Date: 09/05/2011
Source: The Department of Communications
Title: SA: Padayachie: Address by the Minister of Communications, at the launch of the cyberlab at Maphophoma Primary Schools, Nongoma

His Excellency, Inkosi P.T. Zulu
Honourable MEC for Education, Mr S Mnchunu
Honourable Mayor of Nongoma Municipality, S. Mbatha
Principal of Maphophoma and Fellow Educators
Chairperson of the School Governing Body, Board Members & Parents
Chairperson of USAASA and Representatives of Uniform SA, Netday Association, Mindset Education and Intel
Learners of Maphophoma Primary School
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is indeed a great pleasure to be with you here today in Nongoma, KwaZulu Natal, which is ‘my home’… a place where I will strive for its innovation and observe the standards of service which should be relevant, achievable, realistic, measurable and transparent, in order to promote the welfare of our people. As a representative of Government, I feel most privileged to be here today.

We meet at a time when South Africans will join the many millions of people around the globe in celebrating World Telecommunication and Information Society Day on 17 May, under the theme: “Better life in rural communities with ICTs”. This theme was adopted by the Council of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), of which our country is proud to be a part of, in 2009 and follows up on the theme for 2010, “Better city, better life with ICTs”.

The ITU is a United Nations Agency for information and communications technologies. Member countries of the ITU are urged on a yearly basis to advance the use of ICTs to accelerate progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals. This is done through the deployment of ICTs to enhance opportunities to generate income and combat poverty, hunger, ill-health and illiteracy.
President Jacob Zuma, in his State of the Nation Address delivered in February 2011, identified ICTs as an important tool towards a better life, and said that it can be used for long-term, sustainable development, especially among the most vulnerable and under-served communities.
As one of its responses to this vision, the Department of Communications (DoC) has prioritised the provision of computers and broadband connectivity to schools across our country. As part of this programme, we are here today to open the Cyberlab and hand over computers and other equipment to the learners of Maphophoma Primary School and the community here in Nongoma. This is in line with the Department’s responsibility to ensure universal service and access to ICTs by all South Africans. The DoC has as a result partnered with the Department of Basic Education to develop a Connectivity Plan for schools that seeks to provide broadband connectivity to all schools through the establishment of a dedicated educational network.

Ladies and gentlemen, on my appointment as Minister of Communications and the first public engagement of myself and the Honourable Deputy Minister, Mr Obed Bapela, we listed as one of the six priorities, that of building an inclusive Information society and knowledge based economy which also encompasses the role of ICTs in rural development, including the creation of job opportunities for our people. The quest to create jobs will be complemented by the effort to e-skill the nation to be implemented through the e-skills Institute initiative.

The Department has already developed an ICT Rural Development Strategic Framework, which will guide us as we invest resources to achieve this national strategic goal. The Strategy also seeks to align our work with the overall government strategic outcomes as contained in the Medium Term Strategic Framework.

This new strategic thrust is also supported by a Steering Committee comprising the Departments of Rural Development and Land Reform, Public Works, and Arts and Culture; Science and Technology and the state agencies, USAASA and NEMISA. Other entities in the sector will also be invited to contribute to this national effort.

Our draft strategy seeks to achieve the following strategic outcomes as indicated in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and WSIS discussions:-

• Universal access and connectivity in the rural areas, and the use of technology to meet the social and economic needs of our people.

• Universal access to quality and affordable services is central to the role of ICTs in facilitating sustainable development of rural communities.

The Strategy is also aligned to the New Growth Path targets particularly Government’s commitment to create 100 000 jobs by 2020 in the development sectors such as Information and Communications Technologies, higher education, healthcare, mining-related technologies, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. In this regard, the ICT sector contribution will be in the 4 following identified areas:

1. Public employment and recycling interventions geared towards greening the economy;
2. Effective programmes, institutions and systems to diffuse new technologies to SMEs and households;
3. Significant support for Research and Development, education and training linked to developing South Africa as the higher education hub for the continent; and
4. Continuous efforts to reduce the costs of infrastructure and services thus increasing access and usage of broadband services.

The ICT Rural Development Strategy will also anchor around attracting capital investment in the delivery of broadband infrastructure and services in rural and areas. This will be linked to spectrum licensing to ensure that government uses the radio frequency spectrum resource to direct and grow investments in rural areas.

Furthermore, ladies and gentlemen, the Strategy is developed within the context of the empowerment of rural communities and has to include programmes that would encourage civil society, to promote the uptake and usage of ICT services and infrastructure.

