Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services Budget Speech

Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Mr Siyabonga Cwele, gave his Budget Vote Speech on the 16 July 2014

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Moving South Africa to a Digital Future

Honourable Chair,
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Honourable Members of the House,
Leaders of the ICT industry and State-Owned Companies,
Fellow South Africans,

I am pleased to lead the policy debate for Budget Vote 27: Communications, which was introduced in parliament in February this year. After the renewal of the ANC government mandate in the May 2014 elections, His Excellency President Zuma reorganised the state to implement policy more efficiently and faster to achieve the National Development Plan outcomes we have set for ourselves in the next five years.

The newly formed Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services will draw on this budget until we conclude the new budget processes or adjustment estimates. This transition will enable us to transform current government programmes to be in line with the new Medium Term Expenditure Framework.

Last month, His Excellency President JG Zuma announced in his State of the Nation address that in the next five years “We will expand, modernise and increase the affordability of information and communications infrastructure and electronic communication services, including broadband and digital broadcasting.”

This Budget Vote is significant as we are a mere two days from celebrating Mandela Day. Let us continue to honour the memory of our icon Mandela so that the world reverberates with the greatness of his humanity for centuries to come.

In 2009, via videolink, Mandela informed the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) that, “information and communication technologies are the single most powerful tool we have for human progress.” He implored the ITU to, “support efforts to connect the world and bridge the digital divide.” His words continue to guide us today, to ‘Take Action’ and ‘Inspire Change.’ Which is why on Friday we will devote 67 minutes and more to cleaning classrooms and bridging the digital divide by launching an ICT Lab at the Mshadza High School in White River, Mpumalanga. 

Honourable Chair,

The telecommunications revenues that were a paltry R2 billion before democracy, grew to approximately R179 billion in 2011 and this is expected to increase to R187 billion by 2016.

The mobile sector was introduced just before 1994 with two operators. Through our regulatory and policy measures, including spectrum allocation and the raising of call termination rates, we supported the incubation and massive growth of these operators. In the last ten years we introduced two additional cellphone providers. It is in this vein we should collectively continue to support new entrants to the market as we strive to increase competition and decrease costs.

Distinguished guests,

We present to you a Budget Vote signifying a more focused attention on infrastructure roll-out, the creation and acceleration of the expansion of e-government services, the coordination and streamlining of public entities in the sector as a well as a reconfigured department which will ensure policy and regulatory certainty within the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector.

The rapid deployment of fast and affordable broadband infrastructure remains a powerful lever to create an internationally competitive knowledge economy, improve productivity and expand access to new markets and social development.

Currently, the backbone of broadband infrastructure, which is fixed line fibre, now reaches 170 000 kilometres, linking cities and small towns. We will focus on closing infrastructure gaps with respect to the urban and rural divide, and access networks which will facilitate fibre to the home.

We must move away from over-reliance on mobile broadband as it will not be sufficient for ensuring effective e-service delivery in schools, health facilities and other government institutions. Our National Broadband Policy, SA Connect, places the department in a position to coordinate and support the roll-out of broadband infrastructure and services across the country, to achieve 100% broadband penetration by 2020.

In the current financial year, R20 milllion has been allocated for the finalisation of the first phase of the broadband plan. By end of this month, the business case will be finalised that seeks funding to connect 580 clinics, 4 444 schools, 182 police stations, and 572 other government offices in the medium term.

In fulfilling its coordination role, the department is engaging industry to establish their broadband roll-out plans in order to avoid infrastructure duplication. There are multiple broadband initiatives by various spheres of government, state-owned entities and the private sector which must be coordinated to maximise efficiency of investment.

As the chairperson of Strategic Integrated Project (SIP)-15, we plan to utilise this platform to coordinate the role of public institutions in the roll-out of broadband infrastructure and services. We will establish and operationalise a platform of engagement to facilitate an alignment of rollout plans.  The role of SIP-15, whose focus is on expanding access to communications technology, aims to create new jobs, unlock business opportunities, transform the ICT landscape and support the integration of African economies.

