Speech by Deputy Minister of Communications, Radhakrishna L Padayachie, in support of the Department of Communications to the National Assembly on the occasion of the Budget Vote of the Department of Communications

Chairperson
Honourable Minister
Colleagues in the Executive
CEOs and executives from industry
Members of the Portfolio Committee
Honourable Members of Parliament
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

In January this year, in the State of the Nation Address, our President reminded us that fifty or so years ago, as they prepared to convene the Congress of the People, which adopted the Freedom Charter, the Patriots of the day had said,
"Let us speak together, all of us together-African and European, Indian and Coloured and all the people of South Africa. Let us speak together of freedom, and of the happiness that can come to men and women if they live in a land that is free."

Today, Madame Speaker, on our Department's Budget Day, I am reminded how much of this freedom we take for granted, as we enjoy this day, another free day in South Africa and as we celebrate our Democratic Parliament and our hard earned democracy. Over the weekend, when the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party in government, was holding its meeting, it suspended its work and for a moment the national leadership stood in silence in tribute to a great Patriot of South Africa, on receiving the news of his passing away.

In dipping its banner, at the news of his death, the national leadership saluted the lifetime contribution to democracy of Comrade George Sewpershad, the President of the Natal Indian Congress, a congress that once fought gloriously, side by side with the African National Congress, mobilising the masses in our country to usher in this democracy. Many months ago, George Sewpershad undertook to visit us in Parliament and I had intended that he would have been one of my guests, here during this Budget speech. Unfortunately, this was not to be, as lung cancer got the better of him. During one of the many conversations we had, he often said when talking about life and its glorious moments, that "Life is nothing but a flash of light in the darkness of the Universe. One moment it is there and the next it is gone".

In paying tribute to George Sewpershad during this budget vote speech, I salute his courageous and principled lifetime contribution to the advancement of democracy in South Africa. He was an indefatigable and courageous freedom fighter, the people's leader who never hesitated to give us strong leadership in the face of the terror of the apartheid racist regime in the early seventies when the flame of resistance was just only being reignited in the country. He inspired and oversighted the emergence of the mass democratic movement organs of popular resistance in the townships and gave support to the activists that rose from this movement to join the underground structures of the ANC. He fought the terror of the regime, its security police and its puppets and defended the right of the people to fly the flag of the freedom charter that inspired the passion for freedom.

I take this opportunity to pledge to all the heroes and heroines, like George Sewpershad who sacrificed for our freedom, that we will never betray the trust you bestowed on us when you gave us the opportunity to transform South Africa into a democratic, peaceful, non racial, non sexist and prosperous country committed to the realisation of a society on the basis of the principles of the freedom charter. A South Africa in which "there shall be houses, security and comfort for all" as we pursue the goal of a better life for all.

Madam Speaker, in accelerating our pursuit of a better life for all, in January we reminded ourselves that our government must work with all South Africans to implement detailed programmes that are intended:
* to raise the rate of investments in the country
* to reduce the cost of doing business
* to ensure that the Public Sector discharges its responsibility as an active player in the growth, reconstruction and development of our country
* to accelerate the process of skills development.

During the State of the Nation Address delivered in Parliament this year, the President provided us with a perspective within which to pursue these national tasks. He reminded us that "none of the great social problems we have to solve is capable of resolution outside the context of the creation of jobs and the alleviation and eradication of poverty" and that "the struggle to eradicate poverty has been and will continue to be a central part of the national effort to build the new South Africa".

In the face of this formidable challenge, the Department of Communications has always held the view that information communication technologies (ICTs) have an enabling role to play in economic development and are critically central to the strategies to eradicate poverty. The prime objective of developing the ICT sector is no longer to focus primarily on increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and developing the macro-economy. Increasingly, the value of ICT policy to support the development of the micro-economy, the local community and the individual is recognised as crucial for enabling opportunities to access the structures and services (e.g. government, health, education, and small, medium and micro enterprises) that will help disadvantaged people escape the poverty-trap.

In this regard our work has over the years focused on three central areas, namely:
1. to reduce the cost of communication
2. bridging the digital divide and enhancing universal access
3. addressing the challenges of the ICT skills deficit in the country.

Our work in the last few years has revealed that there can be no hope of meeting these challenges successfully, if we do not address the difficulties associated with:
* building, expanding and modernising the ICT infrastructure
* creating a new legislative framework to provide a new licensing regime that will enable the absorption of the rapidly modernising innovative technologies that are emerging in the ICT Sector (e.g. the Electronic Communications Act)
* deregulating and creating more competition in the sector and opening it up to more players.

The realisation of the inextricable connection between ICT as a trampoline for development and a tool to leverage us out of poverty was underscored by the commitment made by the Presidential National Commission (PNC) "to establish South Africa as an advanced information society in which information and information and communications technology tools are key drivers of economic and societal development."

The Presidential National Commission (PNC) on Information Society and Development (ISAD) was set up with a mission to help build an inclusive information society in which human rights, economic prosperity and participatory democracy are fully realised by optimising the use of ICTs. The Presidential International Advisory Committee (PIAC), made up of international advisers, is an International Advisory Council advising the President and the PNC on matters of ICT. The National Information Society and Development Plan (ISAD), developed by the PNC was adopted by cabinet on 7 February 2007.

