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Cwele urges African nations to invest in ICT

Simnikiwe Mzekandaba
By Simnikiwe Mzekandaba, IT in government editor
Johannesburg, 23 Sept 2016
Minister Siyabonga Cwele says skills and content are important in driving Internet reach on the continent.
Minister Siyabonga Cwele says skills and content are important in driving Internet reach on the continent.

To increase Internet penetration in Africa, there must be a focus on skills, relevant content, affordable devices and measures to improve trust.

This is according to Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services minister Siyabonga Cwele, speaking at an Internet governance meeting in Johannesburg, yesterday.

Cwele made the comments as part of the delegation gathered ahead of the Africa Internet Governance Forum to discuss the role of the Internet to contribute towards an inclusive society.

SA has agreed to host the fifth African Internet Governance Forum, from 16 to18 October, in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.

Cwele said African countries must ensure they participate meaningfully in the Internet economy and not just as consumers.

"As a continent, we can make a business case for investment in the ICT infrastructure if we pull our efforts through regional and continental integration and alignment standards and regulation. In order to increase Internet penetration, we must also focus on skills, relevant content, affordable devices and measures to improve trust in the use of the Internet."

"There can be no successful Internet economy if we fail to build trust in the system. Citizens have to trust that they are transacting with authentic people or institutions and that the information they share online is protected. It is only when citizens increasingly trust the Internet that we can derive the full benefits and our government can improve service delivery," Cwele added.

Access for all

To show its commitment to ensure the Internet is universally accessible to all South Africans, government introduced its SA Connect policy in 2013.

The broadband policy aims to meet the technology goals of the National Development Plan and create an inclusive information society.

In terms of the SA Connect policy, government will deliver 100% connectivity for all schools, health and government facilities by 2020, and deliver widespread broadband access to 90% of the country's population by 2020, and 100% by 2030.

Cwele said on Thursday: "Our government acknowledges the importance of the Internet and has set aside funds for the initial roll-out of broadband, and identified it as one of the key enablers in the delivery of the nine-point plan to revive the economy."

Government's ambitious broadband project has, however, been plagued by a number of issues, including delays in the implementation as well as the selection of a lead agency.

Earlier this month, Cwele told ITWeb he hoped the month of September would mark the beginning of the roll-out of phase one of SA Connect. Phase one of the project will connect all schools, health facilities, government offices, Thusong Centres and post offices in eight rural district municipalities to broadband services.

Cwele said the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) had to still finalise the awarding of the tender for the broadband project.

"Much as we have budget-tightening, we do have allocation of resources to start the roll-out of phase one [of SA Connect]; we are still in the process of procurement and we really hope SITA may finalise that process," he previously noted.

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