Your Excellencies,

Secretary-General of the ITU, Dr Hamadan Toure,

Secretary-General of the ATU, Mr Abdoulkarim Soumaila

Distinguished guests,



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

It is an honour for me to join you Honourable Colleagues at this august gathering in this historical town of Harare, Zimbabwe, which carries for us a rich legacy of independence from colonial oppression.

Allow me to express our humble appreciation to His Excellency, President Robert Mugabe, and the Government and the People of Zimbabwe for their gracious hospitality and warm welcome since the arrival of the South African delegation.

This is a historical year for us, as South Africa celebrates 20 years of freedom. We would not have arrived at this moment were it not for the support from members of the SADC and African community through our darkest days.



National Development Plan

In May this year we held our fifth national democratic elections. In his State of the Nation Address President Zuma called for radical economic transformation in order to overcome our apartheid and colonial legacy of poverty, inequality and unemployment. Government’s blueprint is the National Development Plan, whose vision for 2030 is to invigorate and expand the economic opportunities through investment in infrastructure, increase innovation, and boost private investment and entrepreneurship.

The ICT sector is at the hub of our developmental agenda – and our Ministry is tasked to set the telecoms and postal sectors on a higher trajectory. Our country’s telecommunications sector is growing at a rapid rate and in 2011 was estimated at R179 billion. By 2016 it is expected to reach R187 billion.



SOUTH AFRICA’S ICT PRIORITIES

My Ministry’s focus is to expand, modernise and increase the affordability of ICTs infrastructure and electronic communications services and this is mainly through broadband. Despite the challenges that we have encountered, we are committed to working with our neighbouring countries on migrating from analogue to digital broadcasting. To realise the National Development Plan’s Vision 2030 we are moving ahead with programmes of digital and financial inclusion, where all our citizens are able to fully participate in a digital future.



THE IMPORTANCE OF ENABLING ENVIRONMENT

The ICT Policy Review process is underway and we hope to finalise this process in the current financial year. We agree with the International Telecommunication Union’s focus on the importance of broadband to accelerating our country and region’s economic and development prospects.

The policy review process aims to promote access to ICT services, which will also strength collaboration between the ICT sector and other service sectors such as banking, commerce, agriculture, media and other new services.



ADVANCING INFRASTRUCTURE ROLL-OUT

South Africa has adopted South Africa Connect, our national broadband policy.  SA Connect gives clear direction on how we aim to reach our target of 100% broadband access by 2020. Our vision is to achieve a connected South Africa that will stimulate economic enterprise and innovation and ensure social and economic inclusion; and identify policy choices and strategies that will deliver on a robust and cost-effective solution to universal, affordable broadband access.



But in order for broadband roll-out to succeed, we need to leverage on our economies of scale. In following on the Transform Africa agenda of 2013, we as African ICT Ministers need to focus on the 5 principles in actionable strategies, including:



·       Placing ICT at the centre of our national development agenda - mainstreaming ICT applications in the fields of education, health, business, tourism, mining and agriculture

·       Harmonise our policy and regulatory space to create an environment for private sector investment

·       Promote an open access, technology-neutral infrastructure service.



Africa is one of the fastest growing ICT markets and we need to leverage on this opportunity to adopt strategies and applications, including the creation of a new industrial innovative sector, to address climate change, clean energy and e-waste.  Our information and communications technology cost can only decrease if we leverage on our economies of scale and available skills.  

                    

BUILDING TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN OUR NETWORK

A network that is not safe and secure is not sustainable. South Africa adopted a cyber security policy in 2012, and has worked with members of the African Union on a continental cyber security framework, which was  announced recently and adopted by the African Union Summit in Malabo.

Our task now is to collaborate on the governance of Internet Public Policy. The increasing importance of the Internet in commerce and other spheres of life has enabled new forms of ‘human interaction that disrupt existing social and economic systems’.

Establishing a distributed, decentralized internet governance model is in the best interest of all stakeholders. The African Continent unfortunately has limited participation in the broader global governance debates.  It is important for the African Continent to establish institutional arrangements to help educate, advance and develop its own ecosystem.



IMPORTANCE OF SPECTRUM

South Africa regards spectrum as a critical and scarce resource. We see great opportunities from the digital dividend once digital migration has been completed. We have realized the immense opportunity available for utilization of the digital dividend towards social and economic development programmes, and hence the importance of us as Africa to actively participate at World Radio-communication Conferences.  

CONCLUDING REMARKS:

For South Africa, and indeed Africa to achieve universal access and services, we need to be radical in our approach. As we prepare for ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in October, we need to ask ourselves: how will Africa benefit from participating in this global forum.



We need equitable access to scarce global resources, and this will require continual improvements of current governance structures and organisational arrangements to make them for efficient and more manageable. We are committed to contributing to ensure that ITU continues to serve the needs of developing countries. I am happy to announce our country’s candidature for the ITU Council. We were successful in championing Africa’s position at the WCIT, when we reviewed the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs). The ITRs are crucial in addressing the challenges of affordable and effective broadband connectivity, and they opened avenues for discussion of African Internet access and management.

Let me express our gratitude to Dr Toure for the leadership you have provided in advancing the African agenda and for your immerse contribution to the regional development and growth and bringing the ITU to Africa.

As we prepare for the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference-14 and World Radio Communications Conference-15, let us be mindful of our communications infrastructure needs, and if we are able to collectively stand as a region, then we are a step closer to realising our dream: of a technologically advance and self-reliant community, that is able to produce its own standards and ICT applications.

Secretary-General, Abdoulkarim Soumaila, we truly appreciate the work you have done in realising Africa’s digital future. We look forward to your continued leadership.

What we are today is a powerful force for the transformation and development of our continent!

I thank you