Government has given the impression that it doesn't understand and doesn't believe in the importance and needs of the software development industry, says Viola Manuel, executive director of the Cape IT Initiative (CITI).
Speaking on the sidelines of the Software Engineering Colloquium in Cape Town, Manuel said the current business process outsourcing (BPO) initiatives being promoted by government offer an immediate job-creation mechanism at the risk of the long-term deterioration of the local software industry.
"Currently, government is promoting job creation - a central part of its ASGISA (Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for SA), but it doesn't seem to understand that the software industry needs support in order to grow," she said.
The colloquium, hosted by CITI, attracted a small but vocal turnout from industry and academia. But although the Provincial Government of the Western Cape and the City of Cape Town were sponsors, there was very little input from all tiers of government.
"While job creation and the benefits to the poor are important, what government doesn't realise is that for every one job created in the software industry, another four are created in the economy," Manuel said.
Her comments were supported by David Hislop, the technical convener of the colloquium, who said: "Government makes statements, such as the promotion of free and open source software, however, in practice, there is very little, if any follow-through."
Raven Naidoo, chairman of CITI, opened the Colloquium by saying: "SA cannot be a services sweatshop and must move beyond singular success stories."
Naidoo was saying that, while some success stories had come out of SA, the country was not geared to be a software development powerhouse such as India.
Manuel says CITI was embarking on more extensive research on the importance of the ICT sector to the Western Cape.
The research, to be conducted by international research firm Frost & Sullivan, will comprise two phases. The first phase will be a basic census of the estimated 650 IT firms located in the province and to be completed by end June. The second phase will be more in-depth and examine issues such as what their markets are, Manuel says.
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