To this end, we will also focus on local production of content and manufacturing, research and innovation, content and applications development, ICT skills and human resources development, funding for the roll-out of broadband infrastructure, coordination across governments and the private sector as well as broadcasting digital migration.

We recognise that government cannot achieve this alone. The National Broadband Advisory Council is a critical platform of engagement to forge partnership between government, private sector, academia, and civil society. All role-players must align their plans to meet the SA Connect targets.

Honourable Members,

The duplication of public and private infrastructure poses a challenge as it contributes to high deployment costs, which is ultimately passed on to consumers. To address these bottlenecks we will seek to direct Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) to formulate regulations for infrastructure and facility sharing. These regulations will look into how public networks can be offered on a common carrier basis so as to facilitate cost savings and the entry of many players and the enhancement of competition.

Government is committed to the establishment of an Open Access regime that allows those without access to critical public input resources like the spectrum, way leaves, rights of way and high sites, to enter the market on the same conditions as those who own the infrastructure. To this end the department will finalise, by October this year, a study on the Open Access Network that will inform how critical resources can be leveraged to ensure a competitive and open market that will unleash competition to drive down the cost to communicate in South Africa.

We acknowledge the efforts of industry in reducing prepaid mobile costs and the reduction in the mobile termination rates. Our high cost to communicate remains an impediment to ICT uptake and usage by citizens, businesses and government. It contributes a substantial input costs which discourages investment.  We therefore appeal to industry to continue on this path. Government seeks to establish an environment in which the cost to communicate is affordable to all South Africans.

Our Cost to Communicate programme has four elements:

Firstly, the department and ICASA have concluded the broadband market value-chain study. The outcome of the study is being used to assist ICASA to develop regulations for broadband pricing.

Secondly, in the course of this financial year, the Department will undertake a national roaming study to determine cost implications, including discriminatory behaviour particularly for new entrants and smaller operators.

Thirdly, in September 2014, I will be directing ICASA to develop regulations on pricing transparency, to insist that companies  transform their pricing structure to enable consumers to have a clear understanding of the true costs for the services they pay for. In this manner the true rate for a service will be disclosed upfront to enable the consumers to exercise their choice.

Lastly, we intend to direct ICASA to develop regulations in respect of the premium content which to aims to regulate how different broadcasters will access premium content for their services. This premium content relates to content such as sport rights, films and other content previously accessed through exclusive terms.

For us to have a sustainable and thriving sector, we need to ensure that there is a policy and regulatory environment that is conducive to the entrance and sustainability of new players in the market. It is in our national interest to grow the sector and promote competition in order to drive down costs and create job opportunities.

Digital migration

There is no doubt that our digital migration process has faced many challenges. The June 2015 deadline looms before us and we dare not let our people down. I have taken the decision to move forward with the Broadcasting Digital Migration (BDM) programme.

By the end of the this month, the final BDM policy, which had been subject to public consultation, will be gazetted. Within three months we will designate the date of the start of the Digital Switch On. This designation will allow the industry, manufacturers and tv-owning households to prepare accordingly in order to purchase and install Set-Top Boxes that will make the digital switchover possible. The benefits of this will include facilitating the release of spectrum, increasing the number of television channels available and stimulating local production. The ring-fenced budget for Broadband Digital Migration is R2.97 billion.

The postal sector

The postal sector can make a larger contribution to the Gross domestic product (GDP), as well as to advance universal services and access goals. The current market structure which consists of the reserved, which refers to packages below 1 kilogram, and the unreserved markets, is not adequately regulated. This results in challenges to enforce policy and regulations.

There is an indication that the reserved market which is a monopoly area for South African Post Office (SAPO) is highly saturated with unlicensed operators. This practice needs urgent attention by the Regulator working closely with other  enforcement agencies. The ICT Policy Review process will also make recommendations by the end of this financial year in respect of the market structure and other regulatory measures.

