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Cwele unveils National ICT Forum

Martin Czernowalow
By Martin Czernowalow, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 15 May 2015
The forum is a platform for engagement around how best to use technology to modernise society, says telecoms and postal services minister Siyabonga Cwele.
The forum is a platform for engagement around how best to use technology to modernise society, says telecoms and postal services minister Siyabonga Cwele.

Telecommunications and postal services minister Siyabonga Cwele unveiled the National ICT Forum in Johannesburg today, insisting the initiative was not just another "talk shop".

Cwele stated the initiative is aimed at bringing together government, labour, civil society and business to discuss ways of boosting SA's global competitiveness and accelerate socio-economic development by harnessing technology.

The ICT Forum, Cwele explained, would be a strategic platform to drive engagement between South Africans around how best to use technology to modernise and transform society, create jobs and reduce inequalities.

"High-speed Internet - or broadband - has been, over the past three decades, the driving force behind the socio-economic revolution, through its capacity to transmit large amounts of information within nations and across borders," Cwele noted.

"This revolution has resulted in what we now call the modern society or information society that has transformed the way we relate to each other and the way we relate to society. In short, ICT has delivered different enablers of socio-economic activities in this increasingly interconnected world."

However, he pointed out the global ICT revolution does not allocate resources equally, but does create opportunities for those who actively take advantage of it.

"If we fly on autopilot, it will continue to shackle the inequalities within and between communities and countries. The objective of our government is produce an inclusive information society."

The forum is made up of four "chambers":

  • Social
  • Economic
  • Governance and security
  • ICTs and disability

Cwele insisted the National ICT Forum would produce tangible outcomes, saying government had work to do and targets to meet. The country, he said, requires long-term policy certainty, and the National ICT Forum would allow government and other stakeholders to engage on critical ICT issues.

The forum has a budget of just under R1 million, and will meet at least twice a year, while the different chambers are expected to meet three times a year.

Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of telecoms and postal services Marian Shinn expressed scepticism about the forum ahead of its launch.

Shinn said Cwele had created another talk shop and "is reinventing the wheel of government/ICT sector engagement". She added no mention of the event is made on the DTPS Web site or its calendar. "The minister made no mention of it when he presented the department's strategic and annual performance plans in April."

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