South Africa's high turnover of communications ministers has adversely affected progress at government's integrated e-skills institute, aimed at improving citizens' access to training resources.
Professor Carina de Villiers, co-ordinator of the Gauteng co-lab of the Ikamva National e-Skills Institute (INESI), says it now falls under the newly-established Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services, while Siyabonga Cwele is the fifth minister to work with them since 2009. "We are picking up momentum with our work, following the elections but things do tend to slow down when a new minister comes in."
Cwele follows in the footsteps of Yunus Carrim, who launched the INESI in February, after government merged the National Electronic Media Institute of SA, the e-Skills Institute and the Institute of Satellite Software Applications. Dina Pule, Roy Padayachie and Siphiwe Nyanda also served as communications minister since 2009.
"We have the full support of the new minister and are working closely with him," adds De Villiers.
She says Gauteng's programme focuses on application development skills for school pupils, while business development and e-skills training are targeted at unemployed people across Gauteng and parts of Mpumalanga.
Shared research
De Villiers says the co-labs in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal are also based at tertiary institutions, while research into new curriculum developments is shared between regions.
"We've managed to connect to numerous industry partners in the work we do, while our research is published online so other regions can have access to it."
De Villiers says the Gauteng co-lab aims to develop stronger ties with local government in order to realise their service delivery objectives - something she adds other provinces have done well.
Adrian Schofield, ICT veteran, notes that effective implementation of appropriate technology objectives should be essential in all aspects of government operations, including facilitating improved access.
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