South African Post Office

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A massive Post Office network has been rolled out reaching more than 2 433 outlets of which 1 763 are located in rural areas thus providing a multiplicity of services to the marginalised communities. SAPO is currently facing financial and sustainability challenges with a number of its subsidiaries incurring financial losses coupled with numerous labour strikes.

I have directed SAPO to develop an overall turnaround strategy which will be finalised by the end of November 2014. The department will oversee the development of this overall turnaround strategy.

Postbank

It is critical that we utilise SAPO’s infrastructure footprint to provide affordable financial services to the underserved and unbanked, especially in the rural areas. Therefore the successful turnaround of SAPO is critical to the corporatisation of the Postbank, taking into account the role that SAPO has as the bank’s holding company. The department will facilitate the registration of the Postbank Company, as a bank in terms of the Banks Act, by December 2014.

Improving service delivery/e-Government

Government is moving towards rendering its services and information to the public using electronic means to optimise service delivery. Our objective is to provide and maintain transversal information systems and develop e-Government platforms, for use by departments to deliver services online to citizens. In this regard, the department will coordinate work with other frontline government departments that provide services to the public. Through SITA, over the next five years, a significant number of government services will be available online. Of course, the success of this is depedent on the massive deployment of e-skills. The Deputy Minister will deal with this in more detail.

Cybersecurity

In ensuring that our network infrastructure is safe, secure and robust and that individuals and businesses have confidence in using ICT infrastructure, we will finalise the establishment of the Cybersecurity Hub. This Cybersecurity Hub will be established by the end of this year. The function of the hub is to promote best practice, compliance with standards, procedures and develop related cyber security policies that affect the public and private sectors.

SA competitiveness

We have taken note of the drop in international rankings in respect of the country’s global competitiveness. Certainly, we will work more cohesively to ensure that information on ICT is collected, collated and reported timeously. This will be the first step in raising our rankings. Other measures include identifying areas for improvement and ensuring that we take steps to remedy our shortcomings.

Oversight

Government will continue to extend its oversight on state-owned entities to improve service delivery to our people. We have completed a process of reviewing and enacting new Memoranda of Incorporation for Sentech, SAPO and Nemisa to improve corporate governance. We will also enter into performance agreements with Boards to improve accountability.

International

ICTs are a force for globalisation, increasingly connecting people and organisations across the world. It follows, increasingly we must seek global solutions and share best practices in order to realise a people centred, development orientated, inclusive Information Society. For this reason, South Africa will remain active in the International Telecommunications Union, and the Universal Postal Union. Our focus will be two-fold. We will seek to harness the expertise residing in these organisations to address the socio-economic challenges we face, including capacity building, rural development and inequality, and bridging the digital divide.  At the same time we will work closely with the rest of Africa and other developing countries to ensure that these global organisations continue to respond to the needs of developing countries. We will be engaging on the issue of internet governance and will adopt a multi-lateral approach in this matter.

Honourable Members,

We will continue to build on the foundation laid by former Minister Carrim and his predecessors. I will exercise effective oversight over the department so as to ensure delivery of our key priorities and a clean audit. We will do things differently. The management of the department will be held to account within our legal framework. I appeal for a speedy finalisation of the outstanding investigations led by the Special Investigating Unit. I assure the House that where necessary, action will be taken.

Conclusion

Members of the House,

I would like to thank the Portfolio Committees on Telecommunications and Postal Services and the Portfolio Committee on Communications for providing us with direction on how to move the sector forward.

I also thank the Deputy Minister, Professor Hlengiwe Mkhize.

I also look forward to fostering partnerhips with the the Chairpersons and CEOs of the various entities and the ICT industry leaders.

My gratitude also goes to the Director-General and staff of the department and Ministry. The hard work now lies ahead.

I urge the House to approve this Budget Vote of the Department of Communications of R1,59 billion.

Let’s Move South Africa Forward.

I thank you.

