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Date
: 03/09/2004
Source: Ministry of Communications
Title: I Matsepe-Casaburri: Presidential International Advisory
Council meeting
ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, DR IVY
MATSEPE-CASABURRI, TO THE FOURTH MEETING OF THE PRESIDENTIAL
INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL ON INFORMATION SOCIETY &
DEVELOPMENT, 3 September 2004
1. INTRODUCTION
The meeting today marks the fourth time that this Council has met.
The importance of these meetings is reflected in the
recommendations made and their implementation. As reflected in his
State of the Nation address, the President takes this Council
seriously.
The fourth meeting of the Advisory Council takes place at an
important time in South Africa. This year we celebrate ten years of
democracy. Secondly, it takes place at a time of important
developments in the ICT sector reflected in the further
liberalisation of the telecommunications sector through an
accelerated process. The details of this process will be outlined
later in the document.
2. OVERVIEW OF THE 2003 MEETING
Guided by this Council's advice in 2002 on the need to focus and
prioritise the application of ICT in a few areas, the meeting held
in November 2003 had presentations on developments in the areas of
ICT in education, health and small, medium and micro enterprises
(SMMEs). On education, presentations and discussions centred on the
E-Education Draft White Paper presented by the Minister of
Education. This draft white paper set out a framework for
integrating ICTs into the curriculum and utilising it for improving
the delivery and quality of education provided to South
Africans.
On health, the Minister of Health outlined the significant
challenges faced by the public healthcare sector in South Africa.
She also outlined the various initiatives being taken to
effectively utilise ICTs in the improved delivery of healthcare. On
small, medium and micro enterprises, the Director General of the
Department of Trade and Industry presented the draft small business
development strategy and a pilot project using ICTs to support
fresh fruit and vegetable street vendors in Johannesburg.
In addition, discussions took place on the World Summit on
Information Society (WSIS) and the growth and future of the open
source movement for South Africa and globally.
The key recommendation from the third meeting of the Advisory
Council was the need to lower the costs of telecommunications. This
advice the South African Government has taken very seriously and on
2 September 2004 announcements were made.
3. DEVELOPMENTS SINCE 2003 MEETING
In preparation for the discussions of this fourth meeting of the
Council, I think it is important to provide a brief overview of the
major developments in the ICT sector since the 2003 meeting of the
Council.
3.1. BENCHMARKING SOUTH AFRICA
In terms of telecommunications connectivity, South Africa witnessed
continued growth in the mobile environment with mobile subscribers
numbering 19 million in 2004. Like in other developing countries,
the fixed-line environment has seen growth plateau over the past
three years at around million lines. Closely linked to the
flattening out of fixed-line growth has been the single-digit
growth in Internet hosts. This has seen South Africa stand at the
46th most connected country in 2003.
South Africa has much lower level of Internet connectivity, yet
higher density of mobile phones than both India and Brazil. The
Brazilians have greater access to low cost bandwidth. India has
pockets of very well connected centres with limited connectivity to
the largely rural areas. The penetration on mobile phones,
particularly pre-paid phones has led to a well spread
telecommunications connectivity in South Africa.
3.2. WORLD SUMMIT ON INFORMATION SOCIETY (WSIS)
Since the last meeting of the Advisory the Geneva meeting has taken
place and the Plan of Action agreed upon presents a number of
critical objectives for developed and developing countries. The
primary objective of the WSIS Plan of Action is to build an
inclusive Information Society, put the potential of knowledge and
ICTs at the service of development. Preparations are underway to
hold a SADC meeting for Information Society and children as well a
national one on Disability and the Information Society and
Children.
We are informed by the Tunisians that there will be a Youth Forum
parallel to the Summit in November. We are preparing for an African
Youth Summit on the Information Society.
Next year marks ten years since the Beijing women's' congress and
we are consulting the UN ICT Task Force to jointly organise an
international meeting on Women and the Information Society.
3.3. THE NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR AFRICA'S DEVELOPMENT (NEPAD)
The NEPAD E-Schools programme will be presented in more detailed by
Dr Henry Chasia in his presentation. I wish to highlight the
e-Schools programme. The programme is an ambitious 10-year
programme, which has been adopted and approved by the phase-one
countries in May this year. These countries include amongst others,
South Africa, Mozambique, the DRC, Mali, Mauritius, Nigeria,
Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda. The project consists of the
installation of hardware and software in schools across the
Continent. In addition, training and connectivity of the schools is
provided as part of the project.
3.4. CONVERGENCE LEGISLATION IN SOUTH AFRICA
In South Africa Convergence Legislation that reflects the
significant developments taking place domestically and globally
will be our next challenge. The aim of the legislative process is
to develop an omnibus legislation that assists in streamlining the
policy and legislation in line with developments in
technology.
4. CONTEXT FOR 2004 MEETING
4.1. BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT ICT CHARTER
In the development of the Black Economic Empowerment Charter for
the ICT Sector, the process has been led by the industry. It was
also taken so as to emphasise the fact that transformation of the
South African economy has to be accompanied not only by the growth
of the economy but also by participation of historically
disadvantaged groups in the economy.
4.2. LOWERING THE COSTS OF ACCESS TO COMMUNICATIONS
In terms of the earlier mentioned steps being taken to lower the
costs of telecommunication, we have circulated the statement about
what will be implemented in February 2005.
These provisions are the 1st batch of policy interventions designed
to stimulate accelerated growth in the sector, remove constraints
for such growth, reduce the cost of telecommunications and
facilitate interventions in the 2nd economy.
Subsequent policy announcements will be made in October. The
announcement will address the issue of service-based licences to be
operational by May 2005; the under-serviced are licences i.e.
remaining areas, the second national operator, convergence bill and
ICT BEE Charter.
5. CONCLUSION
This fourth meeting presents an important opportunity for the
Council to further engage in the process of developing South Africa
into a globally competitive ICT sector and economy. Addressing both
the needs of businesses operating in South Africa, as well as the
needs and requirements of the second economy or majority of the
population with limited access to income and resources.
Education, health and SMMEs, e-governance and content development
(including software development) will continue to be the focus of
government efforts and this Councils inputs.
Issued by: Ministry of Communications
3 September 2004
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