Now is the opportune moment to drive grassroots digitisation within SA’s economic and social structures, says Ryan Jamieson, CTO at Altron Karabina.
Although it is undeniably difficult to look back to February 2020 while still in the midst of a global pandemic, reflection can, in fact, reveal the many positive developments (and lessons) that the crisis has brought.
Read more: Embracing SA’s digital shifts to drive long-term economic growth post COVID-19
The lockdown proved to be an eye-opener in terms of how far South Africa must still go to overcome the digital divide, and bring millions of citizens into the digital economy.
This is according to speakers at a webinar endorsed by the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA), on narrowing the digital divide to provide available and affordable Internet access for all South Africans.
Read more: Pandemic highlights the reality of SA’s digital divide
The Department of e-Government has refuted fresh claims that management of phase two of the Gauteng Broadband Network (GBN) has been handed over to another agency.
According to Adriana Randall, Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng shadow MEC for finance and e-government, the department has turned to the Gauteng Infrastructure Funding Agency (GIFA) to implement phase two of the GBN project.
Read more: ZA: Budget pressure for phase two of Gauteng broadband project
Although it is undeniably difficult to look back to February 2020 while still in the midst of a global pandemic, reflection can, in fact, reveal the many positive developments (and lessons) that the crisis has brought.
From a digital transformation perspective, February was significant in that it marked the month of South Africa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), in which government outlined key initiatives that would place the country on track to realise economic growth through large-scale digitisation. These initiatives included three key focus areas:
- grassroots development – bringing coding and robotics to primary schools;
- higher learning – including plans to build a new University of Science and Innovation in Ekurhuleni; and
- the development of a world-class smart city.
South Africa lags behind the rest of the world when it comes to embracing the digital economy. There are five critical areas we need to address to bring us up to speed.
UCT Vice-Chancellor’s Virtual Open Lecture on 15 July 2020, Colin Coleman, the former Goldman Sachs CEO for sub-Saharan Africa, laid out a “10-point action plan” for South Africa. One of his action-plan points is “introducing an e-government initiative to transform and modernise the public service, making South Africa a capable country, with a smart and capable state”.
Read more: Fast tracking the critical task of building South Africa’s digital economy