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Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Ms Hlengiwe Mkhize, gave her Budget Vote Speech on the 16 July 2014

Theme: “Moving South Africa into a Digital Economy”

Honourable Chairperson of the House,
Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Honourable Dr Siyabonga Cwele,
Honourable Ministers of Communications, Ms Faith Muthambi and Deputy Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams,
Honurable Ministers and Deputy Ministers in attendance,
Honourable Members of the House,
Chairpersons and Members of the Portfolio Committees on Telecommunications and Postal Services and Communication respectively,
Chairpersons and Members of the Select Committees,
Distinguished guests from the ICT sector,
Organised Labour
Ladies and gentlemen.

The ruling party has mandated its government to embark on radical economic transformation so as to tackle the triple challenge, namely, inequity, poverty, and high levels of unemployment.

Our people have called upon us to initiate programmes and activities that support the acceleration of the new economic growth path. Our strategic focus must therefore seek to guarantee that ICTs make their substantive contribution as an enabler and a leader for economic growth, positively influence job creation and transform South Africa into one of the most inclusive developing countries.

We acknowledge with pride that the number of people employed in the sector has increased significantly. The ICT sector now employs thousands in the networks, services, IT companies, call centres, data centres, applications and content environments, and contributes about 8% to the GDP.

The Industrial Policy Action Plan has identified the ICT sector as key to promoting industrialisation and growth. South Africa already hosts a considerable number of global operations in the Business Processing Services and Outsourcing sector, giving support to approximately 14 000 jobs, servicing international customers in areas that includes telecoms, online retailing, insurance and media. The Government’s short to medium-term objective is to grow this figure to 40 000. In South Africa, this industry is estimated to be growing at approximately 3.3% a year and its size in 2012 stood at about $150 billion. It is the intention of this government to increase the growth rate of this sector through the priorities that are being outlined.

The National Development Plan Vision 2030 also recognises the significant role ICTs can play to accelerate economic growth.

Chairperson, the NDP identifies a number of factors slowing down development of the ICT sector such as ’policy constraints, weaknesses in institutional arrangements, regulatory failure and limited competition” as well as “the inability of the regulator, to open the market”. The NDP further notes that ICASA’s “work has been hampered by legal bottlenecks, limited capacity and expertise”. These challenges have weakened the market growth making it difficult for the sector to deliver in terms of ICTs for development (ICT4D).

These constraining factors are addressed in the strategic thrusts of our programme, which relate to:

• Creating appropriate conditions for the managed liberalisation of the sector
• Transforming and democratising the sector
• Ensuring universality and affordability of ICT services to the people
• Ensuring access to updated and latest technological innovations in the sector and the modernising and expansion of the ICT infrastructure in the country.

The ICASA 2014-2018  Strategic Plan articulates the vision of the Regulator  in dealing with the promotion of competition, protecting consumers to ensure universal service and access to all communication services at affordable rates, promoting the efficient use of spectrum and numbering resources and facilitating nation-wide broadband penetration by 2020. Within the ITU and the World Radio Conference (WRC-15), we hope to position our country, as a leader in ensuring that this natural and scarce resource is used to develop our people holistically whilst growing the business and ensuring universality and affordability of ICT services to the people.

During the 53rd Conference of the African National Congress, delegates pronounced that “ICT is a critical factor of economic activity in an increasingly networked world. It is critical for South Africa to remain globally competitive. The sector needs long-term policy certainly to be in a position to take the country into the next trajectory.”

The ruling party in its manifesto then assigned this Ministry to focus on investment in a comprehensive plan to expand broadband access throughout the country and substantially reduce the cost of communication and promote economic growth.

The South Africa Connect Broadband Policy of the department has to be implemented. This will go a long way in ensuring that Universal Access is achieved as outlined within the NDP. But mostly it is a huge investment to attract direct foreign investment and optimal use of the undersea cables that we have installed as South Africa.

