Issued by: Ministry for Communications
29 August 2000 Sun City
MAKING IT WORK FOR AFRICA
OPENING CEREMONY SUN CITY AMPHITHEATRE
Master of Ceremonies
Honourable delegates
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Allow me to join the chairperson to welcome you all to our country and to this magnificent hotel extravaganza for the Annual African Computing and Telecommunications Summit 2000. It is truly an honour for my department and my ministry to be exalted by the organisers of this conference to participate and provide input to the opening ceremony of such an important conference in our continent.
I know that most of the delegates had a long trip and are probably tired and that you have a beach party in the Valley of Waves soon after my speech. I will therefore attempt to be brief and spare you time for your party and to allow you to network with your fellow colleagues.
The exhibitions that I have just seen, attest to the level of commitment that we are seeing in this conference. It is interesting to see that there are technologies that are appropriate now for Africa to implement and that can allow our continent to catch up with the rest of the world if the policy and legislative processes are addressed carefully. Perhaps what needs to be investigated is the alignment of the different manufacturers and exhibitors with the objectives and aspirations of our governments in the continent.
As a matter of fact, each and every administration in our continent has an approved budgetary process for equipment and infrastructure roll out on an annual basis. The purchase of such equipment however, still happens independently and in an uncoordinated manner from one administration to another. Quiet often there are huge price differential for the guarantees and purchase of similar equipment between administrations. It is therefore my proposal that in your deliberations during this conference you possibly consider some form of coordinated and common procurement method, which must ensure that Africa gets the best deal based on the economy of scales and cooperation amongst our administrations.
The theme of this conference, "Making IT work for Africa" is very pertinent to our circumstances today and couldn’t have been chosen at a better time. We need to make IT work for Africa and not the other way round. The difference between Africa working for IT or IT working for Africa is quite substantial and will to a large extend be determined by the quality of the policy, legislation and regulatory processes that we develop and the speed at which these for our ICT sectors in this continent.
The phenomenon of globalisation alone has made the issue of the ICT development for Africa a matter of priority that must be viewed very urgently. In the past industrial world, globalisation meant isolation of Africa from global events and now in the information dispensation Globalisation means marginalisation. To most of the developed countries it may have meant progress, but to the underdeveloped world it has been a cruel plot against the poor and has as a result created suspicious circumstances requiring effective policy response.
Globalisation however, is irreversible and not optional, it has its set of opportunities and challenges and it is moving at a very dangerous speed. Our continent still lacks capacity and infrastructure to deal with it and our governments and states have not yet provided the governance conditions and systems to respond to globalisation in such a way that the process and institutions of global governance work to end poverty and underdevelopment. The danger of marginalisation therefore is more rapid than before and more difficult to break from once it gains a foothold.
Globalisation limits the sovereignty of our countries and redefines social boundaries for our governments; as a result, the community to which the state is accountable becomes blurred, because globalisation requires that the state redefines its frame of reference which is its bounded national communities. The national communities therefore loose their channel of political representation and the possibility exist that the state may loose its role of social protection to the citizens. This can undermines the legitimacy and autonomy of the state because it looses its appeal as the provider of last resort.
This means that our previous views on technological advances and perception about the world in which we live do not apply to new historical realities. In fact, the most certain thing about the times in which we live in is that the future is no longer what it used to be. Africa needs to find a way to substantively and speedily address the infrastructure rollout and capacity building of the ICT sector. Already we are late as a continent to implement the latter and are now only hoping for a miracle to allow us to roll out infrastructure and build capacity.
The United Nations 55th General Assembly (also called the "Millennium Summit") that is due in September 2000 has prioritised the discussions on ICT infrastructure development and capacity building in developing countries as one of its key objective. An expert report on the subject by a study committee appointed by the United Nations will be presented at this summit for approval. The approval of this report by the United Nations will obviously have historic consequences in respect of the ICT policy framework and legislation in Africa. The report purports to present a global plan for detailed ICT rollout for the underdeveloped countries.
The problem is that Africa has had very minimal input into the report of this committee due to lack of proper coordination amongst us. As a result our countries may find themselves obliged to adopt policy that is forced by global circumstances. It is therefore important that we caucus amongst ourselves during this conference and establish some common understanding of the issues so that when we go back to our countries we can advise our Presidents on the input to be provided at the Millennium Summit.
I have also noted with interest the range of topics to be presented and discusses during this conference and an outstanding topic seem to be the e-business and it’s associated policy jigsaw puzzle applications. The Department of Communications has now completed draft policy document for both the ICT and E-Commerce, we hope to have legislation soon. This conference is an opportunity for us to learn and test the ideas in our policies. We would like to see Africa’s e-services revolution take off soon and in a strong way.
What we need to bear in mind at all times during this conference is that we have come here to make IT work for Africa and not necessarily to intellectualise about global IT scenarios. We have also not come to condemn Africa or to shop from the exhibitors. It is therefore important that we come out with some clear understanding of the issues and the way forward. This conference may not have a mandate to implement agreements or bind resultant relations but what needs to happen is that even as we voluntarily share information, we also need to share our findings and recommendations with other similar forums in the continent, with regional bilateral and multilateral organisations and with the relevant institutions in our countries.
The most important thing to realise is that Africa is e-absent right now. It is not helpful to try to distort this fact. The demand for e-services though potentially exist, has not been created, encouraged, pursued and materialised. Our tariff structures, especially in respect of local call charges for Internet virtually inhibit and discourage the growth of e-services, this is in addition to lack of infrastructure and capacity. The monolithic approach to e-commerce also makes this business very unfriendly since even with this high tech environment we still have to do the operations ourselves. I hope this conference will investigate more modular approaches to the implementation of IT technologies that will allow E-Business to do the job for us and to do the job for Africa. I hope the theme of this conference proposes to achieve precisely this objective.
Making IT work for Africa requires for Africa to have both IT infrastructure and capacity, and coherent policy framework that is conducive to growth and backed by reasonable demand for services. This is the challenge for this conference which will be the yardstick for success.
Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that I have not interfered with the legitimate objectives and expectations of this conference and have not added any additional burden to both the organisers and the participants. I am confident that this conference is capable to meet its own challenges and I wish the conference and its proceedings well. I thank the organisers of the conference once more for the glory and honour bestowed on me and I confer my most heartfelt gratitude for the opportunity not only to speak but also to interact and network with fellow colleagues from the industry and the continent.
I now proceed to declare this conference opened and may God bless each one of you in your deliberations of the next three days.
I thank you.