by the Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee we are proud to have been its mid-wives.
Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
When for the first time in its history South Africa joined the international community of nations as a free and democratic country in 1994, we committed ourselves to doing all in our power to contribute to the global efforts aimed at building a better world. As a people that received unprecedented support from the global community in our struggle against apartheid, we could not do otherwise.
These premises that we offer to host the offices of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission represent our humble contribution as a country, to the work of NEPAD and to the efforts that were begun by all the colleagues on the continent that came before us.
We have no doubt that NEPAD will indeed bring a better life for our people, because it is our own home-grown, ambitious but realisable programme of the African Union. A New Union to meet the new challenges that we all face. We also are equally convinced that unless ICTs are accepted and used as an essential tool for implementing our vision and objectives we will not fully achieve what is possible.
This contribution of our country to NEPAD is but one element of a huge responsibility that we have to contributing to the success of this programme.
I have taken time to duly recognise the Ministers and through them our officials who make our work in this area possible. At this point I wish to recognise the role that the private sector, parastatal institutions and civil society have in this common journey. As our President often tells us, his Ministers " your daily work is and must be about NEPAD ". In the same spirit I would like to say that every South African company and structure has and must contribute to NEPAD as part of its usual activities. The contribution we are referring to is also but not only financial. NEPAD requires us to develop solutions to meet our challenges. We can say with some sense of achievement that no longer do we respond to solutions that are developed by others for us without us. Also gone are the days when, because of need, responded to technology-driven solutions. We invite all of you to partner with us and not solve problems for us. This therefore requires us to build a mutually beneficial and lasting partnership.
I take this opportunity to thank all of you who have on several occasions and at very short notice responded to our calls for support. Now we do not call for your support. We call for your partnership.
I note and wish to publicly acknowledge the companies, both South African and foreign, that have heeded the call for partnership and accepted to be Foundation Partners of the Information Society Partnership for Africa's Development (ISPAD). This is the partnership forum of the Commission whose collective contribution to the NEPAD ICT programme will be valued.
How wonderful it would have been had we been able to be joined by Minister John Nassasira of Uganda at this event. His guidance to me and fellow colleagues has been much appreciated. Minister Tomaz Salomao of Mozambique, who currently serves as our chairperson by virtue of Mozambique's position in that regard has been instrumental in many of our efforts including the first meting of African Ministers responsible for communications hosted under the auspices of the African Union. Finally but not least, Minister Diop of Senegal participated in many of our initial MOC discussions. The role of Senegal in co-ordinating ICTs in NEPAD rests on his shoulders. His leadership during the WSIS in December last year ensured that Africa's voice was not only loud and clear but it was also heard.
We bow our heads in memory of a fine son of South Africa, the late Sello Matsabu, who played an important role in building the necessary environment that allowed the CSIR to be host to this important NEPAD Task Team.
Your Excellencies, Distinguished guests, today, ten years into our democracy, we wish to re-iterate what we stated in 1994 when we joined the international community of nations as a free and dignified people. We will play our part in building a better world.
When they hear of our ambitious plan, the e-schools initiative, many politely, and sometimes not so politely tell us that this is not possible. Well, maybe not, but we can only know for sure if we try. And so empowered by NEPAD we will try.
In ending let be borrow from the words of President Mbeki when he concluded his historic "I am an African" when in his capacity as Deputy President, spoke on behalf of the ANC, on the occasion of the adoption by the Constitutional Assembly of "The Republic of South Africa Constitution Bill 1996" on the 8th of May 1996.
He said "The dismal shame of poverty, suffering and human degradation of my continent is a blight that we share.
The blight on our happiness that derives from this and from our drift to the periphery of the ordering of human affairs leaves us in a persistent shadow of despair.
This is a savage road to which nobody should be condemned.
This thing that we have done today, in this small corner of a great continent that has contributed so decisively to the evolution of humanity says that Africa reaffirms that she is continuing her rise from the ashes. Whatever the setbacks of the moment, nothing can stop us now!
Whatever the difficulties, Africa shall be at peace!
However improbable it may sound to the sceptics, Africa will prosper! Whoever we may be, whatever our immediate interest, however much we carry baggage from our past, however much we have been caught by the fashion of cynicism and loss of faith in the capacity of the people, let us err today and say - nothing can stop us now!"
As we invoke our ancestors to bless the work we have come to undertake let us do so with the conviction from the knowledge that "NOTHING CAN STOP US NOW".
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Communications
7 April 2004
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