South Africa will be turned into a construction site, says president Cyril Ramaphosa, noting these plans include provision of broadband fibre.
The president made the remarks during his Opening of Parliament Address (OPA), which he delivered last night at Cape Town City Hall.
This year's OPA coincides with the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of SA’s constitutional democracy. It served as an opportunity for the president to articulate the seventh administration’s plans and long-term vision for the upcoming five-year term.
The seventh administration is inclusive of 10 political parties that form part of the newly-established Government of National Unity (GNU), after this year’s general elections produced no outright majority winner.
During his address, Ramaphosa outlined key technological focus areas for the new administration, saying SA has a unique opportunity to be positioned as a major player in the digital economy and create jobs in digital services.
“We will invest in digital identity and payments, expand access to affordable broadband and increase training for young people in digital skills,” he stated. “As we pursue these new areas of growth, we will continue with the far-reaching reforms that enable growth.”
South Africa’s government-driven broadband push has for many years been lacklustre. It has relied on its ambitious broadband project SA Connect to enhance connectivity.
First announced in 2013, SA Connect is the national broadband project identified by government to meet universal access to broadband services for all South Africans, initially prioritising rural and underserviced areas.
Government aims to bridge broadband connectivity gaps and seeks to achieve the targets set out in the SA Connect policy.
Due to the magnitude of the project, government determined it should be implemented in two stages. In phase one, the project aimed to connect schools, health facilities, government offices, Thusong Centres and post offices, in eight rural district municipalities, to broadband services. SA Connect phase two was approved by Cabinet in January 2022.
In this year’s National Treasury budget, it was announced that the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) will continue with phase two of SA Connect.
Supporting documents released with the 2024 budget speech showed an amount of R2.4 billion is allocated for implementing the project over the medium-term. This figure includes one-off allocations for phase two made in 2024/25 (R1.9 billion) and 2025/26 (R267.4 million).
Reacting to the president’s speech, new communications and digital technologies minister Solly Malatsi said the infrastructure that enables connectivity and smart devices are the two barriers that inhibit access to education through technology.
Malatsi added he was inspired by the president’s speech in regards to weeding out regulations that inhibit investment opportunities and eliminating them. This will unleash a new army of digital entrepreneurs and have young people enthused about learning.
“Technology can be so powerful because not every learner is going to have the means to afford public transport to go to school. If we can put connected devices in learners’ hands, the process of learning becomes much more innovative and can catch up with international trends. We will have an entire generation of young people that are empowered differently.”
Meanwhile, the president said the use of modern technology to help crime prevention efforts will continue to be a key priority of the seventh administration.
“A data-driven approach will be used to identify violent crime hotspots and inform the allocation of policing resources alongside prevention measures.”
He also committed to the GNU continuing to tackle priority crimes, including illegal mining, gang violence, cash-in-transit heists and the construction mafia, through specialised police units.
“We will continue to implement the National Strategic Plan on gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide, and expand victim support services, like the Thuthuzela Centres and GBV desks in police stations.”
Share