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Tech can transform the world of work

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 19 Jul 2018
Former US president Barack Obama delivered this year's Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture. (Photo source: GCIS)
Former US president Barack Obama delivered this year's Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture. (Photo source: GCIS)

Technological advancements call on more imaginative ways to provide work that is meaningful.

This was the sentiment shared by former US president Barack Obama, who delivered the 2018 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium earlier this week.

Now in its 16th year, the flagship programme is organised by the Nelson Mandela Foundation and seeks to honour its founder, Nelson Mandela. Held under the theme: "Renewing the Mandela Legacy and Promoting Active Citizenship in a Changing World", this year's lecture marked the centennial celebration of Mandela's birth.

During his speech, Obama noted technology is the biggest challenge to workers in countries like his today.

He is of the view this will be the same challenge president Cyril Ramaphosa will be faced with when thinking about how to provide employment to more people.

He explained: "Artificial intelligence is here and it is accelerating, and you're going to have driverless cars, and you're going to have more and more automated services, and that's going to make the job of giving everybody work that is meaningful tougher, and we're going to have to be more imaginative, and the pace of change is going to require us to do more fundamental reimagining of our social and political arrangements, to protect the economic security and the dignity that comes with a job. It's not just money that a job provides, it provides dignity and structure and a sense of place and a sense of purpose.

"And so we're going to have to consider new ways of thinking about these problems, like a universal income, review of our work week, how we retrain our young people, how we make everybody an entrepreneur at some level."

Since taking office, Ramaphosa's administration has given much attention to the fourth industrial revolution and how SA needs to prepare for jobs of the future.

Home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba, speaking at the fourth BRICS Youth Summit yesterday, said by 2050, Africa will have one of the largest workforces in the world with one billion young people.

Gigaba noted the country's education systems need to adapt to these changes and empower the youth for their current and future role to lead these dynamic societies and changes.

"The challenge before all of us and the challenge for you is to build economies and societies which equip young people with the tools and ecosystems to create and take advantage of economic opportunities."

He concluded by saying SA needs to grow faster to create opportunities for the many young people who are unemployed, while coming up with new ideas and perspectives on how to advance growth and transformation.

"BRICS youth need to participate in policy debates and policy formulation processes. You need to weigh in with your perspectives, experiences and proposals to influence the policies which will shape the economy."

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