As Minister indicated earlier about the cabinets approval about the ISAD plan, different departments will initiate programmes according to their mandate. The Department of Communications (DoC) will soon launch a programme that supports a strategy and plan to bring initiatives that contribute to building an information society in South Africa under one banner-ICT for All (ICT4All). The overall goal is to build an enabling environment that will support the ability of the citizenship to use ICTs to access new services (including e-government services) to socially appropriate ICTs for local community benefit and beyond this, encourage the uptake of ICTs throughout society. This will contribute to bridging the technology and knowledge divide between the first and second economies. It proposes a structure to afford a holistic approach (and to avoid duplication of effort) by partnering with initiatives of other government departments, portfolio organisations reporting to the DoC, through public-private partnerships and engagement with civil society actors and academic institutions.

There is a wealth of knowledge in many aspects of information society research and development (R&D) within a number of local universities. For example, the e-Innovation Academy (e-IA) and The Information Society Institute (TISI) based at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology has capacity and international standing in the social appropriation of ICTs for local community benefit. The LINK Institute at Wits University is a recognised authority on South African ICT policy. At some universities ICT researchers have, for example, conducted unique ground-breaking research to address local community needs in the health sector, whilst others have produced pioneering software solutions to local grass-roots issues. The DoC will partner with universities to support and assist the department in the rollout of the ICT4All Programme.

This ISAD Plan is informed by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) plan of action and the development challenges facing the country. Amongst these challenges are high youth unemployment, under development, minimal economic growth opportunities, high poverty levels and high rates of illiteracy. A central feature of these challenges is the serious shortage of ICT skills and the States limited capacity to deliver on these critical skills. In order to meet these challenges the ISAD Plan identified a number of actual pillars for action. Education, skills development and training were identified as one of the five priority focus areas for ICT action and development. The shortage in ICT skills is a problem that confronts several economies in the globe and is not a problem unique only to the South African economy.

During the annual PIAC meeting held in September last year the shortage of ICT skills at different levels was identified as one of the major challenges facing the country and was discussed at length. The PIAC recommended the establishment of an e-Skills Council that must be constituted of government, business and academic institutions, labour and civil society institutions. Preparatory work towards the establishment of the e-Skills Council is at an advanced stage. The department is currently finalising the composition of the e-Skills Council and in due course will announce the formation of the working group to finalise its term of reference and launch.

The e-Skills Council will play a critical role in advising on strategies and implementing projects for tackling the ICT skills shortage in the country. This will go a long way in supporting the focus of the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) work under the leadership of the Deputy President, as well as supporting the department's work with the portfolio organisations and in our bilateral work with the Indian government in respect of the ICT skills shortage in the country. To address the skills shortage problem in a short term, last year we reported on our project initiative with the government of India that will result in the establishment of a joint working team unit between ICT specialists from India and ICT specialists from South Africa.

To set the basis for the work of the joint working team, the department has completed an internal discussion paper entitled "Towards a Strategic Framework for ICT skills development in South Africa". The research intended to map out the current supply and demand for ICT skills in South Africa and helps to identify specific short-term skills development initiatives that would feed into JIPSA and further identifies ways to fast track skills development to fuel economic growth. It also identifies specific ICT skills that could be imported through bilateral agreements with other governments as a short term solution to the current high skills scarcity in the ICT sector. However, the analysis revealed, information gaps that make it difficult to provide accurate and reliable estimates of current ICT skills needs.

* Several factors make it difficult to generate reliable predictions on ICT skills needs, including:
1. the nature of the sector, particularly
2. the rapid change in technology
3. the complexities of defining an ICT worker
4. the different ways in which ICT skills are currently supplied to the market
5. the incomplete and out-of-date information on the ICT sector

* A contributing factor to the ICT skills shortage is the limited role played by the ICT industry in trying to address skills shortages and gaps. Current ICT training initiatives in both the public and private sectors are contributing to the oversupply of low to intermediate skills. Large numbers of ICT employees are also inadequately trained and cannot meet the skills levels required by the ICT industry.

* Broader development challenges that lie beyond the ambit of the Department of Communications to address, including:
1. limited science and mathematics teaching capacity
2. high illiteracy levels and the consequent low uptake of ICTs
3. weak ICT research and development capacity.

In the longer term it provides the framework for the e-Skills Council to mobilise the public and private (both government and non-government) provider institutions and the private sector to drive a public-private partnership initiative towards the implementation of a South African training and development programme in ICT. The report also reviews international and national forecasts and makes recommendations on how to address this specific challenge.

Amongst several recommendations the report highlights:
* the need to create the appropriate institutional infrastructure to drive ICT Training and Development
* to improve methodologies and standards for collecting ICT labour market information
* the need to improve the profile of ICT as a career option for graduate and post graduate students.