Chairperson, the often uncoordinated and fragmented infrastructure initiatives is a key weakness that results in unwarranted duplication of resources that ultimately leads to higher cost of services and inhibits further roll out of networks.

The department will continuously improve guidelines for Operators to share operator specific infrastructure to avoid duplicating infrastructure in the same areas. This would result in the country saving costs. Likewise, harmonising related infrastructure development by relevant ministries such as Transport and Energy to ensure provision of cable ducts in the design of roads, pipelines, railways and power lines will go a long way in alleviating the cost burden of deploying fibre networks.

The department will ensure a close relationship with all the affected entities in order to ensure coordinated efforts towards rollout of services which share passive infrastructures. In this regard, the Regulator will publish Infrastructure Sharing regulations by end of the financial year.

Chairperson, the Department will also foster partnerships with other government entities to ensure a speedy and effective deployment of services, particularly the Department of Public Works where there are regular excavations of roads Infrastructure. The persistent duplication of resources by Operators installing core cabling infrastructure in the same place at different times is a challenge to development. Further the loss of opportunity in building communication infrastructure during deployment of roads, power, water and other utility networks needs to be minimised.

In December 2012, the Presidential Infrastructure Coordination Commission (PICC) launched the Strategic Integrated Project (SIP) 15: Expanding Access to Communication Technology.

Chairperson, it is important that the configuration of some of the State Owned Company be reviewed in order to achieve the objectives of SIP 15. The Department is on track in positioning our agencies like Postbank, Telkom, Sentech and our Post Office services, amongst others, in infrastructure roll out and possible spectrum re-allocation so as to ensure penetration in rural communities. Chairperson, let me re-iterate the need for financial inclusion and access to the unbanked is crucial, hence the Postbank is underway.

The department will encourage a multi-pronged partnership strategy. The strategy is to ensure that various government partners such as USSAASA partner with a number of sector entities, who will bring a range of unique public access solutions that will assist the agency in fulfilling its mandate, further the goals of an inclusive information society and encourage entrepreneurship in under-serviced communities.

The department has also been playing an influential role in championing the interests of the continent. One of the key partnerships is the one that we are working towards with the Government of Lesotho. The project is to connect Lesotho to the EASSy submarine cable. Once complete, the connection will open numerous economic opportunities to the youth of Lesotho.

South Africa has been honoured to be awarded a seat on the ITU Council. We look forward to ensuring that South Africa remains committed to the world and will build strong partnerships for policy development with UNDP, UPU, UNESCO, WHO and OECD. Our partnership with the EU Dialogue Facility on ICTs is getting stronger by day. We have been promised another allocation. We therefore appreciate this partnership, the SA/EU partnership.

We also acknowledge contributions of most of our operators, like Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Neotel Telkom and other role players in the sector. We expect more commitments towards a developmental agenda beyond their compliance to licensing obligation.

Chairperson, access and utilisation of spectrum is the backbone of all types of radio communications. Work with ICASA and industry to maximise the efficient management and utilisation of national radio frequency spectrum assets to maximize the benefits to South African consumers and industry is in progress.

The deployment of ICT infrastructure is dependent on how effective and efficient the country is in regard to the management of the radio frequency spectrum-a natural scarce resource. As technology evolves, the country should adopt technologies that are efficient in the usage of the spectrum. In this connection, measures to ensure efficient use of radio-frequency spectrum to meet the developmental objectives shall be accelerated.

Chairperson, on women empowerment, one of the Eight (8) pillars of the Millennium Development Goals is to ensure gender equality and we harness the power of ICT to ensure that this goal is realised. The department is in the process of facilitating the establishment of the ICT B-BBEE Charter Council to support the Government’s priority of using Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment to transform our sector and society.

The Council will take responsibility for the annual monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the ICT B-BBEE Sector Code.

The Charter Council’s first priority is to ensure the alignment of the Sector Code with the Generic Code. I therefore encourage all ICT Sector role players to actively support and constructively participate in this process to ensure the achievement of the B-BBEE objectives and the transformation of the sector.