Our social formations are thankfully significantly different from what they were in the past. Our present world-view is that Information and Knowledge are central to the development and emergence of a new and responsive form of social organization in our societies. As Government, we have realized the critical importance of ICTs for socio-economic development. We know that ICTs are central to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. We want to halve the appalling incidence of poverty by 2014 as a start. We want to stimulate job creation, we want to stimulate the growth of our SMMEs, we want our learners and our citizens to have the proper skills, indeed, the demands and expectations of developmental States have to be met. We have no choice.

For us here today in this sector, our route is through the efficient application and delivery of the Information and Communication tools – a key driver of our economic and societal development. However, factors such as level of education, literacy, household income, language, race, gender, are all critical determinants of the access and utilization of ICTs.

For well over 20 years of my life, before my involvement in Parliament and Government as a Minister of Communications in the Cabinet, I promoted and worked for early childhood and community development in almost all the surrounding townships here. I became intimately involved in the life of these communities through active educational, welfare and children and youth activities.

After 30 years of service in the ANC, I was requested by the African National Congress to serve in the National Parliament as a member. Upon election to the National Parliament, I was appointed by President Mbeki to serve in the National Government as the Deputy Minister of Communications. Under President Jacob Zuma, I had the honour of serving as Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration before being appointed the Minister of Communications.

I am very conscious of the many challenges that are confronting our youth throughout the country. Teenage pregnancies and HIV and Aids have reached alarming proportions among learners. Another alarming statistic, which is of great concern, is the number of suicides amongst teenagers in particular, as well as school drop-outs before reaching grade twelve. Many are and remain unemployed.

All of this militates against the young people of this country, fully playing their role as active participants in the reconstruction and development of our country. For those of you who are still in school and who still have before you, an opportunity to equip yourselves and improve the quality of your situation, it is incumbent upon you not to lose the slightest opportunity or moment to advance yourself so that one day, you are able to confront all of these adverse conditions and meet the future with a greater degree of certainty and confidence.

In this context, the Government is fully engaged in ensuring that the youth of South Africa and of the entire continent are fully prepared for the new economy that is sweeping the Globe and that you are fully prepared to enter the new digital age of a networked economy world-wide. We will also do well to collaborate in the research facilities of our universities and higher institutions of learning for innovative policies for infrastructure deployment as well as innovative applications.

Access to technology is crucial to our country’s growth and we hope that programmes such the one we are witnessing today will enable our youth to acquire skills and knowledge to allow them to compete in the global stage. We are proud that today’s youth are given devices that enable them dream, because only when you dream can you achieve and thereby contribute to the greater good of society, both socially and economically.

I am therefore very happy and honored to be here in Nongoma and to join the Learners, Educators and Parents of Maphophoma Primary School and the community at large, to celebrate the opening and launch of the Cyberlab. This Cyberlab has 20 networked computers, loaded with open source software such as Open Office and educational software as well as interactive educational software from Mindset, which includes FET English, Maths and Science. In addition to this the Lab is also equipped with a printer, a Data Projector and Screen for presentations, and speakers. We are indeed happy to have the involvement of the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA), Uniform SA, Mindset, NetDay Association and Intel who sponsored the computers, software and other equipment – we thank them sincerely.

I wish you success and I hope that you will experience this cyberlab as one that would provide you with the challenge, the inspiration and impetus to get involved in this digital skills revolution and bring about a better life for all the learners. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Principal and all the Educators in Nongoma for allowing us here today. I hope that all of you are very proud of this cyberlab and I believe that you utilize it most effectively.

I would also like to take this opportunity to invite the parents and the community at large to take ownership of this project. This, I believe, will allow the learners to use the computers for many years to come.

Allow me to close by quoting one of the greatest statesmen, and icons of our time, President Nelson Mandela:

“EDUCATION IS THE GREAT ENGINE OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT. IT IS THROUGH EDUCATION THAT THE DAUGHTER OF A PEASANT CAN BECOME A DOCTOR, THAT THE SON OF A MINEWORKER CAN BECOME THE HEAD OF THE MINE, THAT A CHILD OF FARMWORKERS CAN BECOME THE PRESIDENT OF A GREAT NATION. IT IS WHAT WE MAKE OF WHAT WE HAVE, NOT WHAT WE ARE GIVEN, THAT SEPARATES ONE PERSON FROM ANOTHER.”

I thank you….