Date: 04/12/2003
Source: Ministry of Communications
Title: Matsepe-Casaburri: Signing of ICT sector summit agreement


STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, DR IVY MATSEPE-CASABURRI, AT THE SIGNING OF THE ICT SECTOR SUMMIT AGREEMENT, Pretoria, 4 December 2003

Mr Hebert Mkhize
Mr Karsh Pillay
Mr Adrian Schofield
Ms Anne Marie Nutt
Stakeholders from Labour
Stakeholders from the Business Community
Government stakeholders
Comrades and friends

I would like to begin by acknowledging the commitment of all stakeholders that has brought us to this historic moment in the ICT industry at the signing ceremony of the ICT sector summit agreement.

It was at the Presidential Jobs Summit in 1998, that the government, organised labour and business and the community sector decided to hold sector summits. The ICT sector embarked upon an ICT Sector Summit that was held in June 2002. It was first held under Nedlac.

I would like to express our appreciation of summit stakeholders for arriving at this agreement.

This is also a commitment to the tripartite symbolised by Nedlac. This document of agreement is a living testimony of the firm social partnership.

In his State of the Nation Address this year, President Mbeki spoke about the need for focussed action in the economy: "This included focussed action in specific growth sectors such as agriculture, mining, tourism, cultural industries, information technology, clothing and textiles, vehicle manufacturing and chemicals. We will now add to this list the aerospace sector, as well as Call Centres and Back Office Business Processing."

It is significant that the identified growth areas that offer potential to boost economic growth include those in the ICT sector.

There has been an accelerated growth in the ICT sector in this country in recent years and we should use the opportunity that this growth presents by consciously empowering historically disadvantaged people in this sector so that we actively participate in the growth of the economy and also participate in the development of the a global information society.

Clearly, the national priority of ending poverty and underdevelopment in this country and on the continent as a whole has been taken seriously by the ICT sector. The importance of putting in place appropriate conditions for job creation is understood as part of our overall effort towards sustainable development and towards building our economy.

This sector summit agreed on a number of issues, notably:

* The Summit agreed to establish an agreement on overarching objectives for development in the sector
* It committed stakeholders to continued social dialogue, facilitated by Nedlac
* It agreed to develop proposals for joint research and information to generate viable plans and strategies.

A process was started so that agreement could be reached among partners on the finalisation of principles - a broad document aimed at creating jobs and eliminating poverty in the sector.

The sector summit agreement commits us to address jointly the challenges in the sector, including:

* Meeting RDP goals
* Promoting high level of local content and application development
* Promoting research and development
* Promoting education and skills development
* Promoting appropriate ICT usage to meet the aims and objectives of the sector summit
* Promoting BEE broadly in the sector
* Promoting rural development
* Supporting NEPAD

Specific agreements were reached on universal service and access, human resource development, on the social plan, restructuring at enterprise level, on investment and procurement.

The implementation plan will be driven by Nedlac and the steering committee.

We need to ensure that we meet our national objectives of job creation, human resource development and universal access. This sector agreement paves the way for the current challenges that we face to be overcome and for these objectives to be reached.

This agreement should not be seen in isolation of other important developments in the sector.

We are signing this agreement on the eve of the World Summit for the Information Society and we should be aware of the benefits that ICTs can bring in unifying people and communities, so that we do indeed work towards universal access and bridging the digital divide.

Yesterday Cabinet gave its approval to the Convergence Bill. The reality of converged technology offers more possibilities for further growth in the sector and more opportunities for job creation.

I would, once more, like to thank all the social partners for demonstrating their commitment to the development of South Africa's people and of the ICT sector through this intervention in the form of the agreement.

I would like to ask that the same energies and commitment be devoted to the implementation of this ICT sector agreement.

I thank you.

Issued by the Ministry of Communications, 4 December 2003