The monitoring and reporting function of the ICT B-BBEE is the department’s most direct programme that supports the Government’s goal of creating black industrialists in all sectors. To encourage the sector to make a meaningful investment in transformation, we encourage the State-Owned Companies that report to us to give us their plans on how they intend to meet the Government’s commitment of supporting local procurement by 75%. We expect these reports by the end of March 2015.

We are also focused on finalising the Sectoral Strategy on Electronics Manufacturing. Part of this work will include convening a workshop with the ICT industry to highlight market access opportunities identified in the on-going trade negotiations including existing bilateral agreements. Our interventions in this sector will have a deliberate slant towards women, the youth and the disabled, as the Minister outlined.

The ICT sector can facilitate a more inclusive society by empowering the women, the youth and the disabled to be able to take advantage of this growing sector economically, socially, culturally and politically. The importance of ensuring that the advances of technology take on board all South Africans was underscored by the trends we observed during the ICT Policy Review Public Hearings.

In this regard, in two weeks, we shall partner with the industry as we launch the Women in ICTs Forum, which will serve as a think tank to monitor and advise on gender transformation in the sector.

Chairperson, in partnership with the Education Ministry, we are in a long-term, inter-generational issues of weak education and weak (particularly ICT) skills in the country. We therefore demand stimulation through ICT skills development to be a core policy issue for the ICT sector. Likewise, the funding of, and incentivising of, innovation and entrepreneurship in this sector also needs to be addressed by the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services and other arms of government, chiefly the Departments of Trade and Industry and Science and Technology.

For South Africa to maximise the benefits of ICT we need to develop the skills that will drive the roll-out of infrastructure and the development of relevant content for social, business and government use. To make sure that no one is left out of this information society we need to eradicate illiteracy and make sure that ICT forms an integral part of service delivery government. The department has been working with the industry on a capacity development programme in schools and communities at large and we encourage further support from industry in this regard.

Chairperson, on Strengthening of Strategic Partnerships Over the next five years, The Department will consolidate the partnerships we already have with academic institutions. We’ll also expand them to ensure that investment by the public and private sectors has a greater impact in improving the technology skills required by our country to remain competitive in a fast digitising world.

Furthermore, It has to be noted that today, scores of South Africa’s youth can dream of having careers in areas that many of us were barred from, simply because of the colour of our skin. Some of this young talent is nurtured at the Ikamva National eSkills Institute, where this year’s students graduated last month. Indeed, South Africa is a much better place to live in now than it was in 1994. These types of partnerships have to be expanded.

I’m glad to say that many of these form the core of iNeSI’s operations to date. R51.4 Million has been set-aside to fund this e-skilling programme.

We are engaging with the Higher Education Department and other Government Departments and the private sector to identify other training programmes that can be integrated into the National e-Skills Training Programme.

Chairperson, the youth of this country are very techno-smart and highly innovative. Our department will create more opportunities to unleash such talents.

There will also be interdepartmental alignment of plans in order to ensure that the full benefit of the ICT is harnessed. Before the end of October 2014, the Department will organise a workshop with the Department of Education, all MECs of education and other partners to align their plans on education to ensure that we unleash the full transformative power of ICT in education.

The initiative by the Gauteng Department of Education of e-learning particularly use of the textbooks in the form of eBooks will be encouraged to ensure that the initiative is adopted by the rest of the other provinces.

Chairperson, on personal identity security matter, the identity theft has proven to be a very concerning recent phenomenon. In March 2014 it was learned two passengers with stolen passports were on board in the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 which went missing on 8 March 2014. South Africa has therefore a huge responsibility to ensure that the identity of its Citizens is protected. The Department together with the responsible entities will ensure the right to privacy through the use of secured ICT systems.

In order to ensure effective and efficient service delivery the department will ensure that ICT applications such as e-Government are fully implemented and functional. The Proposed National Integrated ICT Policy indicates that the South African Government has established statutory bodies to coordinate the implementation of e-Government services. Amongst these are the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) and Government Information Officer Council.

