President Thabo Mbeki's state of the nation address at the opening of Parliament this morning did not provide the details of the new electronic government programme as was hoped, but did reiterate government's determination to develop the South African technology sector.
Mbeki officially announced the members of his Presidential International Taskforce on Information, Society and Development, one of two bodies he said will "ensure that we do not fall further behind the rest of the world as a result of the digital divide".
Members of the taskforce include Mark Shuttleworth, billionaire founder of local company Thawte Consulting, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Carly Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard, telecommunications venture capitalist Craig McCaw of Teledesic Holdings, Volker Jung of Siemens, David Potter of Psion and Henry Chasia of Telehouse Space.
Mbeki also said that names from Cisco Systems and Sun Microsystems would be added to the list soon.
The second IT advisory body, the Presidential National Commission on Information Society and Development, is also to be established this year. The members of this body will be announced later this year, Mbeki said, and it will be constituted from representatives of both the public and private sectors.
"I am also pleased to announce that the IT companies that will be part of the Presidential Commission have already expressed their determination to work with the government significantly to increase the numbers of skilled people in his sector," he said.
Biotechnology was also singled out as an area of importance recognised by government.
"We recognise the fact that competitiveness is driven by technological advances and innovation. In recognition of this, investment in research and development is one of the focal points of our integrated plan aimed at attaining a cutting-edge in key areas such as biotechnology."
The presidential address did not provide clarity on the approach to be taken in e-government, making only a single reference to the issue.
"We are also focusing on the improvement of the quality of service delivery and efficiency in the use of public resources in all areas of government, among other things to overcome the problem of under-spending which continues to plague us," Mbeki said. "The gradual introduction of e-government will assist us greatly to overcome these problems."
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