SA's ICT penetration is poor and rudimentary, specifically in the education and e-government sectors, because government failed to successfully communicate the linkage between ICT and development to citizens.
This was revealed by the Department of Communication's (DOC's) new eBarometer tool that measures the progress of SA's uptake and usage of ICT.
The department says this tool is a first for SA and will assist in analysing the country's e-readiness. It launched the eBarometer yesterday.
“Government needs to be informed of the impact of the ICT initiatives across multiple sectors within the country.”
The report is geared towards facilitating an evidence-based and scientific approach when planning and implementing the department's projects.
Domestic first
Speaking at the unveiling of the eBarometer yesterday, deputy minister Obed Bapela said the new tool provides an indication of where SA is in terms of ICT penetration.
“The eBarometer, as an instrument, is the first of its kind, having been developed domestically for measuring at least nine sectors.”
The sectors are individuals, households, community, business and SMMEs, government, health, education, digital local content, and the ICT sector.
Bapela said this project was done within the framework of the World Summit on Information Society, which called on countries and regions to develop tools for measuring statistical data on the progression towards an inclusive information society.
The report measured about 35 indicators and studied the movement or progress in those indicators.
Far behind
The deputy minister added that, although the DOC is happy with the report's findings on the performance of the individual, community and household, it is particularly concerned with the performance of other indicators for ICT, specifically education and government, which contributed negatively to the eBarometer index.
The community sector was the biggest contributor to the index, followed by households and then individuals.
“The education sector's adoption of ICT, which also plays a role in improving the quality of education through adoption of technologies, ensuring accessibility of information and knowledge, remains low at 0.35 CAGR [compound annual growth rate] for the period 2000 to 2009.”
The findings also demonstrate that SA's broadband Internet penetration growth rates are far lower than countries like Brazil and China.
Bapela said the means of accessing information through radio and television have not reached the required levels, particularly in rural and remote areas.
“We continue to suffer from low government ICT adoption, particularly those means of ensuring that we can make government services available online. In this area, we remain far behind.”
Lightning speed
DOC official Bandile Hadebe said the world is moving and it's moving faster than SA thinks it is.
“While there is growth, the concerning thing is the rate of growth. That's the thing that's threatening SA's position in the global society.”
In the world knowledge economy index, SA has dropped 12 points in three years.
Hadebe expressed concern at the decline of the use of ICT in education, since this speaks to the level of e-skills in the country, and if there are no e-skills in the country, the IT sector will collapse.
He also said it is the belief of scholars that SA's e-government agenda is rudimentary and that SA hasn't moved as a country in this regard.
For e-business, the eBarometer considered businesses that are ICT-related and those that make use of ICT.
“Businesses can cut costs if they adopt ICT, but we have not sold this message to the masses. Where we have failed is to successfully communicate the linkage between ICT and development.”
Hadebe concluded that the report shows poor ICT penetration in the country. Quoting the movie “A Knight's Tale” he said: “You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting.”
Reversing the negative
The department has committed to the implementation of six flagship projects, which help it change some of the issues negatively highlighted in the report, said Bapela.
He highlighted the migration of the broadcasting system from analogue to digital, which will result in more than 97% of citizens having access to radio and television; broadband infrastructure roll-out and the implementation of strategies for reducing costs of communication; and the DOC's information society and knowledge-based economy programme to ensure more ICT access centres are delivered.
Bapela also said the state-owned entities are following an alignment framework, which will see them playing a key and strategic role in the implementation of these priorities.
“We are indeed working for an innovative and globally competitive ICT industry to accelerate the development and prosperity of all South Africans - a goal which is not far to reach.”
Cumbersome data
The process of developing the eBarometer started around 2006.
Hadebe said the eBarometer is a tool that uses software to process the data, an index for the calculation of the nine measured sectors, and a report that gives a narrative description of the findings.
He explained that the need to measure stems from the need to ensure the development is actually being made. “We need to measure to make sure it's done. This system gives tangible evidence that the developments the department expected to make actually happened.”
He also said the report helps determine where SA as a country is in the information society.
The report tries to measure nine sectors, but Hadebe explained that in some cases gathering the data becomes extremely cumbersome and the resulting measurement cannot be seen as fully comprehensive.
The health sector was one example, where ICT usage is shown to be relatively high but this was because it was only measured on the number of hospitals that have electricity. Hadebe said the hope is that the information will be easier to attain for future reports.
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