The department will ensure a close monitoring over these entities to ensure that e-Government is fully functional. Some of the e-Government services which will receive the department attention are e-Filling such as one similar to the electronic filling for tax returns used by SARS, e-Health and e-Education.

We therefore as we have been doing and aim to expand connecting all schools, public health and other government facilities through broadband, and at least 90% of our communities should have substantial and superfast broadband capacity by 2020. This government is delivering on its promises and can be trusted in these matters. Government has invested in supporting local government to rolling out of free-WiFi areas in cities, towns and rural areas.

The city of Tshwane and Cape Town have already started; this is located in their IDPs and MIGs. The local electronics sector and emerging entrepreneurs will be stimulated as part of our efforts to support the manufacturing industry. In this regard, our department has developed the ICT Electronic Manufacturing Strategy to the Employment and Economic Cluster to stimulate local electronic industry development.

We welcome the designation by the Department of Trade and Industry (the DTI) of ICT Special Economic Zone in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. We will work together with the DTI to make the designated groups within the ICT sector aware of these opportunities. Not only will these Special Economic Zones create job opportunities, but will also provide structured support for new entrepreneurs by virtue of incentives available in these Special Economic Zones.

We will continue our collaboration with the Departments of Trade and Industry, and Science and Technology to further identify niche areas for support of the Electronics Manufacturing Sector. We need to see ICT not just as an enabler of economic development, but also as a pillar of the economy – the Digital Economy. We therefore need to transform the economy to one that is knowledge based, innovative and globally competitive. Moving forward, our focus will be on localization, which refers to locally produced goods and content, and support for SMMEs and youth business incubators by the end of the financial year.

Working together with the DTI, we will conclude the programme of action on 30% local content for the electronics sector by November 2014, for implementation in this financial year.

Chairperson, on moving South Africa into Digital Economy, access to good and reliable ICT is important for the economic growth prospects of poor countries as no country can prosper without links to the world economy. Providing access to better information and communication flows through reliable infrastructure is an important precondition for fostering economic growth at a macro level. But this is not sufficient to avoid deleterious micro economic effects.

Without intervening government policies, the benefits of that growth could be distributed very unequally within a society. Therefore, addressing directly the specific information and communication needs of the poor should form an important component of a wider strategy to tackle poverty in low-income and rural communities. The department will work closely with the regulator to ensure that policies which are pro-poor are finalised and implemented in order to ensure universal access and benefit for the digital economy

There can never be an economic inclusivity of the less privileged without access to infrastructure which will ensure timely access to information.  The Department will continue with the programme to corporatise the Post Bank. In this regard, we will, within a month, develop a road map towards implementation of the Postbank Act. We will fulfil the mandate of Government in bringing services to the people.

With regards to persons with disabilities, technology is both enabling and empowering. The appropriate application of technology can significantly improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities. In this regard, our department will connect 25 institutions for persons with special needs in this financial year. 

Chairperson, in conclusion, we can only achieve an inclusive Information Society if we all work together. This we can do in memory of the late Minister Roy Padayachie, who passionately drove the ICT Industry collaboration initiative together with the captains of the ICT Industry through the formation of the ICT Industry Working Group and its related Work-streams focused on key sector priorities.

We need to review our work in the sector, align future plans and eliminate competition that can erode the gains we have made. It is our responsibility to jealously guard our freedoms and entrench our democracy. We can achieve this by vigilantly seeking partnerships that will take South Africa forward faster. As we do this, we need to ensure that the ICT interests of all citizens are protected.

It is fitting to acknowledge a huge contribution made by the late Minister of Communications, Minister Ivy Matsepe Casaburri, on the significance of women’s access to ICTs and the use of technologies within the context of inclusion to the economy. The industry will recall her passion, drive and determination to transform this sector.

Together we can move South Africa forward.