I hereby announce the Chairperson of the working group who is in our midst, Professor Maredi Mphahlele from Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). Professor Mphahlele has been doing some stunning work in our e-co-operatives that we will be launching on 15 June 2007 as part of the Youth ISAD Programme. The e-co-operatives project was conceptualised by the PNC in response to the President's call in the State of the Nation Address last year on using co-operatives as a means to address the challenge of youth unemployment. It is being implemented in partnership with the provinces, the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) Co-operative Incentive Scheme, Meraka Institute, Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (CIPRO), Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), the Umsobomvu Youth Fund and the National Youth Commission (NYC).

The phase one of the e-co-operatives project involves the skilling of 460 unemployed young people from all nine provinces in ICTs, business and life skills. In the project young people will have different roles to ensure the sustainability of the cooperative. In the technical programme 40 young people were trained and certificated in March this year by the TUT. The names of the young people were submitted by the provincial departments dealing with economic affairs. Provincial SEDA offices will be starting with the business skills training this month. All the young people will go through the life skills training which among others involves team building. This is seen as an essential ingredient for a successful cooperative. The second intake of this project will involve 1000 young people and is scheduled for next year.

I would like to acknowledge the presence here today of the some of the youth that are participating in the e-cooperatives project. In support of our strategies to promote skills development in ICTs amongst the youth we celebrated on May 17, World Telecommunications Information Day. The international theme for this year was "connecting the young-opportunities in ICTs". Last month President Mbeki and I were in Mpumalanga province to launch South Africa's involvement in the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) e-Schools Project - this project links schools in more than 20 African countries, as a first phase of providing children in Africa access to learning digital skills in their schools. The demonstration project involves six schools in South Africa from the Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and North West provinces. The initiative involves the Departments of Education, Health and Communications and private sector companies. Over the next ten years, the project will roll out to include 600 000 schools on the African continent.

Usaasa

Parallel to this project the department has been involved with the Universal Services and Access Agency of South Africa (Usaasa) in rolling out cyber labs to schools in various provinces and telecentres in communities in under serviced areas. To ensure that Usaasa delivers on its mandate in terms of ECA, its Board has been reconstituted under the chairpersonship of Ms Cassandra Gabriel and has repositioned itself to guarantee delivery on its mandate to promote universal service and access.

SABC and Nemisa

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is partnering with the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (Nemisa) to strengthen its capacity to train a critical number of professionals for industry. Nemisa has also established a faculty to provide training across the continent of Africa and is currently establishing programmes in Nigeria, Tanzania and Botswana. It has also strengthened its international linkages with training institutions in Canada, France, Malaysia and India.

FET colleges

The Department of Communications is working with the Further Education and Training (FET) colleges on issues pertaining to the Amateur Radio Programme (telecommunication and electronics skills ), Internet connectivity, ICT skills development for college personnel, technical support, electronics laboratory material, public awareness, as well as, student support. A national public awareness campaign for the ICT skills programme will be implemented during this financial year, 2007/08. The campaign will include a project launch, website, ICT skills journal, community activities, ICT design competition for students, etc. The ICT Skills Development Programme will be launched in June 2007 as part of the Youth Month celebrations.

In the coming month we shall be launching the National Youth Information Society and Development Programme, an initiative of the PNC and the National Youth Commission. You can see, Madam Speaker, that we are fully engaged in ensuring that the youth of South Africa and the entire continent are being fully prepared for the new information economy that is sweeping the globe. Access to the appropriate opportunities for ICT skills development will help fast track the digital revolution in skills that is required for the youth to enter this new digital age of a globally networked economy.

Last year we reminded ourselves that technology always runs ahead of developments in legislation. This remains true even for this day. South Africa has already got its blink into this exciting digitally networked future of a convergence era as we witness the advent of specialised devises which hitherto has not been present in our markets. It sounded like science fiction when we stated that at some time in the near future by remote operation from your cellphone device, you may be able to answer your door bell at home. That day is now here!

Today it has become a reality to receive television broadcasting of normal Television channels and the news on your cellphone through DBVH phones. Also about to make its appearance in South Africa, will be high-definition television (HDTV) that will enable subscribers to send visual video mail messages to one another as you are currently doing with e-mails and short message service (SMS). Such emerging innovations in technology are driving the future growth of the ICT sector into an exciting ubiquitous and exhilarating digital lifestyle for the future. The real truth is that there is a revolution taking place right here in the world and before our very eyes and it is arriving without much fanfare. The combination of open global markets and innovative technologies lie at the base of this revolution. By accelerating the skills revolution in our country, it is this future that we are preparing our children for.

As a Department we will continue to commit our work and to reinforce the confidence that the masses of our people have in our government's ability to ensure that our children truly enter an age of hope. In conclusion Madam Speaker, I express my appreciation to the Portfolio Organisations and the Private Sector Companies that have supported our work, we appreciate the work of the Communications Portfolio Committee and I thank the Minister for her support, the Deputy General, Ms Lyndall Shope-Mafole and the department staff for their cooperation and commitment and the members of my office staff under the able leadership of Mr Raymond Reddy for all their sacrifices and hard work.

I thank you and commend the Budget presented by the Minister.

Issued by: Department of Communications
24 May 2007